"Eat in the restaurants and we'll pay half the bill" ... the British government's initiative to revitalize the sector
Italian restaurant network "Pizza Express" announced a restructuring plan.
The measure taken by the British government to pay half of the restaurant bill to motivate people to visit it has succeeded in revitalizing this sector, which has been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a study published today.
Under this measure, 50 percent of the bill is subsidized, with a maximum of ten pounds ($ 13) per person, from Mondays to Wednesday during the month of August.
The Center for Economic Studies reported that the number of people who visited restaurants from Monday to Wednesday, which are the days on which the offer is valid, increased in the first two weeks of August by 26.9 percent compared to the same period last year.
On the other hand, the demand for restaurants decreased by 21.3 percent from Thursday to Sunday, according to the center, which based its study on data from the online reservations website "Open Table".
As for the entire week, the decline declined to 7.1%, while it reached 28.2% before the start of this measure.
The economic researcher at the center, Nina Skyiro, said that the initiative of the British Finance Minister, Rishi Sunak, "has achieved success."
The government's action under the slogan "Eat out to help out" (meaning "all outside to help") is part of a series of measures Sunak announced at the start of the summer to relaunch the British economy, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.
The cost of financing this support is 500 million pounds and aims to help the restaurant sector, which employs 1.8 million people in Britain.
The ministry indicated that during the first week of August this measure included subsidizing 10.5 million meals in restaurants.
The movement in the restaurants sector was reflected in the overall activity of the markets and shops in the city center during this week, as the turnout increased by 18.9 percent after 6 pm compared to the previous week, and by 9.6 percent at lunchtime, according to the office. Springboard.
The restaurants sector witnessed the end of the services of 22 thousand employees since the beginning of the year, which is double the number of those who were dismissed during the whole year of 2019, according to a recent study by the Center for Studies on Retail Trade, which specializes in commerce.
The study also showed that 1,467 restaurants closed, an increase of 59.1 percent compared to those that closed during the whole of 2019.
The Italian restaurant network, Pizza Express, for example, announced a restructuring that would lay off 1,100 employees.
This is in addition to bankruptcy filed by Carluccio's Italian restaurants, Byron hamburger restaurant and the "Casual Dining Group" which owns the "Café Rouge" and "Bella Italia" networks.