Everyday life in fancy restaurants: sales fell to 80 percent, exotics disappeared

“Luxury hotels and restaurants have reduced orders by 80 percent. And the variety of fruits and vegetables they were ordering was reduced. Now it is practically the same as ordinary canteens: cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots. There are no vegetables or fruits left. No one needs, for example, reeds, durans and similar plants from far away lands, “says Nerijus Pranckus, purchasing manager at Litbanas, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler, and jokes that if the list of products sold by him used to be difficult to fit on three pages, now less than two.

Bankruptcies await

Catering managers are not optimistic.

“Restaurants were expecting business customers and events to return in the fall. That did not happen. It is not clear what the Christmas period will be like. People are waiting for now, but I guess bankruptcies will soon occur. The question will only occur this year or the next, because people will expect to earn money during the festive period and will try to survive at least until then ”, says Tomas Rimydis, owner of the restaurant” Ertlio namas “, and admits that now everyone starts counting down to pennies. just to earn money .

A Litbana spokesperson says the bosses no longer want to take risks. The drop in turnover is completely natural because there are no more massive events, or they have shrunk particularly hard. For example, only guests stayed in the hotel’s restaurants, although so far large corporate events and conferences have accounted for a particularly large share of revenue.

“Restaurant chefs needed exotic vegetables and fruits looking for more interesting dishes and other foods. Now there is no need ”, teaches N. Pranckus.

Also give an example. At the Book Fair, 5,000 people had to be fed for three days. people. Now there are simply no more events of this magnitude.

“One driver used an entire bus up to one point, now bypassing multiple customers,” N. Pranckus compares.

Exotics in Lithuania

T. Rimydis says he didn’t change his menu because the main suppliers are Lithuanian farmers. It takes into account seasonality and does not change the menu, looking for local products. Billing and guest traffic declined as did others. He predicts that without the improvement in April there won’t be.

“I will not say if the menu is changing, but the turnover has fallen by 40% only since August, because the outdoor terraces have closed and we have felt it. We are also seeing a sharp drop in people’s purchasing power. There are no tourists and Lithuanians look forward to the future ”, explains the president of the Lithuanian Association of Hotels and Restaurants. Evalda Šiškauskienė.

As far as she knows, the restaurants and tasting establishments located in tourist places have closed. Those who were near large flows of people survived. The future is also worrying. Mass cancellation of events. Even if they are not held remotely, there are no longer big parties to keep people in touch as little as possible.

“Hotel occupancy in big cities is 6 percent. The authorities do not understand this because resorts live well and medical coupons have also helped. We do not receive tragedy and help for business hotels in big cities, and the season begins Keep the subsidies until next spring, “says E. Šiškauškienė.