Why are some restaurants not doing eat out to help Out ?

[Lardlizard]

It doesn’t cost them anything surely ?

[Iwalkinmyclothing]

Cashflow maybe? Idk how long they would need to wait for the government to pay out on the voucher.

[Kez200]

If they are busy anyway, extra pressure would add to needing more staff and more paperwork, for 12 days.

Those Ive heard not needing it have wished those well that have.

Its good for those with staff but poor turnover at the beginning of the week.

[Kez200]

It does cost, sort of.

Get money later
Admin to discount, then record, then claim
Need for extra resources if busy anyway


Its great for most, but not absolutely everyone.

[FizzyPink]

I think some smaller restaurants that don’t have much space anyway think they could be turning away customers who would have been happy paying full price in favour of those wanting a discount.

I’m not sure about anywhere else but certainly in London I’ve been struggling to book popular restaurants which would normally be easy to get into on a Monday or Tuesday so people definitely seem to be making use of it.

[Lardlizard]

Wonder if
It
Will be extended to past August ?

[Kez200]

Unlikely if they need to keep the r rate down when schools open. If they do, is it fair to other struggling industry?

[lukasiak]

High risk food. Bad reviews because food isn't served up exactly how it's meant to be. There are loads of reasons.

[Mothership4two]

We went to a pub this week that wasn't participating. It was busy, so I guess they just don't need to

[Idore]

A local small cafe to me, posted on instagram that the reason they are not participating is the record keeping required and paperwork was too much for their small team that are already having to do extra work with covid.

[Toomanycats99]

Same as po small local restaurant said they originally were but then looked into it and it was just too much work. Manually working out bills splitting alcohol etc would impact service times and all claims had to be submitted separately and he doesn't have a back office team.

[GrumpyHoonMain]

Eat out to help out has caused queues out the doors at bigger restaurants /chains. This allows smaller players to cash in by being available for last minute visits (at full price).

[Elouera]

In addition to not getting the cash till a week later, I'm sure some restaurants wouldnt be keen for the government to know how much they are making! Especially places which are cash only!

[Bunnybigears]

The paperwork involved isn't insignificant, it would put me off if I was a small business owner.

[Lardlizard]

Oh yes, good points makes sense now

[Aebj]

My parents local pub did it. They will not carry on. Mainly because of some rude and disrespectful people. They don’t have a big enough kitchen to keep up with demand , due to restrictions put in place for a work safe environment. They want to keep their staff safe and they don’t want their staff to feel as threatened as they did . They want to look after them.

[Crankley]

Because they don't want to?

[lastqueenofscotland]

I imagine cash flow is a massive issue, as you have to claim everything back, a lot of places that employ people in zero hours pay weekly, so they still have to pay staff, and if there are issues or delays in the funds arriving it could be crippling.

[lifesalongsong]

I wondered this, there was a thread the other day that had various suggestions, I guess different places will have different reasons not to do it

[InTheWings]

The money is being refunded by the government within 5 days, but the reporting is quite onerous if they are not well set up for it.

Also, the more cash based ones...

There is widespread dodgy behaviour going on. I don’t know why the big mostly takeaway chains were allowed to take part. People are obviously saying they are eating in and then taking it away. The scheme was supposed to help independents get people in through the week rather than all at the W/e so that they could space people out at a distance, and have enough business to bring furloughed staff back.

[InTheWings]

Because they don't want to

Possibly the thread is attempting to explore reasons why places might not want to....

[mum2jakie]

If they wanted to restrict it to independent restaurants, the government could quite easily have changed the criteria. Ultimately the entire industry needs support so this is a means of doing so - and it's popular with the general public so win win.

[InTheWings]

mum2jakie
I agree that the whole industry needs to be supported in the best way possible.

But the Gvt clearly intended this to support places that are not primarily takeaway because the offer doesn't extend to takeaway. Except that it does, on the sly.

In the end this will be taxpayer funded, so I am less keen on the places that have been able to offer a takeaway business throughout and continue to do huge takeaway business, being the beneficiary of my taxes.

Restaurants that have had to cut down the number of tables / covers to achieve social distancing really need support.