Hachoir restaurant turns construction woes into humour

One Montreal restaurant is fighting thefrustration of being located in the middle of a major construction zone with humour.

The Hachoir restaurant is located at the intersection of Rachel and St-Denis streets both of which are under construction.

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So co-owner Alain Dussaultdecided take a picture of abusboy serving awaiter on the restaurant's "new terrasse."

The picture clearly struck a chord on Facebook,where it has been "liked" and shared thousands of timessince it was posted Thursday night.

"A lot of people are sympathetic to the situation. A lot of people find it funny, which I like," Dussault told CBC Montreal's Homerun."We can tell that the construction is bad but we take it with a grain of salt."

Like many merchants on St-Denis Street, Dussault hasn't escaped the aesthetic and financial strain of the ongoing construction.

"It's a mess. There's a big hole in front of the restaurant. You cannot cross. The sidewalk is blocked so you have to go around like a big loop," he said, adding that it's the third summer in arow that his restaurant is affected by the construction.

25% of sales lost

The recent stretch of constructionbegan in 2015 becauseSt-Denis Street, between Duluth Avenue and Marie-Anne Street, requires newsewer and drinkingwater pipes.The construction work won't wrap up before November 2016.

Dussault estimateshe lost 25 per cent in salesin the last month. But he also said that hisrestaurant'snetworksand loyal neighbourhood customers have allowedHachoir to farebetter than most businesses.

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Though the city and contractors have been giving him conflicting information, he sayshe's happy thatat least the sidewalk next to therestaurant was reopened Friday.

Dussault said affected storekeepers aremeeting Monday to decidewhether to leave theSDC, the St-Denis merchant's association, over the way it's handled the situation.

Until then,Dussaultis taking a pragmatic approach.

"What can we do really. Things have to be done," he said."Hopefully they're going ... as quick as they can."