Nightclub managers are confused – you only learned about the reduction in working hours, but a decision has not been made yet Business

Some popular nightclubs in Vilnius are likely to continue after midnight, although the government decided last Wednesday to reduce the opening hours of restaurants, cafes, bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues.

You haven’t seen a solution yet

The activities of these institutions will be open from 7 to 24 hours. The new order will go into effect on Monday, October 26, but the operations manager has not announced it yet. Decisions are made public here, but there is nothing about restrictions on night work.

Markas Adam Harold, Chairman of the Vilnius Night Alliance 15 minutes He said the bars so far have not received any letters committing them to the new order.

“We just talked about it with the members of the alliance and yes, we haven’t heard anything. We do not know what will happen or how. As always, once again the Government did not communicate what it decided. We are very unhappy with that. “Veryga is saying something at the press conference, the headlines are coming out and we don’t know what to do,” he said.

And in fact, among the decisions of the COO Aurelijus Veryga, there are no instructions for catering establishments to operate until 24 hours. Instructions are only provided for registering clients.

But the Health Ministry points the finger at the government resolution of October 21.

“Catering establishments, restaurants, cafes, bars, discos and other entertainment venues, gambling houses (casinos) and slot machines, bingo halls, betting and betting venues are open from 7 to 24 hours,” says the resolution . subparagraph.

Ask authorities to communicate consistently

According to MAHold, a couple of months ago, the members of the Alliance attended a meeting with the Ministry of Health. He emphasized that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that information be provided in a consistent, clear and timely manner.

“We can prepare ourselves, understand that there would be no doubts about what to do and what not to do. We said it two months ago. They responded that all information is made public very clearly and all information is clarified every Friday after the government meeting. They did not. We are talking about human health. Here is the Ministry of Health. When will it protect health? This is a very important issue, “he said.

MAHarold was outraged that although the order was scheduled to go into effect Monday, companies still don’t know what to do with employees or how they will work in general.

“It just came to our attention then. Why can a minister decide something too late? The information must be published clearly. Why do I have to answer these questions in the media? Can you imagine? There is an absurdity here. We are not only talking about the economy, we are talking about human health, “he said.

Used to the situation

And the manager of the bar “7 Friday” Arūnas Zubinas looks at the whole situation quite calmly.

“We read the information and generally we are guided by what is published. I have posted and will post today, I cannot reply, but we are preparing to work until 12 noon. If it is not announced, we will work more, ”he said.

According to A. Zubinas, the problems with the bars are not caused by restrictions in working hours, but by the spread of COVID-19 and the fear of the people.

“The flows are reduced to 12 or 12 in 4 times. Will the ban on working after 12 hours add anything else? In a way it is. But for most catering companies, this will not be a problem. Although there are institutions that specialize in night work, yes, it is going to cause them big problems ”, explained the owner of the bar.

In addition, A. Zubin assured that he was already used to the government delivering information late.

“It just came to our attention then. One in the press until he found where he had written what had changed and tracked the change in the two texts was very difficult. But we have been working like this for half a year, used to it. At first it was very strange, now routine has become that lack of understanding, of not knowing. We are used to working like this “, 15 minutes said the interlocutor.

Order is nowhere to be found

Saulius Galdikas, director of BrandFood, manager of the Vilnius Piano Man bar, also 15 minutes confirmed that he had not received an instruction to work until 24 hours and could not find it anywhere. However, it was announced that this week it is planned to introduce the quarantine in municipalities included in the “red” zone, where morbidity has increased: the cities of Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda, as well as in the district municipalities of Vilnius, Širvintos, Šilalė, Trakai and Telšiai.

If the quarantine is introduced in Vilnius, according to S. Galdikas, the bar will be open for up to 24 hours. If not, it will work as usual.

“We did not find such a legal order or act, so we simply think it does not exist. On the other hand, if Vilnius enters the quarantine zone, it means that the quarantine rules will apply, limiting the work to 24 hours. If there were such a decision we would work up to 24 hours, if there were no such decision by accident, we do not know any other solution, except for public speeches at press conferences, but there is no legislation. Once again. It is like. We are talking about one thing, then do it or not, ”he said before the announcement that the quarantine would be introduced in the capital from Wednesday.

S. Galdikas qualifies this government behavior as disrespectful.

We have employees, companies and in principle we do not know how to behave. We have a meeting where we find that we don’t know what to do next because we don’t know what to expect. This is how we live “, – 15 minutes he said.

As of August, the bars offer a check-in system.

In addition, on October 26 the requirement to register visitors to places of leisure, entertainment, restaurants and others came into force. MAHaroldas 15 minutes together with Daniel Visock, who programmed the system, creating the InBar system for Vilnius Night Alliance in August.

“In August, we set up that system and told the ministry to make some kind of registration tool so that everyone could track their clients if there were any. The ministry said it was not necessary. The restaurant association argued that it was too complicated and unnecessary here. We have more than 350 clients using that system and we have registered more than 35,000. inscriptions. The system works “, 15 minutes assured.

The principle of using the system is simple. When you come to the catering establishment, you must scan the QR code or write an instant SMS “ESU” with the short code from the bar.

Upon receiving your registration confirmation message, visitors must show it to institution staff.

“Your information will only be stored for 21 days and will only be passed on to the responsible public authorities in the event of an approved COVID-19 virus outbreak,” the system’s operating instructions state.

People don’t want to register

The Vilnius Municipality coincided with the capital’s bars and restaurants a week ago, and they have pledged to take stricter security measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. One of the points of the agreement is that it is advisable to register all visitors and keep their telephone number for 21 days so that the data can be provided to the National Public Health Center in case of fire.

A. Zubinas, boss of 7 Fridays 15 minutes He said he had not waited for a government resolution and had applied the procedure since last Wednesday. It is true that there was an initial attempt to collect data on paper after 21 days of destruction, but this was abandoned after one day.

“It just came to our notice then. We immediately decided that we would never do that. Excessive burden. It is still necessary to persuade everyone to sign, and the flow is not such that there are three tables: one came and the other left. A disproportionate flow. of people passing through the country and can’t afford to catch them all.

Then we created our own gadget where it scanned [kodą klientas] Please log in to our Google account to visit and we will delete the data in a few moments. Now we have a new application that we have not seen yet, but all the bars offer to use it, we will see what is there, “he said.

However, according to A. Zubinas, the bars faced another problem: people do not want to register, because on a visit they and their relatives will be asked to isolate themselves. According to the head of the bar, a business that works honestly and protects customers will suffer as a result.

“The fact that we ask you to leave information discourages many people. In this place, those hospitality establishments that do not comply with this order will win. They will collect all the traffic because they will not ask for data there.” 15 minutes assured the interlocutor and added that if a person does not agree to provide their data, they simply do not allow them to enter.