Toulouse: Covid-19 cases hamper restaurant service
With a multiplication of Covid cases in the staff, the catering sector is experiencing a complicated situation. Forced to adjust schedules and reduce turnover.
“All competent restaurateurs in their staff of cases of covid, estimates Benjamin Serra, owner of the Prima group in Toulouse. Contaminations contracted everywhere. It’s hard to know exactly.”
Bad luck continues this sector of activity already in pain. Since the appearance of the Omicron variant, which is particularly contagious, cases of covid have multiplied in the catering industry, sometimes affecting key positions. A situation which, after the constraints of teleworking and seated consumption, is severely hampering activity in this sector. “The cases of covid have become permanent, assures Olivier Dupuy, president of the brewery branch at Umih. We see them every day. A bit like in all other sectors. All the staff are concerned and replacements are very complicated in a branch shunned by the same employees if many restaurateurs have made efforts by raising salaries in particular and seeing the working conditions ”. A sector that is nevertheless very vigilant on health measures. “The vaccination pass is of course compulsory and certain establishments advise their staff to wear FFP2 masks”, explains Olivier Dupuy. Establishments sometimes forced to close for a few days, waiting to find replacement staff. “With a server and a cook who tested positive, I could not do otherwise, testifies anonymously a restaurateur from the city center. You also have to realize that at the end of the isolation, some of these people are not in great shape to take up their position. Place du Capitole, the Florida assures, “employees have a week off. Which obviously reduces the number of covers: between the Florida and the pizzeria Bellini, we went from 120 to 60 covers”.
Reduction of hours and customers
When the establishment can continue to provide the service, it is forced to review its organization: “we must reduce opening hours and the number of customers, continues Olivier Dupuy. We do not have the choice “. Despite everything, this sector wants to remain optimistic, impatiently awaiting February 16 for the lifting of the constraints. “On average, restaurateurs have lost between 30 to 50% of turnover, assures Olivier Dupuy. It’s enormous “. A sector that should be supported by the State: “An aid called for reinforcement should be triggered as soon as a 30% decrease in turnover and another from -50%, specifies Olivier Dupuy. Reimbursement of the PGE (loan guaranteed by the State) begins in March. A credit mediator should be seconded by region to assess the spreads of this loan: either over six years or ten years. ‘will not prevent the damage’.