Eat Out to Help Out - Take 2

[LemonadeFromLemons]

Deliveroo are calling for a second run of the scheme. I think businesses should be supported perhaps through rates cuts and other schemes but I do not think the EO2HO scheme was a good idea for tax payers or for people’s health in terms of coronavirus spread.

So...please vote and counteract my opinion. I’m happy to have the benefits pointed out.

YABU - I think we should do it again
YANBU - it’s a bad idea

Also not sure if vouchers would work. There would be a lot of forgeries! And they will be found out after.... and the businesses would have to pay back and subsidise the money

It was horrific to work! Brought out the worst in people. We will not be doing it if it comes back again. Especially seeing as my best staff members said they would rather quit than have to deal with that again.

From an industry point of view, August wasn't the best choice for it as places has just re-opened and people were taking holidays etc anyway. It didn't cause the spike in mid september, there was no big spike in august when it was on. Transmission in hospitality has been very low, it is safer than domestic settings.
Most hospitality settings have distancing and all safety procedures in place. If somewhere looks too busy or you don't feel comfortable then you don't go in. Customers need to take some responsibility for their own behaviour this year - you know the rules, hospitality staff shouldn't have to be put in the position of constantly reminding / asking people to modify their behaviour unnecessarily.
The name of the scheme brought out the worst in some customers, they were very rude and would seem to think that their custom was bestowing some great honour.
Helping hospitality is following the guidance yourself, being polite and understanding to staff and in return getting good service in a safe environment.
It was a really difficult return last year. People did not understand that the government were giving extremely short notice when bringing in sweeping operational changes - eg table service only
In Wales the EO2HO coincided with indoor opening for hospitality which wasn't the best timing. The government needs to be talking to independent hospitality and listening to how last year went and the effects the whole year has had. They say they take guidance but I'm no sure where they get it as nobody in the industry seems to agree with them.
There will be fewer places to go this year as many won't have made it. The costs of being closed for so long will have been too much.

It was a daft idea and would be even dafter to do again. There is enough pent up demand without it.

@SadderThanEeyore couldn't agree more! 👏

We had people complaining after a few days of their meal that they didn't feel safe.... so they bought a half price meal. Ate the whole damn thing. We also have cameras. They didn't sanitise their hands. Drank and were not socially distancing themselves even though we have put all measures in place. We told them we can't police your behaviour. She asked for her money back. I said no. You said you didn't feel safe when you arrived so why on earth did you stay, eat, claim your discount, not sanitise or stay I'm your seat and keep wandering about then decide its our fault we have it all on camera. She the tried social media saying we don't have any sanitiser etc so we responded with a video of all our precautions in place and luckily many people backed us up. We didn't hear from her again. It really was horrible

Had the opposite effect for us. We go out for a meal a couple of times a month but during EOTHO we didn't go anywhere as everything was booked out.

I think we managed a half price motorway McDonald's on a trip to see DD.

Nope - deadened out weekends (when spend is usually higher), brought the worst out in customers and contributed to the exponential spread of the virus.

There's enough pent up demand out there - and there are alternative means of helping us.

Only attempted it once, by accident as has booked the table for a specific date a day or two before the scheme was announced.

Despite it being an early evening, Tuesday night booking, we waited 40 minutes for drinks and after 2 hours gave up on food and went home via Tesco for a pizza meal deal, so I'm not sure I'd bother again!

DD and I do have a list of restaurants we want to go to when we can though.

No. Stupid waste of scarce government funding that was abused. If you can afford to eat out, you can pay full price. We have too many who are struggling to afford to eat at home.

Eat out to help out a 3rd wave. Bad bad idea.

People will be going out anyway because everyone is sick of spending so long stuck in the house.

I'd rather they spent the money on something which doesn't persuade people to eat loads of crap on the cheap.

The original scheme helped the chains rather than the independent places. Small quality restaurants, run by the chefs, often don't open 7 days a week, and run on tight margins anyway. EO2HO ran on the days they were not usually open, and the £10 limit made the price differential between them and the chain places proportionally more, which actually drove business to the chains and away from them while it was running. The best 2 independent restaurants in our town have already closed permanently. I'm not confident about seeing some of the others return either.

