The summer has not been too catastrophic for restaurateurs, at least for those who do not work in Paris.
Indeed, the absence of foreign tourists linked to health measures was compensated by Franco-French customers who came in large numbers, especially by the sea. In the end, while these establishments were strongly affected by a closure of two months for confinement, the turnover of restaurants fell only 6.7% from June to August in France compared to the same period in 2019, according to figures from cash register software on tablets Addition which has compiled data from 6000 restaurateurs.
Great disparities have been observed, with in particular a drop of more than 20% of turnover in Île-de-France against an increase of 8% in Occitanie.
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"
We have customers all over France, so these data are fairly representative of the territory,"
says Olivier Repessé, the co-founder of L'addition
.
What emerges is that the period was not so catastrophic, but that the disparities are huge.
The region that suffers the most is Île-de-France, with more than 20% loss in turnover on average, and up to 50 or 60% in some restaurants.
"
Occitania spared
Certain regions therefore outperformed this summer, such as Hauts de France or Occitanie (+ 8%), Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (+ 6%), Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Grand-Est (+ 5% ).
Other areas have remained stable compared to 2019, such as Pays de la Loire, Center-Val de Loire or Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Finally, like in Paris, certain regions and in particular those which depend on foreign tourists have suffered this summer.
This is the case of Corsica (-9%), the PACA region (-8%) or Normandy (-7%).
"
We notice very strong volatility, including within the same city,"
continues Olivier Repessé.
Some restaurants have increased their figures by 40% when others have not even reopened in the same neighborhood.
The large establishments, those which make more than 40,000 euros in turnover per month, have generally fared well and have absorbed the clientele of the smallest. "
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Paris under tension
To explain the particularly alarming situation in Île-de-France, Marcel Benezet, president of the GNI-Synhorcat cafes, bars and brasseries, argues that “
teleworking is losing 10 to 15% of customers in Paris, where employees are less many go to a restaurant for lunch
”.
He adds that a number of Parisians have left to confine themselves to the provinces "
and
did not return in June
".
Finally, "
elderly Parisians no longer dare to go out to restaurants today
", which deprives restaurant owners of an often wealthy clientele.
Thus, if certain micro-districts like the Place du Marché-Saint-Honoré (1st arrondissement) or the rue Montorgueil (1st and 2nd arrondissements) are doing “
rather well
”, others may have lost “
up to 80% of their turnover
”.
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This is for example the case of Xavier Denamur, owner of several restaurants in the fourth arrondissement of Paris.
“
We had the worst month of August in 30 years of activity, with an 80% drop in our turnover,” he
explains.
The restaurateur adds that "
if the activity does not resume and the government continues to put in place these unbreathable sanitary measures"
, he will be
"forced to sell part of [his] business to hold on".
