Restaurants, black year with 243 closures
Confcommercio asks for some respite for those who remained “Public land at least until the end of the year”
PISA. 2021 was a black year for Pisan restaurants. Confirming the fears already expressed by entrepreneurs and operators in the sector are the data of the Fipe Confcommercio catering report, which highlights the closure of 243 catering businesses in Pisa and its province in the last year. The worst balance at the regional level, second only to that of Florence, in a context that sees almost 1,000 businesses disappear from Tuscany overall.
“The long night of restaurateurs is not over yet, and without a decisive intervention capable of stability in the sector by the Government, the numbers are unfortunately destined to worsen” says the director of Confcommercio Provincia di Pisa Federico Pieragnoli.
“The closures were not followed by lifesaving interventions for public establishments, no moratorium, no tax and contribution relief and insufficient refreshments – he adds -. The interventions of some administrations, such as the cancellation of local imposed publics and the granting of national land, have only minimally compensated for the absence of efficient policies at the national level ”. Fears that pass after the shock of 2022.
«When some glimmer seemed to be glimpsed, the war between Russia and Ukraine and the sudden rise in the prices of raw materials and energy made the entrepreneurs of the sector fall back into the fog of uncertainty – he continues -. If a turnaround does not arrive from Rome, the budget of closures is destined to increase every year, and it is very necessary to intervene immediately, starting with the granting of free public land at least until the end of 2022 to guarantee at least a little breathing space to businesses “.
“This is the bill presented to us by the pandemic, the increase in the costs of utilities, raw materials and the emptying of cities – is the bitter comment of the president of ConfRistoranti Confcommercio Province of Pisa Daniela Petraglia -. Unfortunately, these are dramatic numbers that reflect the harsh reality of every day: today you need muscles of steel to resist and keep your business on its feet. We expected these data after the long wave of Covid fueled by the continuous closures and reopening in fits and starts, the absence of sociality and travel. The negative balance that 158 fewer catering companies compared to 2020 is only seen mitigated by the 85 new openings that show a good liveliness in the area, but often for every restaurant three people close “.
To weigh on the closures “the lack of tourists and visitors, the continuous use of smart working, and in the specific case of Pisa, the closure of the University. The territory lives mainly on tourism and services, and if these are lacking, the catering sector, which in Pisa and its province employs more than 4,500 employees, cannot go on ”.
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