Almost half of the catering establishments will close at the end of March if the Federal Council does not give any help – Switzerland

Almost half of all hotel companies will die by the end of March if they do not receive immediate financial compensation now. The number of companies that are seriously threatened in their existence is currently around 15 percent, and within a month the proportion will be more than a third. This arises from a communication from the association. Conducted an online survey from January 4 to 6 to assess the situation of catering establishments, in which more than 4,000 establishments participated.

Casimir Platzer, president of Gastro Suisse, raises the alarm with reference to the results of the survey. As early as October, the president said 100,000 jobs are at risk.

Casimir Platzer points out in the announcement that before the crisis, more than 80 percent of companies had good to very good liquidity. In a month, however, the situation is grim at 80 percent: “Many of them are even threatened in their existence if they do not receive money now.” The survey has also shown that 98 percent of businesses urgently need financial help. 70 percent have already applied or most likely will.

In the last two months of last year in particular, the situation has worsened. In November, most companies achieved half the sales of the previous year. In December, 87 percent of catering companies achieved less than 60 percent of the turnover for the same month last year.

Companies in cities and agglomerations are more affected

Gastronomy has suffered especially in cities and agglomerations. There, 58 and 48 percent of companies respectively achieved less than 60 percent of sales from the previous year last year. In rural areas, the proportion is around 38 percent. The possibility of implementing take away offers is also of little use:

Help in emergencies often doesn’t work

In order to mitigate losses in the restaurant industry (and other affected businesses), the federal government has ruled on hardship grants. However, these do not apply to around 40 percent of catering establishments because they only have to complain about a 20 to 40 percent drop in sales.

According to the survey, some of the companies (7.8 percent of those surveyed) also renounce aid (credits, loans and guarantees) because they do not want to borrow.

The miserable situation is likely to lead to another wave of layoffs in the coming months: more than half of companies see more layoffs as possible in the next two months.

The association requires that the Federal Council

With regard to the results, Gastro Suisse demands that the Federal Council “show courage” on Wednesday and compensate the establishments financially immediately and easily.