Now shut by Covid-19
furloughed staff if it works well.
The restaurant has space for 43 diners at full capacity, but Steve said that if they had to reopen with fewer tables because of social distancing it “wouldn’t work”.
“If we’re asked to do that it won’t open. It would be cheaper to stay closed.
“I think they’ll hold restaurants until very last to reopen and only when there is no need for social distancing.
“But, if we’re not open by January, everything we’ve worked for and put money into will be lost,” said Steve.
In Cardiff, worries about the longterm impact of lockdown and social distancing are keeping restaurant owners awake at night too.
“What we want to know is when can we cwtch our staff and customers again? Or abbraccio them, as the Italians say,” said Giovanni Malacrino, 59, who owns three Italian restaurants bearing his name in Cardiff.
“I go to each of the restaurants once a week to check everything and to feed the fish. I go in and see the empty tables and you just can’t help but look at it and feel sad.”
All of Giovanni’s staff have been put on furlough and, although he believes the Government has done a good job with supporting businesses so far, he worries that if the lockdown goes on too long the burden of rent and bills will be too much for small businesses.
“It will affect everybody. The amount of competition is huge, there’s always another club, another restaurant, we’re saturated so we were fighting for business as it is. If, all of a sudden, you’ve got the same rent and bills to pay and you’re taking a third of the revenue because of social distancing, you could get into difficulty,” he said.
Giovanni added that if theatres reopen but with smaller audiences, the same with sports fixtures, and a limit is put on the number of people allowed in a restaurant at one time “it could bring small business to a standstill,” without ongoing government support and continued business rate breaks.
“When we reopen we’ve got to make sure people feel safe, show them that Giovanni’s is a safe place to eat, because the safety of our staff and customers must always come first but we must bring the town centre back to life or risk letting it die completely.
“And who wants to live a life of misery by staying indoors? The Welsh people are like the Italians in that they love to sing, drink, laugh and hug.
“We’ve been through challenging times before – when they knocked down the St David’s Centre and the last recession. We’ve been through very hard times as a small, family-run business, and fended off the big companies like Carluccio’s and Jamie’s Italian, but nothing has been as scary as what we’ve got right now,” Giovanni said.
His restaurant in The Hayes, Cardiff, is celebrating its 37th year and Giovanni is determined it will see its 40th and 50th anniversaries too.
“Without customers there is no Giovanni’s so what’s important now is to look forward to reopening,” he added.
Giovanni remains optimistic and hopes to reopen one of his restaurants in some capacity in June, depending on what the government guidance is by then, with the others to follow in the next months depending on the situation.
He’s adapting to the lockdown by starting a new online venture to recreate some of his best-loved recipes in online classes and delivering food to people’s homes. He’s also just released his first book, The Therapy of Cooking.