“Reductions in charges, new financial aid or the return of VAT to 5.5%. This would help Jacques Yang "concretely" "to get his head out of the water". Like many restaurateurs, the owner of the Wok Palace, a huge all-you-can-eat buffet located in Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis), is “very worried about the future” of his business. Since the reopening of his business on June 15 - and the return of employees placed three months on short-time work - his turnover has fallen inexorably and his costs have increased, in particular because of the anti-coronavirus protective equipment in which he must invest every month.
A "nightmarish scenario" for those who are already struggling to find their most loyal customers. Sitting in the middle of a huge 200 m2 room two-thirds empty, this boss of nine employees, recently appointed referent for Asian traders at the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Seine-Saint-Denis, observes with a magnifying glass "the recent rebound of the epidemic ”. He shuddered at the thought of it. According to him, the increase in the number of contaminations would pose "a real threat of closing restaurants from the start of the school year".
“Times are tough in all sectors […] our customers are the first to tighten their belts and prefer to eat at home,” he describes. Consequence, despite an all-you-can-eat menu at 11.90 euros? Attendance "fell by 40% compared to last year at the same time." As for the customers who come back slowly, "they consume less than before, especially in drinks, while on these products, we usually make the most margin ..."
Plexiglas, mask, gel ... the bill is steep
To reassure his "kind customers", the 46-year-old business manager injected "several thousand euros" to equip himself with protective Plexiglas placed above the buffets. To his "essential" adjustments that he had to order in China, we must add the cost of taking care of the masks, just like the hydroalcoholic gel, also at will.
“Since mid-June, the company has provided one surgical mask per department to each employee, but also to customers who forget it. »Amount of the bill, for around 1000 masks per month? “216 euros. »A cost price obtained through the department's Asian community network.
It is precisely this community, strong of many restaurateurs, that he defends today, recalling in passing his efforts at the height of the epidemic in the spring. Thanks to his network, Jacques Yang then unblocked a donation of “50,000 masks” for small and medium-sized enterprises of the CPME. “At the time, they were still selling 1 euro per unit on the market…” It is also on the network of the Asian community, he recalls, that the president of the region, Valérie Pécresse, was then supported to distribute "100,000 masks".
