Sparse clientele, tourists with absent subscribers, turnover at half mast ... Parisian restaurants and bars already hard hit by the Yellow Vests demonstrations, the long strikes of winter and the imposed sanitary closure, must now face the post-Covid . And its myriad of problems.
Exhausted financially, some have shut down, or plan to reopen only in the fall, hoping for better days. According to a survey by the National Group of Self-Employed Hotels and Restaurants (GNI HCR), 10% of professionals out of its approximately 5,500 members kept the shutter closed despite authorization to resume total activity on June 15. Or closed their doors after a few days, unable to cope with the difficulties.
"During the week, I'm between 10% and 20% of my usual figure"
And many have cut services, keeping their staff on short-time work. Laurent Joly, who has been running the Brasserie de la tour Eiffel, avenue de la Bourdonnais (VIIe) for five and a half years, is one of them. Installed a stone's throw from the Iron Lady and the Quai Branly museum, the owner has seen most of his foreign tourist clientele melt, with the result that we can easily imagine: a dizzying fall in turnover.
"We only saw a few Germans, Dutch and Italians ... During the week, I'm between 10% and 20% of my usual figure. The weekend is a little less catastrophic, but we only manage to do between 30% and 35%. And again, I am lucky to have cash. For those who do not have solid kidneys, it is death in a few weeks ”, underlines, disillusioned, this boss.
Like many professionals, Laurent Joly has reduced the hours of those who still work and with whom he provides the service himself. Sometimes the Brasserie de la tour Eiffel does not provide dinner. Thinning in the fall? The boss doesn't believe it. Quite the contrary: “I think it will be even worse, especially in the tourist districts, like here, or in Montmartre (18th century) and Notre-Dame… We will probably only be able to provide service from noon until Christmas. "
Small neighborhood cafes resist better
"The situation is dramatic," confirms Marcel Benezet, president of the coffee bars and breweries branch of the GNI HCR. Especially since last Friday when the capital began to empty Parisians, gone on vacation, to welcome only 5% of regular tourists. Apart from perhaps in districts like Oberkampf (11th), it is easy to find a place on the terraces which are usually crowded. I'm thinking of rue Montorgueil, Les Halles (1st and 2nd), quai du Louvre (1st) ... The lifts of our members are all the same. Only the small neighborhood cafes and restaurants, which have regular customers, seem to be doing a little better. As for the owners of establishments, they are not always very friendly. We have to put pressure on them constantly so that they make an effort to collect rents ... ”
Even the media Julien Duboué, ex-candidate of the show Top Chef announced the closure of the last of his three restaurants, La Dalle, in La Défense (Hauts-de-Seine) on Instagram: “Nine months of operation including two months of strikes and three months of Covid-19! We may adore our profession and work like madmen, but we are not magicians! ”.
"I dread the month of September"
In the City of Provins, a brasserie located boulevard de Strasbourg (Xe), near the Gare de l'Est, Pascal Vincenzi says "two knees on the ground". “My turnover has plummeted by 50%. There is no longer a tourist, and moreover, even if they came, where would they stay? The hotels in the area that welcome this clientele have not reopened ... There are only small neighborhood establishments that are likely to close their doors since their rooms are empty. It is hopeless ! "
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Pascal Vincenzi now painfully manages to make fifteen covers, five more on the best days, instead of fifty before the health crisis. Six employees are kept on partial unemployment and even the cook has not returned to the kitchen. "I'm the one in the kitchen," he explains. I work with my wife and a boy only ... I dread the month of September. »The reduction in road rights requested from the City, for the whole of 2020? "It would be a breath of fresh air, but nothing has been done," he sighs.
The City promotes terrace extensions
The municipality wants to be more optimistic. "The situation is mixed," says Olivia Polski, the commercial assistant to the mayor of Paris of Anne Hidalgo. Some establishments are doing well, and are taking full advantage of the authorization to extend their terraces. Bars and restaurants that have a tourist or office clientele, while many employees have remained teleworked, have more difficulty. But if there are still uncertainties about possible reconfiguration, in Europe, we expect French tourists… ”
Hotels also suffer
Closed establishments, deserted rooms. Like bars and restaurants, the hotel industry is barely in the capital. And not only the palaces which do not plan to reopen before the fall. To the point that a platform, founded and run by professionals in the sector, "Save your hotel" has just been launched, in order to encourage the return of customers, through promotions and good deals.
In the only sector of the Gare de l'Est (Xe), which normally drains an endless stream of travelers, two hotels popular with tourists and which host seminars display closed doors. "Temporarily closed," announces the Holliday Inn. Given the government ban on travel and public gatherings in France and to promote the health and well-being of our customers and colleagues, this hotel is closed. We look forward to welcoming you soon, ”says the establishment.
Not far from there, Okko Hotel, located in the station and recently opened, announces that it is closed until August 23 inclusive.