Closed since March 14, catering establishments have not earned a penny in turnover. Everyone is waiting with great apprehension for government announcements regarding the conditions for the restart.
Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease, at least that’s what restaurateurs fear a few hours before government announcements on their conditions for resuming activity. Since March 14, Thierry Joubert, restorer of “Clapotis” in Saint-Avertin (37) has been watching the money evaporate from his bank accounts. “In a few months we lost a little more than half of the cash that it took 30 years to makesays the 58-year-old chef. The wait during the lockdown has annoyed us a lot because we haven’t had an answer for partial unemployment for more than 1 and a half months! In May, we offered take-out meals on the weekends, which helped to put some repair on the cash flow. We are not going to give up here. We are waiting to find out the reopening conditions but I know it will be complicated and we won’t make up for lost time.“
If this restaurateur on the edge of Cher knows that he can reopen from June 2, this is not the case for his colleague Yoann Hessemans located in the red zone of deconfinement. “We are in the dark, I hear proposals, rumors from unions and organizations, each person interprets as they wish, some bars do take-out or sidewalk aperitifs, it’s a bit of anarchyregrets the boss of Paddy O’Neills based a few minutes from Melun (77). The forests are reopened but not the parks… The minister announces that there will be a music festival but we cannot work immediately so this is the case in other European countries. It’s nonsense, we’re all a little lost.“
High expectations on distancing
These two restaurateurs like so many others will follow the announcements of the Prime Minister this Thursday, May 28. The key to knowing the conditions of exercise and the date to finally try to project yourself. “June is the best month in Touraine and in addition I have a large terrace by the waterexplains Thierry Joubert. On the other hand, I often host family meals and it is not uncommon for them to be around twenty at the table with the distances of 1 m, some may end up in the parking lot!“. A meter distance between the guests or between the tables or one person in 4m² radically changes the appearance of their room but also their turnover. Le Clapotis serves 150 covers per day in high season, if Thierry Joubert can to achieve 80 at the resumption he will consider himself lucky.
For Yoann Hessemans the outlook is bleaker. “If they impose one person for 4m² or plexiglass and the obligation to disinfect all the time it will create a psychosis so I prefer to stay closed. It will cost me less to wait than to open with very few people in my barhe explains. I want to resume but normally I welcome between 200 and 300 people if I’m limited to 80 it won’t be the same atmosphere and a half-empty bar doesn’t make you want to party. If in addition I have to refuse customers because I have reached my quota, it will be very complicated to manage.“
Difficult tomorrows
The other essential keystone for restaurateurs is customer behavior. “What will be their purchasing power? Will they be apprehensive? It’s complicated to plan” Blows Yoann Hessemans. Yet the return or not of the public will have a direct impact on unemployment. “We will see with the accountant how we will make the staff workrecognizes Thierry Joubert. I already have apprenticeship requests for next year but I don’t know what to answer to them. I still have 5 students in training but this will depend on the work to be offered.“
While the Ile-de-France bar, in the red zone of deconfinement, is still paralyzed by the lack of response, the Touraine restaurant, in the green zone, is seeing the impact of this crisis on its cuisine. “Gone are the abundance of choices! I can’t find everything I want in central purchasing anymorehe assures. I will change my way of working. I will go from three menus per week to a menu with nine dishes that I will change regularly. There will be less diversity but more local products, it will be market cuisine. It is not so bad to be satisfied with what one finds and to stop being always in consumption. I hope there will be a long-term change in behavior, it has to be.“
Box: The Paris UMIH awaits firm announcements
Frank Belvau, president of the UMIH Paris-Île-de-France, employers’ organization, awaits answers during the announcements of the Prime Minister this Thursday. His biggest fear is the obligation to provide 4m² for each restaurant customer. “If this government suggestion is finally adopted, most Parisian bistros will not be able to open“he asserts. If its reception capacity is reduced by 3/4, it’s not worth opening, we are waiting for the Paris City Hall to expand our terraces, we are waiting to see how it will be done.“
This union representative is delighted with the various aids obtained and in particular the maintenance of partial unemployment for his sector until the end of the year. For him, the survival of restaurants will depend on the decision of insurers to cover or not the operating loss due to Covid-19 but also to the behavior of customers.
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