Positive outlook for restaurants emerges in latest ACE survey

The second ACE member's sentiment survey for the month of May portrays a general positive outlook in relation to forecasted restaurant performance from respective owners.

Since restaurants re-opened until midnight, 54% of respondents reported a good performance, whereas 36% of respondents reported an average restaurant performance. On the other hand, less than one tenth of respondents were unhappy with their restaurant's performance since restaurants have been allowed to resume with their evening activities.

The survey notes that almost one third of the respondents have only opted to open their establishment on 24 May (not before), despite the easing of restrictions since 10 May.

Only 10% of respondents had been expecting their restaurant to perform negatively during the long weekend between Friday, 4 June and Monday, 7 June, the survey found.

The survey also noted that half of the respondents are offering discounts or incentives (apart from government vouchers) to increase consumption. This has triggered the ACE voucher scheme where a group of these restaurants have launched under the ACE umbrella. In addition, twothirds of the respondents opted to engage in advertising their restaurant services in a bid to re-gain business momentum since 24 May.

"On another note, one may argue that delivery services may have offered a lifeline in terms of cash flow for restaurants during the past 18 months. Despite such dependency on the delivery services, sentiment among restaurant owners still varies exponentially. Figures show that 36% of respondents intend to maintain their delivery services, yet 27% of respondents claimed their intent towards the elimi

nation of delivery services. This has been coupled also with 17% of respondents opting to resort to pre-covid-19 take-out menus, while 14% of the response rate shifted towards an effort in making further investments geared towards delivery services," an ACE statement read.

The general positive feeling was echoed mainly by establishments located in prime locations while the average and not positive feedback seem to be located in less central areas.

The list of establishments participating in the ACE voucher scheme may be found on https://acemalta.org.mt/. More establishments are enrolling on a regular basis so the general public is encouraged to visit the website regularly.