- The social distance around tables in restaurants should be 4 m2.
- Partial unemployment could be extended until the end of March 2021.
- Several officials are concerned about the risk that a large number of establishments cannot reopen.
- Professionals, including Philippe Etchebest, also alert to moral distress within the sector.
“We are going to be hanged on the Prime Minister's lips. While a large interministerial tourism council is being held this Thursday, in which announcements to support the sector, and in particular the hotel and catering industry, should be made, Bordeaux chef Philippe Etchebest and all restaurateurs are waiting for strong support measures.
Closed from March 15, these establishments are still not authorized to reopen. "And during this time, fixed charges are still running when there is zero euro in turnover" underlines the very media chef, who operates two establishments, the brasserie Le Quatrième Mur and the starred restaurant LA Table d'Hôtes (housed in the same place), place de la Comédie in Bordeaux. But the priority, insists Philippe Etchebest, is not so much the reopening as the measures to support professionals on the verge of bankruptcy.
"With a plan like this, 25 to 40% of restaurateurs will go bankrupt"
Within the Collectif des restaurateurs du Sud-Ouest, a think tank of five professionals, including the boss of the Bistrot Régent chain , Marc Vanhove, Philippe Etchebest worked throughout the confinement "to find solutions and help restaurants to support this closure that lasts. For me it is a priority, I make it a personal matter, because I see the distress. For some, to professional bankruptcy is added "moral bankruptcy, despair. "Restaurateurs are trying to hang on to something, takeout, anything or anything to get by. "
“Today, analyzes the juror of the Top Chef show, financial aid is not enough to give all professionals a breath of fresh air. According to our information, the measures that could be announced Thursday would be far from satisfying the profession. First of all, a social distance of 4 m2 around the tables could thus be proposed by the government, when the establishments reopen. "If that's it, we're dead," comments Marc Vanhove. As far as I am concerned, it would be catastrophic. I take the example of one of my franchisees in Blagnac near Toulouse, it has 82 seats, and it covers between 400 and 500 people during the day. There, he tells me that with the 4 m2 rule, he only has 22 places left. He is desperate, and I don't know what to answer him. To find neutral, without help on the operating loss, it is impossible when you remove two thirds of the tables. With a plan like this, 25 to 40% of restaurateurs will go bankrupt, a catastrophe is coming. "
Measures that will also have a cost in order to be applied. "I'm farting everything in my brewery to be able to apply social distancing," explains Philippe Etchebest. It will cost me 13,000 euros per case. Not everyone will be able to finance it. "
"State guaranteed loans are good, but they will have to be repaid in full"
The profession should no longer be satisfied regarding the management of operating losses during closure. "What we are proposing is that it requires insurance, because the tool already exists," explains Philippe Etchebest. Insurance can do it; they have already reimbursed the operating losses of restaurants affected by the Xynthia storm. In this scheme, operating losses would therefore be covered by insurance, which restaurateurs would reimburse "partially" via premiums. “It is not a disguised loan, but a virtuous system, in which European funds could also intervene. Because state guaranteed loans are good, but they will have to be repaid in full. "
"Insurance companies do not seem to want to put their hands in the dough and unless the government requires nothing will happen" analyzes his side Philippe Belot, vice-president of Umih (Union of trades of the hotel industry) of Haute-Garonne. However, the central question also revolves around operating losses, he believes. “How do we take into account the fixed costs of establishments during this closing period, and in particular rents? "
"The government is not taking the problem to its dramatic fair value"
The measures that may have leaked also suggest to the vice-president of the Umih that "this interministerial council looks bad, actually." If we reopen with the sanitary conditions that we want to impose on us, it will not even be worth reopening for some, and there will be 30% to 40%, even 50% of defections in the profession. There are starting to be suicides of restaurateurs at the end of the line, because they know they have lost everything! The government is not taking the problem for its dramatic fair value. "
It should also be proposed this Thursday to extend partial unemployment until March 31, 2021. "This is the minimum," says Marc Vanhove, "it is the state that made us shut down, which put our feet on the ground." Taking his case as an example, Philippe Etchebest explains that he has "60 employees" within his establishment. "At the reopening, I would not need the workforce that I had before, this is why the State must extend partial unemployment until we resume normally. "
"Life will remain sad until there are these places of life that we are"
Philippe Etchebest also requests the creation of a one-stop shop. "There are a lot of measures that are taken on the right, on the left, we get lost because it's so complicated, not everyone is entitled to it in addition."
The date of reopening of establishments should not be known before the end of May-beginning of June. Not daring to "even think of a second wave" Philippe Etchebest recognizes "understanding the prudence of the government" on this subject. “Relaunching a machine like a restaurant, to have to close again three weeks later, would be terrible. So be careful not to go too fast, by excess need, even if everyone is waiting for this recovery. Now that there has been the deconfinement, we want to go share a drink, eat at the restaurant, life will remain sad until there are these places of life that we are. But I do not advocate reopening as soon as possible. "
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- Philippe Etchebest
- Restoration
- Coronavirus
- Economy
- Deconfinement
- Covid 19
- Toulouse
- Bordeaux
- Aquitaine