Why are so many restaurants still closed?

[SillyUnMurphy]

I’m in a busyish town in East Herts and so many restaurants are still closed or offering takeaway only. A lot of them are large chain restaurants with space for social distancing albeit with booking necessary. Also garden centre cafes still closed (again very big spaces and with outside space). Costa is takeaway only or completely closed. No Nando’s, Cote Brassiere, zizzi, Pizza Express or Bills.

I don’t understand it. Cafes and restaurants have had a long time to prepare for reopening. Boris and co are telling us we all have to ‘Eat out to help out’ but hardly anything near me is open and I don’t want to always have food to take away. The only thing near us is an M&S cafe where you can sit in and it has been done really well with loads of space between everyone.

Are all of these restaurants just relying on the government furlough scheme to pay their staff, with no intention of opening up until that’s finished?

How can the economy get moving again if places won’t open?

What do you think you're being unreasonable about?

It may not be financially viable. Costs per head will go up, and the number of customers they can accommodate will be significantly reduced. If they’re not going to earn enough money from many fewer customers to pay staff and meet other costs, they’ll have to keep staff on furlough instead.

@Lockheart

What do you think you're being unreasonable about?

Asking why and having an expectation that places will be open now that they are allowed to?

Lost all their staff?

Not worth opening financially with half the customers?

Havent developed a ppe plan for staff?

They cant afford stock?

Theyve gone bust?

In some cases it’s not economically viable to open with a reduced number of covers. The cost of having staff in but only half your number of tables is just a quick way to run the business into the ground.

Chains are prioritising their most profitable venues first in terms of training and changes to processes. Some branches may never reopen, other chains trying to refinance.
Take away means fewer staff for them too.

I think furlough will be playing a part but it may be that we might see some of these chains disappearing. Obviously no one knows exactly what’s going on behind closed doors but any company that was running on a knife edge before lockdown may be running the numbers on reduced numbers of customers due to distancing and making the decision whether or not to reopen.

I don’t believe any profitable business would delay reopening unless they had good reason tbh.

@Cornettoninja

I think furlough will be playing a part but it may be that we might see some of these chains disappearing. Obviously no one knows exactly what’s going on behind closed doors but any company that was running on a knife edge before lockdown may be running the numbers on reduced numbers of customers due to distancing and making the decision whether or not to reopen.

I don’t believe any profitable business would delay reopening unless they had good reason tbh.

Yep, this.

I just wonder how we are going to spend our way out of this mess. It seems less and less likely as time goes on.

You don't understand? Surely you can come up with a few reasons yourself? off the top of my head

Cash flow problems
Not economically viable to open with reduced customers
Staffing issues
National chains will take longer to develop an opening strategy than independents
Lack of trust in government on the risk level for their staff
Waiting to see how it goes for other chains
Will never reopen, or will go bankrupt and reopen with another name

I know someone who runs a restaurant. They are not opening up till august as they have decided to wait and see how it all plays out in terms of footfall in the town etc. It would be too costly to open and then not have enough customers etc.

This is just the start .... wait till Brexit bites as well ...

For a lot of places, it's just not worth it financially. It's cheaper to stay closed when the alternative is only serving half their usual customers.

I bet it's to do with the toilets too. All the extra cleaning required will put a lot off

Staff costs = the same

• the costs of adding screens / extra cleaning

• half of your custom.

You do the maths, it’s just not viable to open

I don’t think you actually understand what it’s like to reopen a business like that. A large chain restaurant has to be viable, both financially and safely, to be able to open.

It’s not just about keeping the customer safe, but the staff safe too. So staff areas —break rooms, kitchens, corridors, stock rooms etc.— need to be able to fit social distancing and safe working guidelines.

So a restaurant cannot open if doing so would be unsafe to the staff eg. they need fewer staff on shift to enable social distancing, but such few staff cannot operate a restaurant effectively.

It’s not as easy as “they have a large dining room, just use every other table” or whatever. All angles need to be considered and those include the parts and workings of the business you as the customer cannot are.

*cannot see

Also supply chains of stock.
We saw the empty shelves in the supermarkets when there was suddenly 30% more demand from the loss of eating out. The supermarkets have taken months to adjust supply chains for items such as eggs and flour. The hospitality industry can't suddenly flip back, plus demand is reduced and uncertain.

Chains like McDonalds have reduced menus, partly for social distancing of staff needing less in the kitchen, but also to ensure that they are selling a reliable core of stock and are financially secure.
Opening up to eat in reduces customer capacity further in terms of spacing, but increases staffing to meet guidelines on table service.

Many mid-price chains were over expanded and in difficulties anyway so need to be very careful to survive.

@SillyUnMurphy

I’m in a busyish town in East Herts and so many restaurants are still closed or offering takeaway only. A lot of them are large chain restaurants with space for social distancing albeit with booking necessary. Also garden centre cafes still closed (again very big spaces and with outside space). Costa is takeaway only or completely closed. No Nando’s, Cote Brassiere, zizzi, Pizza Express or Bills.

I don’t understand it. Cafes and restaurants have had a long time to prepare for reopening. Boris and co are telling us we all have to ‘Eat out to help out’ but hardly anything near me is open and I don’t want to always have food to take away. The only thing near us is an M&S cafe where you can sit in and it has been done really well with loads of space between everyone.

Are all of these restaurants just relying on the government furlough scheme to pay their staff, with no intention of opening up until that’s finished?

How can the economy get moving again if places won’t open?

I'm also East Herts and also a restaurant owner (more south Herts location though) and we were delighted to be able to re-open and have our customers in again. We were very well supported through lockdown when we upped our game on the take away side/offered delivery and signed up with Just Eat........but it's not the same as running a restaurant and seeing customers enjoying your food, and the atmosphere of eating out.

However as PP have said, with a reduced capacity (approx 50% in our case) we are definitely not going to be turning a profit in the coming weeks - and we are fully booked for tonight.

I heard on a BBC news report yesterday that only 2 in 10 people surveyed are comfortable eating out at an indoor restaurant currently, so lots of people are still anxious about it.

A few of the restaurants in the town where we are have not yet opened for dine in, and continue with the takeaway side. Interestingly they are primarily Turkish restaurants where the seating is very squashed together so I wonder if they would have to lose so many tables to meet government SD guidelines, it's just not worth it.

Another friend who has has a coffee shop in another town actually took the decision back in June to shut up shop for July and August and has gone back with his family to his home country for the summer. He received the £25k grant which will see him through for rent and utilities/insurance until September, part time staff are furloughed, and he's hoping that by September he will be in a position to re-open as normal. It's a bit of a punt, we could be into a second spike and lockdown again by then!

Anyway OP if you're looking for a restaurant not to far from you - let me know! (Not tonight though )

Would love to know where you are located @Thunderpunt

Reduced capacity and not wanting to risk their staff if they can't do it safely.

Maybe they actually care about their staff?

There are lots of independent cafes in my town. It's crying shame. I am trying o buy takeaway from there when I am out, but I obviously don't want to eat take away all the time. I really worry that they are going to go under.

@SillyUnMurphy

Would love to know where you are located *@Thunderpunt*

I'll give you a clue... P~~~~~~ B~~

@SillyUnMurphy

Would love to know where you are located *@Thunderpunt*

I'll give you a clue... P~~~~~~ B~~