The corona pandemic has severely affected the hospitality industry, restaurants and pubs are closed again.
Now large catering establishments are turning to politicians with a dramatic cry for help.
Update from January 18, 4:41 p.m.
- In the hospitality industry, the economic situation is becoming increasingly dramatic in view of the lockdown.
Given months of forced closures are now calling 50 restaurateurs from companies such as Block Group (
Blockhouse
),
Hans in Luck
,
North Sea
,
LeCrobag
and
L'Osteria
ask
now for help.
Without rapid and uncomplicated support, there would be “a mass death of restaurants in the shortest possible time”, according to a statement published on Monday by the “Host Group” industry initiative.
The company bosses are disappointed with politics.
“We feel let down,” explains L'Osteria boss
Mirko Silz
.
"Only a fraction of the November aid has been paid out, the bureaucratic hurdles are high, and the conditions for the support were subsequently changed."
Dramatic appeal: every week of delay causes lasting damage
The head of the Block Group,
Stephan von Bülow
, said: "Restaurants, cafés, caterers urgently need the promised state aid, every week of delay causes lasting damage in the companies - but also in the lifestyle of the companies concerned."
The "
host circle
" emphasized that it was not about compensating lost profits, "but about securing the existence".
The spokesman for the initiative,
Torsten Olderog
from the Akad Hochschule Stuttgart, called the situation "more than dramatic": "We are talking about two million employees, whose existence is now at stake if politicians don't finally react." Not until Friday the insolvent steak house chain
Maredo had given notice of
the majority of the remaining employees.
Corona crisis: "Hardly any money left in the till" - Maredo fires almost all employees
First report from January 18, 1:41 p.m .:
Düsseldorf - The insolvent steak house chain
Maredo
has given
notice
to almost all employees.
One was forced to take this step, "because there is hardly any liquidity in the company to be able to pay the wages and salaries", according to an employee circular that can be viewed on the Internet.
Only a rump crew remains on board to do the “insolvency-specific work”.
Maredo
had already
filed for bankruptcy
at the first peak of the
Corona
* pandemic in March 2020.
15 of 35 restaurants were closed, around half of the approximately 950 employees had to leave.
With the second lockdown in November, the economic situation worsened again considerably.
Because of the dramatic situation,
Maredo
had already terminated all rental contracts at the end of the year.
Now the remaining employees also have to leave.
However, the chain was already considered to be broken before the corona outbreak.
Corona pandemic: calls for help go unheard
According to
Maredo
, calls for help to politicians previously had no results, the letter says.
Afterwards, both Federal Economics Minister
Peter Altmaier
(CDU) and his North Rhine-Westphalian counterpart
Andreas Pinkwart
(FDP) were asked in vain for support in incendiary letters.
Applications for approval of November and December aid were also rejected.
As a justification, the competent authorities pointed out that
Maredo
had not met the necessary approval requirements.
* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen digital network.