[ad_1]
A second quarantine in a year threatens many cafes or restaurants. It has been particularly difficult for those who have recently opened their doors or had other major investments in recent months. Since November 7, the government has banned public catering establishments from serving visitors on site. It is possible to sell food to go or deliver it to the customer.
This rule, like quarantine, is currently provided for three weeks. Panevėžys cafes and restaurants try to save themselves from zero turnover by providing a food delivery service, but they receive so many orders that not only the work but also the cooking products do not pay off.
A rough start
The owners of the still-smelling new Manhattan restaurant, which opened in the Babilonas shopping center a month and a half ago, failed to warm up when their tables were forcibly emptied. It takes only two shoppers a day to bring food to the cafeteria this week. According to the owner and director of the restaurant Kristina Rauckė, currently one person works in the bar, another in the kitchen, others, their colleagues, in downtime.
“We are doing very badly, we have no order. We cannot say why this is the case, maybe people are very afraid of the coronavirus, maybe they produce it at home, “says the businesswoman.
If such billing is only maintained for more than three weeks, the restaurant owners no longer rule out the possibility of bankruptcy. K. Rauckė states that he did not expect the same strict restrictions for catering establishments as in the spring. The first quarantine had already cost him many years of work and had given him bitter lessons. After the shock of that time, I had to find a new place for coffee and start over: invest in the place, gather a circle of customers.
“We worked in the Kaziukas Chamber for fourteen years. During the first quarantine, we asked the landlords to lower the rent and we received an offer to move in. We left the cafe, the name and started over,” says K. Rauckė, who ran from the wolf and jumped on bear.
Renting a new place, he said, wasn’t cheaper, but when the door opened in early September, the new restaurant couldn’t complain about the flow of customers. And now, suddenly, neither they nor the orders suddenly disappear.
“We would extend it like this for another three weeks, but if it is longer, it is difficult to predict what awaits us,” K. Rauckė does not hide.
In the kitchen and the director
That after three weeks of quarantine the catering establishments will have open hands to continue with their activities, the believers seem to have disappeared.
Sandra Urbonienė, manager of the Arena La Fa cafe in Panevėžys, Klaipėdos street, speculates that with such COVID-19 morbidity statistics, even sports cafes and clubs can be closed even after two months. During the first week of this quarantine, the director of Arena La Fa works without his team. She prepares the takeout herself. There are only a few such orders per day.
“It just came to our knowledge then. We try to save, not give up, we offer solidarity lunches to companies on behalf of the business,” says the manager of the cafe.
S. Urbonienė admits: the number of orders has decreased so much that it is no longer worth it or renting and it is no longer worth buying products for tableware. When the new morning dawns, the manager doesn’t even know if the oven will be worth turning on. It hurts, he says, when one of the latter has to save a business that has been developed and nurtured.
“After the first quarantine, we have not recovered until now. We had to tighten our belts, we resigned half the staff, the losses were huge because not all the clients returned. And now there is no general knowledge about the future. That silence in the cafe presses the tears ”, moved S. Urbonienė.
Christmas time is approaching, when all the cafes smelled of the most beautiful winter holidays and the orders for the Christmas parties were already floating in November. This past year, S. Urbonienė has no doubt, it will definitely be different.
“We understand that health is the highest priority, but it is still extremely difficult to see a collapsed business that has invested a lot of money and so much work,” he sighs.
The change of leg
“Who knows here what the next one will be like and what awaits them”, – the managers of the newly opened Grill London in Panevėžys will breathe a sigh of relief.
Ilona, the director of this catering company, is generally surprised that questions continue to be asked about how the business is doing now. According to her, no one is good anymore, everyone is guided by losses.
“The quarantine has changed our position for our founders. We supply take out and take out orders,” says the manager, but does not reveal how much the restaurant’s orders have decreased.
According to Ilona, the turnover of all the survivors has decreased and the business is being severely affected. Grill London staff are dispatched to downtime. Both hands, according to the director, are no longer necessary.
[ad_2]
