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The quarantine was announced in the spring. Caused immense stress on all restaurant owners – Those that have a place each with several employees, as well as those that have several restaurants and employ dozens of people, have also closed their doors forever. In summer, the restaurants on the seashore breathed calmer, and in the big cities the old had to somehow survive, and newly opened doors.
Fall doesn’t seem to have brought more annual traffic, and tourists from neighboring countries who appeared for a short time it also evaporated. 15 minutes wondered what state of mind restaurant owners and celebrity chefs currently live in.
Restaurant owner, chef V. Samavičius: “I’m a realist”
The well-known chef, owner of a restaurant Vytautas Samavičius, who has the “Momo Grill” restaurants in Klaipeda, Kaunas and Vilnius, as well as the “Monai” restaurant in the port city, can very well compare the situation by the sea in summer and that of Kaunas and Vilnius.
According to him, the summer on the beach was not bad, although, compared to last year, there was a fixed decrease in the flow of visitors. “We felt a slight tension, but the situation was not tragic, not so much that it was considered that the business needed to transform in a completely new way,” he said.
And here in Vilnius, Kaunas, according to the interlocutor, the summer was “wavy”: for example, July was a good month for Vilnius Momo Grill, and already in August it was a hole. V. Samavičius connects this with the extremely good weather, when in the last month of summer everyone was still on the farms or on the beach, and with the number of diseases that have gradually started to grow.
Photo by Robertas Daskevičius Vytautas Samavičius
The interviewee said that it is obvious that people are tense, tired of fear, according to him, and in autumn “the flow of visitors to restaurants is less than we should be. And what it will be like later is difficult to predict. ”Even with the winter holidays slowly approaching, V. Samavičius doesn’t have high hopes, especially since the restaurants he runs are not focused on group and corporate events and catering.
Maybe another restaurant is looking forward to the holidays atgros losses, but others realize they just need to survive
The famous boss became something of a hostage to the coronavirus in the spring, mostly because it was almost ready for the installations and was preparing to start a new restaurant in Vilnius when the quarantine was announced. So, as he says now, he had to solve a dilemma: freeze a new project or open up in great ignorance. He chose the last option. It is true that he “dumped” his employees from Klaipeda, Kaunas into the newly opened restaurant for the first few weeks, thereby conserving jobs.
The chef admitted that he felt a great responsibility for the employed people, he tried to talk to them about the current situation, in the summer he also negotiated the rental prices of the premises in Vilnius and Kaunas, he did everything possible to survive.
Photo by Jevgenija Zhukova-Chernova / Interior of “Momo Grill” in Vilnius
When asked what his impression of the general mood in the market was, he thought that many of them were similar: “At least we are accepting reality, we do not believe that December will solve anything. Maybe another restaurant is looking forward to the holidays atgros losses, but others understand that it is simply a matter of survival. “
According to V. Samavičius, if the quarantine is announced again, a new wave of restaurant closures will follow, and so far “everyone is waiting for something.”
L.Čeprackas: “Psychology also contributed to physical activity”
For one of Lithuania’s best chefs, Liutauras Čeprackas, the quarantine turned into a real angry joke: after opening the long-awaited and carefully equipped Gastronomika restaurant in the capital’s new location, he was forced to close it just a month later. . After a break throughout the summer, the restaurant reopened in mid-September, so only now are visitors beginning to discover it.
The interlocutor stated that so far he is satisfied with the guests, who are offered 4 days a week and to the letter, and tasting menus, streaming.
“We created a restaurant space where people had privacy, we did not try to crowd the guests, so we hit in that sense, because now it is possible to maintain social distance,” said the famous chef with a slight irony. “We work in such a way that the service is excellent and the kitchen is not overloaded, because after a break we continue working, routine.”
L. Čeprackas hoped that the winter holidays would bring a greater influx of guests, and soon plans to present a business meeting menu, according to him, for those occasions when business meetings take place “without too much contemplation on food.” .
Luke April / 15min photo / Lutauta Čeprackas
The interlocutor said that the flow of tourists was significantly shortened and not only because they would fill more restaurants, but, according to him, guests from abroad would liven up the situation, their opinion on the dishes would be interesting. “After all, I created a menu for the palette of Lithuanian taste, so it would be useful to have a fresh reaction, a different opinion of people who did not grow up with Lithuanian cuisine,” said the chef, even presenting his own interpretation of the Kiev cutlet on one of the tasting menus.
We are traveling to a stage where there will only be cheap food restaurants, corporate venues that have the means to survive.
On the other hand, despite the feeling of insecurity in the market, he said that he would not turn a blind eye and would not hold a fashion brunch or events for children at Gastronomika. He revealed that he is already looking at next year, when the terrace of the Plaza de la Torre next to the restaurant will open, and there will be a new format of food, something different from what diners find in “Gastronomika”.
And yet, when asked not only about his restaurant, but also about the market situation, the interlocutor reacted more violently. L. Čeprackas said he was more afraid “not of COVID, but of those inappropriate actions when he does not speak of numbers, but of intimidation.”
“In reality, the current situation is that we are traveling to a stage where only cheap food restaurants will remain, corporate places that have the means to survive. After all, small restaurants are ideological, these are the cases when someone’s hobby has become a way of life, therefore the survival of such places depends more on the enthusiasm of the owners. Until now, everyone knew that working in a restaurant is hard physically, and now it has become brutally stressful and psychologically, “he admitted.
Chef A. Kubilius: „Let’s live learning new rules “
Another well-known chef from the capital, who runs the kitchen of the 14Horses restaurant, which has opened in the new location, Senatorių passeu, seems to still live in the heat and excitement of the start, and said he couldn’t complain about the lack of guests.
The 14Horses restaurant, which offers a selection of 3 different rooms and an outdoor terrace, is currently open Wednesday through Sunday, with brunch on Sunday and evening on other days. “These days, it is almost always full when we have good weather, of course the fact that we have a terrace helps,” said A. Kubilius.
Asked who the guests of the restaurant are, he said that it involves couples, families and businessmen, although there are no tourists, foreigners residing in Vilnius.
Photo by Gediminas Gražys Photography / Chef Andrius Kubilius
In the restaurant, where the diner spends on average about 50 Eur, although there are many variations – from much smaller amounts to larger amounts, according to A. Kubilius, too much tension is not felt either in people’s behavior or in spending money. However, the interlocutor does not rule out that this may change, everything will depend on the morbidity situation.
I think everything will be fine, we will learn new rules, that will not last forever.
A. Kubilius was also happy in those few weeks, when there were quite a few tourists from neighboring countries, now they are not there, but little by little they are working on thinking about vacations. “There are already requests, but they are not stable yet, it is understood that the situation may change,” said the interlocutor.
Asked about the general mood in the restaurant market, the interlocutor mentioned painful losses (such as Sweet Root restaurant, which was “really unique”), but admitted to looking at everything positively: “I think everything will be fine, we will learn new rules, it won’t last forever. ” I realize that there is a growing interest in cooking at home, I think people will understand how much they can do themselves. But at the same time, visits to restaurants will continue, because the interest in food, restaurants and home cooking are different things. <...> I think everything will be fine, although there are signs of anxiety ”, the chef of 14Horses looks to the future, while agreeing that if there is a second restaurant closure, we will have a second wave of closure of some places.
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