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Hospitality operators threw open their doors in early December in anticipation of a sugar rush of punters wanting to get out and party after being locked up for months but, unfortunately, it was very short lived, and so things are far from back to normal in the sector.
After two years of lockdowns and restricted trade, venue owners were hopeful of being able to claw back the vast amounts of cash they had splashed on their businesses for survival.
While trading in the red traffic light setting, we were all restricted to amaximum of 100 diners/drinkers per venue, all having to be seated and separated.
Add to the mix unprecedented staffing shortages and supply chain issues and it has become a recipe for disaster.
Landlords started getting tough, and suppliers not as willing to continue with payment plans meant running the books with limited income became awhole new ballgame.
Once the settings were eased to orange, everyone thought things were back to normal. This was far from reality.
Most corporates and office workers were still told to work from home, and general foot traffic for most venues has been around 50% at best.
The staffing shortage has got worse, and many staff members having to isolate for being close contacts, and then isolate again for contracting Covid.
Trying to run a normal roster has become a thing of the past.
On normal busy days and nights when we would expect to fill all seats in our venues, most of us are either restricting tables, or closing on dayswe were normally open aswe don’t have the staff to cope. Our ability to generate revenue to recover is again restricted.
The mental health aspect has become amajor problem, with many people running out of steam, and making the decision to leave the industry for something a little easier.
Our group bookings started to build as people felt safe to come out and socialise, only for many of them to be cancelled at the last minute because of diners needing to isolate.
Unfortunately, as we head into the softer trading months during winter, many businesses will struggle to generate enough working capital to get them through to the better trading months of spring and summer.
Although our government is allowing us to trade in a somewhat normal manner, it has failed to understand that, because of restrictions beyond our control, the road to recovery will be very very long, and still with no targeted financial support.
The industry is now focused on an approach to encourage people to get back out and about
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and saving an industry that precovid formed amassive part of the social fabric of this country.
This is an industry of very passionate people who for the most part don’t do it for the money but who, unfortunately, find it very hard to run a business without it