That's it ! After two and a half months of closure due to coronavirus, the restaurants will finally reopen on Tuesday, announced Edouard Philippe this week. With a strict health protocol, professionals in the sector are actively preparing for recovery, which will not be the same everywhere. In the orange zones, the current color of the whole of Île-de-France, only the terraces will be able to reopen Tuesday, June 2.
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"We will get down to making the markings on the ground for the meter distance between the tables"
If those who do not have outdoor spaces fulminate, the restaurateurs who have a terrace have already done their calculation. In Ménilmontant, in the 20ᵉ arrondissement of Paris, Benjamin, who runs the Brasserie Coquin, will be able to install 40 outdoor spaces. "We will get down to making the markings on the ground for the meter distance between the tables", he explains to the microphone of Europe 1, impatient to be able to welcome customers.
To help restaurateurs, the town hall of Paris has decided to organize an important system. Streets will be pedestrianized and parking spaces will be removed during the summer, "until September 30" to allow restaurant owners and coffee makers to set up their tables and chairs.
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Some people know that terraces will not be profitable
The close return of tables and chairs on the sidewalks is something to cheer Christian, crossed as he desperately searches for a place to sit. "I drink my coffee standing by hand. Inevitably, if I could sit down to drink it, it would be quieter," he said, looking forward to Tuesday.
But at the same time, the habits of confinement, such as take-out sales, will continue beyond June 2 for some restaurateurs. Because in terms of terrace, size matters. And despite the authorizations to temporarily expand the outdoor spaces of establishments, some employers know this: they will not be profitable.
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To this economic condition is added the fear of some of the restaurateurs of seeing certain customers who are too eager to deconfine ... and of not respecting barrier gestures. This would further complicate a reopening yet already very framed.