‘I’ve known recessions in my time but this is unlike anything I’ve seen’
KERRY’S RESTAURANTS ARE HOPING TO REOPEN IN THE COMING WEEKS AFTER A TOUGH TIME FOR THE SECTOR
KERRY’S RESTAURANT AND HOSPITALITY SECTOR HAS BEEN DECIMATED EVER SINCE THE COVID-19 SOCIAL DISTANCING RESTRICTIONS BROUGHT BUSINESS TO A HALT IN MARCH. NOW, WITH THE FIRST TENTATIVE SIGN OF A RECOVERY ON THE HORIZON, STEPHEN FERNANE CHATS TO SOME OF THOSE MOST AFFECTED.
KATIE and David Farrell own The Scarriff Inn in Caherdaniel and Dooley’s Seafood & Steakhouse in Waterville. One restaurant stays open all year round, while the other is geared towards the tourist season.
Both restaurants combined employ around 45 staff in peak season, with around 75 per cent of this staff base living locally. It gives you an idea of how impactful the closures are in this south Kerry community. Katie tells me that up to 95 percent of trade alone in the Scarriff Inn is from overseas visitors, a scenario that is highly unlikely to be the case in 2020.
“In south Kerry I would contend that direct and indirect employment from tourism is upwards of 80 per cent. If the visitors aren’t coming and the locals don’t have employment, it makes for a vicious and scary circle,” Katie says.
Preparations for a new season had been underway just three days when the lock-down was implemented. Katie and David say they’ve started this year having ‘maxed out’ on their overdraft to the tune of €90,000.
“It’s very bleak. Because we’re in a rural area we barely get by in the winter. In normal circumstances, come May, we’ve covered our overdraft and we’re getting ready for a new season. This has been a disaster,” she adds.
Katie recently took part in a conference call with Minister Pascal O’Donoghue that included 10 other restaurant owners from around Ireland. To her surprise, Katie discovered she was the only representative of a rural establishment. With June 29 projected as the date when restaurants can reopen, Katie has her doubts.
“This is very unclear, is this scheduled re-opening based on whether you have a restaurant licence, a seven-day licence, or a hotel licence? In this scenario we don’t know if we can legally open in June, which is totally unfair. There is still a question mark there as to who can open.”
Even though Katie said their restaurants are quite large in terms of size, it may not be financially viable to re-open under the social distancing measures.
“The local population here is 500 people, how many of them are going to eat out? Due to travel restrictions and the lack of visitors, it won’t be financially viable to hire staff or buy in products. I opened my first restaurant in 1992; I know my business and what it takes to run it. But now I’m flying blind as I’ve no idea,” she says. While the economic picture tends to shade much of the discourse surrounding restaurant closures, there is also an emotional price exacted.
“I’ve known recessions and struggle in my time in business, but this is unlike any other struggle I’ve had. It’s in the pit of your stomach every day, and you go through waves of depression that is frightening,” she says.
Katie and David feel the banks, insurance companies and government now need to show greater understanding to businesses that are struggling to overcome this crisis.
“The three-month freeze in rates is a joke because at the end of it they (the banks) are compounding it at a time when your business is decimated, where are you going to get the income to pay the increase? They need to work with people to get through this. In order for us to survive we need a zero-per-cent interest loan or a grant. But this can’t be full of bureaucrat hoops,” she says.