@murbblurb the point was to bolster hospitality and retain jobs. The government have largely undone this by failing to cover the costs of furlough - employers forced to close still pay pension and employer conritbutions - and not covering basic costs.
All these places now have huge loans through no fault of their own and need a recovery strategy.
How do you think they should be supported to keep the jobs going? The government need a better strategy but at least they tried with Eat Out, however hard it was to deal with.
@Backtoschool101 tell me about it. We had ridiculous issues too. Unfortunately people don't realise how hard a job it is in general let alone last year.

As someone who worked in a restaurant throughout it....... please god no! Brought out the absolute worst in people, some customers were just horrible. I think that a lot of the people who never go to restaurants came because of the discount and they just didn't seem to have a clue how restaurants work or how to behave in one. It was awful. And like a pp said some people seemed to think that they were doing us a massive favour so could treat us like shit.

Also I don't think that they will need to encourage people to get out to shops, hospitality and leisure this time. The fear factor has largely worn off.

I loved it.

@Shelovesamystery

As someone who worked in a restaurant throughout it....... please god no! Brought out the absolute worst in people, some customers were just horrible. I think that a lot of the people who never go to restaurants came because of the discount and they just didn't seem to have a clue how restaurants work or how to behave in one. It was awful. And like a pp said some people seemed to think that they were doing us a massive favour so could treat us like shit.

Oh god. That sounds awful. I used to work at TOPSHOP and remember getting hoards of rude customers during sale launches. Definitely not our usual clientele, they would trash the store, demand things for free or pretend items were faulty for a refund! Can definitely imagine what restaurant staff had to contend with😔

Yep @SadderThanEeyore we are in so much debt. We had to take the maximum cbil loan and even though payments haven't started yet when they do it is going to break us. But we had rent to pay and all costs before furlough and stock etc. We couldn't estimate what we needed as we weren't sure how takeaways would go. It's so hit and miss. It's all shambles really. Yes it is going to effect tax payers. But we are tax payers too! We pay tax like everyone else plus all the other costs involved in keeping people employed too. But people forget and only think of the big chains small chains like us really are struggling and have put our lives, blood,sweat and tears into these ventures. If we don't open again, if it comes to that our whole lives have gone. All our money and time gone. We were planning to buy a house. First time buyers before the pandemic. It's just not ever going to happen now.

I thought it was a crazy idea last time and it would be to do it again. EO2HO was shortly followed by an increase in cases - who knew

I didn’t know it applied to takeaway services but suppose it must have if Deliveroo are seeking it again. Getting a takeout isn’t ‘eating out’. We don’t have Deliveroo in our area (sadly).

Happy for vouchers for takeaway services to be a thing but I don’t think people should be actively encouraged to mix socially. Perhaps with help to increase takeout services more businesses would embrace it (as many already have).

Can’t help but wonder if government help would be best directed to those who can’t afford a takeaway or meals out though even at a discount.

@Backtoschool101 totally understand, if you want to PM me I'm happy to chat about it. There's many of us in the same position, we need to help one another where we can.

I think eat in to help out would be a far better plan. Do the exact same deal but on take aways.
By doing this your would be supporting the businesses but not driving hoards of people into restraunts.

@Scarlettpixie the evidence from the government opposes your view. They found it safer for people to meet out of home, domestic settings were highest risk.
Some examples for you, people are less likely to have good ventilation at home (especially in winter)
Rooms are likely to be physically smaller
You are more likely to be closer together due to lack of space
More likely to share things - condiments, pass the biscuits around etc
Dry your hands on their towel

The whole season I never felt at risk at work. I feel less safe in shops / supermarkets where people wander and crowd each other.

@Aimee1987 takeaways have done the best throughout so this doesn't help hospitality stay afloat. They can't have hoards because you have to have distance between tables etc.

If there is any kind of stimulus package it shouldn’t be for Deliveroo - they’ve been able to keep trading all the way through this and have massively benefited from people getting takeaways instead of going out. I’m in favour of supporting restaurants and people who work in hospitality but not on Deliveroo’s terms.

@motherwol definitely - Deliveroo take up to 35% as a fee for restaurants, which can make it prohibitive for struggling independents. Since I learnt this I’ve been trying to order directly with the restaurants.