After
six months of closure, restaurateurs are relieved.
"It's a great satisfaction: we finally have key dates to plan, work and organize the future, welcomes Roland Héguy, president of Umih, the first professional organization of cafes, hotels, restaurants. and nightclubs.
Psychologically and economically, we were at the end, without hope.
"
To the point that the person in charge appreciates each of the stages of deconfinement.
“On May 3, the
end of the ban on interregional travel is good news for hotels, lists Roland Héguy. The reopening of the terraces on May 19 is another, even if we campaigned for it to take place before the Ascension Bridge. On June 9, the curfew at 11 p.m. will finally allow restaurateurs to do a second service in the evening. As for June 30, it's the apotheosis! Finally ... hoping that the epidemic is contained. "
His colleague Didier Chenet, president of the National Group of Independent Hotels and Restaurants (GNI), also appreciates seeing the end of the tunnel.
"We finally have a timetable," he rejoices, before pondering the terms.
“What will be the economic, health and practical conditions of these reopening?
he points out.
My fear is that the aid will be stopped depending on the dates and not on the activity.
However, we already know that there will be enormous differences in July and August between Paris or Lyon and the seaside… ”
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In practice, the curfew (which passes at 9 p.m. on May 19) prevents people from actually welcoming customers for dinner. "In short, we do not want to do the killings, but it is urgent to meet the ministries to study the modalities", slice Didier Chenet.
At the head of the Clav group, Laurent Villa says he is “very happy” to finally be able to welcome customers again.
For six months to the day, its ten “Beef House” and “Tribeca” restaurants have been closed.
Almost all of its 600 employees are on partial unemployment.
Very large and for the most part located in shopping centers, its restaurants in Cannes, Toulon, Marseille, Lyon or Plaisir (Yvelines), have not practiced take-out.
“The government has largely supported the profession.
We cannot complain, ”judges the 50-year-old entrepreneur, who also called on a loan guaranteed by the State.
"The terrace alone is not enough to be profitable"
But if he projects himself with joy in a reopening, Laurent Villa does not aim for the date of May 19, reserved for terraces and always subject to a curfew from 9 p.m., but that of June 9. “The terrace alone is not enough to be profitable,” he analyzes. If we take the example of my last Tribeca restaurant, opened in August 2020 in Plaisir (Yvelines), the room is 450 m2 and the terrace 90 m2. Without the evening service because of the curfew, just with lunch without cafe activity, not worth opening. "
Especially since many practical difficulties arise. “It would be impossible for us to convince the employees, who have been on short-time work for months, to come back to work just for a few hours, from 11 am to 2:30 pm We have to restart the whole ecosystem: the producers, the delivery people… And if I go to a service on 20% of my surface, with tables of six, and it rains ... my food, my daily specials and my employees watch the rain fall? "Asks Laurent Villa again, before concluding, convinced:" No really for me, the date is June 9th. "
In 2020, Laurent Villa's restaurants - which had garnered eight, eleven million euros in 2019 - lost 35% of turnover. A lesser evil, thanks to their very seasonal activity. “The months of July and August count double. The question today is therefore the gauge and the protocols, considers Laurent Villa. If I am told that I can reopen at 50% of my capacity in June to reach 100% in July, it works, but if we stay at 50% this summer, no. "