No more butter ham. No more zinc coffee. No more romantic dinner. For a month, day to day, the French have been deprived of these places of life and conviviality that are our 210,000 cafes and restaurants. If consumers suffer, the profession is on the verge of suffocation: "95% of our businesses are closed, and the 5% that remain open, especially the restaurants that have maintained take-out sales, make 10% of the last year's turnover, ”warns Roland Héguy, president of the UMIH (Hotel Industry Trades Union).
The speech of Emmanuel Macron, Monday evening, far from reassuring them, completed the troops: the sector is not affected by the gradual deconfinement from May 11. "We have been stripped of all horizons," tackles Roland Héguy, while acknowledging that it is complicated to find the right barrier measures in trades where promiscuity is essential.
In the profession, anger and despair now dominate. "We feel abandoned," says Michel Sarran, at the head of two restaurants in Toulouse and juror of "Top Chef" on M 6. His sidekick, the star chef Philippe Etchebest, is also stepping up.
"Around me, bankruptcies are increasing"
In cafetiers such as Gaël Abou-Khalil, the owner of the bar "La Limite" in Paris, the anxiety is palpable: "My operating loss already reaches 25,000 euros and around me, bankruptcies are increasing". All these independents are now turning to the state. The announcement on Wednesday of the cancellation of part of the charges in the sector for almost 750 million euros is of course welcomed. But in the name of the profession, the UMIH is asking for more: not only the cancellation of fiscal and social charges, corporate tax and several taxes in 2020, but also that the “solidarity fund” created there a month replaces the owners of bars and restaurants to pay their rents. "If measures are not taken quickly, 40 to 50,000 companies will be bankrupt," said Roland Héguy.
Finally, all eyes are on the insurers, with whom the showdown started. While many restaurateurs would like to be able to benefit from their operating loss guarantee, the French Federation of Insurers (FFA) replies that this is not possible, in the absence of material damage, and that this would jeopardize all sector. Opposite, resistance is organized. At the head of L'Ami Jean in Paris, Stéphane Jégo launched an online petition (130,000 signatures already) to call on insurers to make a gesture. Others turn to justice. The restaurateur Stéphane Manigold, summons his insurer before the Paris Commercial Court to obtain compensation for his operating loss (more than 3 million euros). However, it should be noted that a few rare insurers, such as Maaf, have agreed to pay their insured insured in the event of a pandemic.
"We need a return to work date to re-motivate the teams"
To support our cafes and restaurants everywhere, pretty private initiatives are flourishing. Here, it is a coaching inn or bar-truck supported by the brand C'est Qui le patron?!, To maintain social ties in the villages. There, calls for donations are launched on Facebook pages.
This Friday, the profession and the government are meeting at the Ministry of the Economy to prepare a support plan and the restart of the sector. President of the association "les Toques Blanches lyonnaises", which has 115 establishments mainly in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, chef Christophe Marguin insists: "Psychologically, we need a date to resume work to re-motivate teams. "