The terraces may open soon, but are they ready for the rush?

Sometime in the middle of this week, the number of people vaccinated with at least the first dose in Hungary will reach 3.5 million. According to the announcement of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the terraces of the restaurants can be reopened at that point.

“Still, it’s a symbolic and very important step to finally be able to open the terraces and get something back from our old lives.”

– Zoltán Zsidai Roy, restaurant owner, told infostart.hu.

On Friday, Gergely Gulyás announced that priests and pastors would be taken forward in the vaccination order because they had a prominent role in the difficult period caused by the epidemic. It is not yet known whether the government will make an exception with caterers as well.

According to László Kovács, it would be good if, after such an extended shutdown, they could plan at least two weeks in advance with the opening.

Securing the right workforce foundational, serious wage increases will be needed to lure back. The construction industry, for example, is a significant competitor in the job market right now.

– the president of the Hungarian Catering Industry Association (MVI), László Kovács, told Index.

Similarly to the workforce, the amount of available goods is also causing concern. It takes time for perishable raw materials to be inventoried and replenished, and replenishing stocks is a significant logistical task.

The sector has slowed down both technically and mentally.

The head of the MVI expects that people will initially have a liberating, euphoric feeling. There is a great demand for social life, but over time this will settle. Meanwhile, tourism will have to wait longer.

Vaccination is not mandatory for anyone, but László Kovács believes that employees of restaurants will act responsibly if they request the vaccine.

The expert stressed that vaccination could also provide the tourism sector with a good advertising opportunity, a greater sense of security.

At the Government Info on Thursday, Chancellor Gergely Gulyás spoke about the fact that four million vaccinees could receive relaxations that only apply to those with a protection certificate.

It would not be good to make this mandatory for guests; it would mean a considerable loss of revenue for most of our consumer audience between the ages of 18 and 40.

The government let the terrace fees go. The process will still require a lot of money from the caterers and a lot of patience from the guests. Even the outlets have lost much of their sales, have run out of reserves and are already trying to sustain themselves by attracting external sources.

At least the chefs could cook, the colleagues dealing with the guests, but the waiters also came out of practice, which can lead to a slightly awkward reopening, which can also require patience on the part of the guests.

Plenty of equipment could have been destroyed, so it is expected that heavy millions will also go to maintenance work to make everything work by the time they can receive guests.

It is also expected that it will take a lot of time to find and train colleagues.

According to Zsidán Roy Zsidai’s calculations, the first months of reopening can cost even more than being closed. All the more so because the operation of terraces is very risky and unpredictable due to the weather. That is, the efficiency is much lower than if a restaurant could function properly.

Therefore, in order to prevent the places that can be reopened from bleeding out by the second half of the year, it would be important to have some kind of one-time support plan in addition to maintaining the current relief systems and tax benefits.

The restaurant owner is confident that the joy of life will fill as many people as possible, eagerly waiting to sit out on the terraces and garden areas.

Source: index.hu; infostart.hu