Better Performance During This Year’s COVID Reopening Has Restaurants Optimistic About Summer
A majority of restaurants have reported a better performance in the first weeks of reopening from the latest COVID-19 closures than they did after reopening last year.
The survey also found optimism running high within the sector while warning that the sector could not take the third closure.
In March, the government ordered the closure of non-essential services, including restaurants. They were allowed to open once again earlier this month.
The government had ordered a similar closure of catering establishments during roughly the same period the year before when the COVID-19 virus was first detected in Malta.
A survey commissioned by the Association of Catering Establishments (ACE) found that more than half of respondents felt they had done better this time around, with “some reporting sales three times those of last year’s reopening week”.
But the survey also found that 51% of restaurants said that performance was “overall worse” than in 2020. 30% said it was at roughly the same level, with the remaining 19% reporting an increase in sales.
Just over half of the restaurants who participated in the survey said they looked positively on the second half of 2021, but some 46% said it would take roughly two years to recover from the pandemic.
81% said they believed that the second voucher scheme launched by the government is of “extreme importance” for kickstarting the sector’s recovery.
33% of restaurants reported making less profit from delivery services as a result of increased competition, with 24% claiming to have performed better.
Looking at the future, 83% said they believed the situation would improve once they are allowed to open for dinner next week.
ACE urged the public to cooperate with restaurant owners and the authorities in order to prevent any further closures.
Have you been out to eat yet?
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