Free opinions about catering world future

Probably in a few months - or a little bit more - we will leave this bad period behind us, and for us it will be like waking up from a bad nightmare, like an Phoenician Arab who rises from his ashes. We will return to live our everyday life, spending our time to do things we like and care.

In the meantime, however, although the heart would like to reach different conclusions, logic and reason lead us to a series of reflections and foresights - in the economic trade – very far from being positive, especially what about tourism and catering.

In fact, beyond populist rhetoric, given that we don’t live on the ideal world (unfortunately or fortunately, I don’t know), but on an Earth that every day - in a different way - slams the reality of things against our faces, we have a well-founded fear that all a series of activities, especially those that base their existence by sociality and interpersonal relationships (such as restaurants) will not be able to restart just because a government decree will allow them to reopen.

Nowadays the people certainly don't go on vacation because they’re obliged, or go to a restaurant because they’re hungry or have nothing to eat at home. We leave because it is for us all a source of pleasure, a sharing and carefree moment. All things that we couldn’t be in this transitory phase, in which the fear of contagion will be present in all our actions, in all our behavior, in every daily action.

And therefore, what’s the sense to go to the restaurant if you cannot freely speak freely and quietly to the other diners, if you cannot share dishes or a glass of wine, if you cannot remain to chat with the waiter or the owner of the restaurant?

Honestly, we really struggle to understand it.

Also because, if what was supposed doesn’t happen, that is, if everybody begin to go out behaving as before, freely going around restaurants and clubs, less than miracles (which unfortunately don’t happen as often as we would like) in very few time we would fall back into a new health emergency, which would impose another apocalyptic lockdown that could destroy fovever a lot of productive activities.

Furthermore (another no insignificant aspect), the strict rules and safety and hygienic procedures that restaurants owners will necessarily have to respect and enforce will lead to an important management costs increase, which added to the lower incomings induced by the obligatory distancing (therefore less covered than there were before) and the fact that there will be a less numer of customers, which in many cases (expecially activities with lower margins) will make the business economically no sustainable.

Probably, restaurant with large open spaces available or a "starred" restaurant can survive these difficult months, but it is really difficult for us to think how can adapt to the security protocols (aboslutely necessary…) and at the same time maintain minimal profit whole series of restaurant activities such as small “trattorias” or “pizzerias” that doesn’t work well with the takeaway service.

For all these considerations, even if we understand the requests for an immediate restart of the world of collective catering (which, moreover, have an important suppliers system which is also undergoing this situation), we have serious doubts that this district can resume as soon as possible.

For this reason, it would be important for everyone to take note of the reality, that is, until a vaccine will founded and spreaded or until the virus disappears, any activity that requires sociability and assembly of people will be hardly limited and therefore penalized economically.
And above all, we think that it would be fundamental that the government have to implement further and effective protection and support instruments.

Before it is really too late.