Mélina Facchin, edited by Laura Laplaud 8:10 am, November 30, 2021

While the epidemic outbreak is increasing in France with the arrival of the Omicron variant, communities and companies, not wishing to cause a new cluster, are postponing their end-of-year events.

Direct consequence: caterers experience cascading cancellations and see their order books gradually emptying.

REPORTING

Will the Omicron variant affect businesses more than the Delta variant?

As the fifth wave of Covid-19 gradually sweeps over France, and the new Omicron variant begins to circulate, the coming weeks remain uncertain.

A social and economic context which encourages communities and businesses to remain cautious and to cancel certain events.

Caterers are the first to be affected by this situation.

A hard blow a few weeks before Christmas

It's a blow, a few weeks before Christmas.

While it is usually a good time of the year, this unpredictable situation begins to affect caterers who see orders gradually being canceled.

Apart from a few puffs, appetizers and salmon kebabs, the kitchens of Eventail caterers have been idling for a week.

Jean Jacquemart, the president of the group, recorded around fifteen cancellations of large orders for company parties or inaugurations.

"These are people who are afraid to create a cluster, so these 15 orders represent around 250,000 euros," he says.

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"Not far from 500,000 euros in losses"

Then there is everything that is not confirmed.

"When sales reps relaunch our customers for the month of December, for example, customers tell them that they've finally decided to do nothing. If I put it all together, in my opinion, we're not far away. 500,000 euros [in losses] by the end of the year, ”he added.

This caterer is not an isolated case.

"You have restaurateurs and hoteliers who talk about cancellations coming from companies for the cancellation of Christmas celebrations," confirms Roger Sengel, president of the Groupement des hôteliers et des restaurateurs du Bas-Rhin.

"Although we are slightly impacted at the moment, we may be more so in the coming months."