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The Government decided to “stop” and harden the restaurant’s hours on New Year’s Eve. On December 31, restaurants in mainland Portugal must close at 10:30 p.m., and not at 1:00 a.m. as planned two weeks ago, according to the decision taken this Thursday in the Council of Ministers on the new regulations for the festive season.
Also on January 1, 2 and 3, restaurants will have to close at 1 pm, and can remain open thereafter only for home delivery, and not at 3:30 pm as anticipated.
The National Association of Restaurants (ProVar) received “with astonishment” the new measures announced by António Costa, which bring a tightening of the rules for the New Year, and on the other hand, a greater tolerance towards Christmas.
“Reservations have already been made for New Year’s Eve, we are following dozens of restaurant owners who are calling to say that reservations are canceled,” said Daniel Serra, president of ProVar. “Customers looking for a restaurant obviously expected to be there until 1:00 am and get through the year.”
The National Restaurant Association also questions the decision of restaurants to close at 1 pm on January 1, 2 and 3, instead of 3:30 pm as planned.
“It is a catastrophic situation. For the sector this period was a small oxygen balloon, what was the difference between being able to be open until 3:30 pm these days? Closing at 1:00 pm is worse because it will cause gatherings, and for us it will be one more room. lost ”, Daniel Serra emphasizes, recalling that restaurants had already invested in strengthening stocks for these days taking into account reservations, which are now being canceled.
The Prime Minister ended by saying that the Christmas holidays will cause an increase in the number of infected people, recognizing that they are more of the family. And if we also want to protect the economy, it would be preferable to have greater restrictions at Christmas and greater openness in the new year. ”Says the president of the National Restaurant Association.
According to Daniel Serra, the reduction of hours for restaurants on New Year’s Eve and in the first days of January was a hard blow for restaurants, in addition to the difficulties they faced during the pandemic.
“This is beheading restaurants, and we do not see the counterpart with robust support measures,” emphasizes the president of ProVar, underlining that the restrictions announced by the Government “are leading the sector on a path in which we do not see the light. at the end of the tunnel, and leading companies to decide whether to lay off workers or go bankrupt ”.
