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More loss than profitability. Whole days with only 15-20 clients. With 85 to 90% less turnover in the last month, Majestic, a historic cafe in the center of Porto, closed on Monday due to the crisis generated by the pandemic, with no forecast of reopening, revealed the Newspaper.
The Barrias group, owner, had already closed on November 15 another emblematic cafe in the city, Guarany.
“It got to the point where it was only generating losses and expenses,” says manager Fernando Barrias to PÚBLICO. “As much as we want to keep the doors open, we don’t have tourists or residents. The government’s option to send people to telework made us make this decision ”.
A year ago, the Majestic was “completely full”, “with lines at the door.” The group had two long weekend weekends to regain some dynamics, but “with these restrictions” they came “to the conclusion that it was not worth it” to remain open. “It was very difficult to make this decision,” he admits.
Majestic owners since 1983 and cool since 1982, the Barrias group guarantees that in the past they only closed for restoration.
“In our documentation we find that in the middle of World War II, paying a war tax on finances, [o Majestic e o Guarany] They were always open doors, ”says manager Fernando Barrias to PÚBLICO. Officially inaugurated on December 1, 1922, according to the most recent data collected by the manager, the Majestic was closed between October 1992 and July 1994 to be restored; and Guarany, which opened in 1933, closed only between October 2001 and December 2003 for the same reason. “We never had to close.” There was another occasion when the Majestic was closed for 15 days in February 2015.
In addition to the two historic cafes, two other group cafes, Marbella and Confeitaria Eça, and two hotels, Internacional and Vera Cruz, also closed. In total, 150 workers of the Barrias group are in leave: 24 majestic workers, 15 Guaraní workers and the rest in coffee shops and hotels. There are only two hotels open, Pão de Açúcar and Aliados, which currently have an occupancy rate of 10%, said Fernando Barrias.
There are no predictions about the reopening: “It will depend a lot on the circumstances. We do not know when the curve will lower and the government will declare the end of the state of emergency. I think that, as the virus appeared, it will also disappear ”. Depending on international tourism, “until we see the flights go up, we won’t open soon,” he says. But he remains optimistic: “We have to believe and be strong, we will overcome this situation and we will give time. This will happen. “
