The UK government has launched the initiative “Eat out to help out” with the aim of protecting jobs in the hospitality sector and encouraging people to safely return to dining out.
The initiative is based on a state subsidy which offers British diners discounted meals at restaurants, cafes and eateries offering sit-in dining. The offer is valid every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 3 to 31 August.
After a three-month forced quarantine with only exercise and essential shopping permitted, affordable dining, together with the possibility to escape home cooking, is driving British customers back to restaurants. The initiative “Eat out to help out” is a source of relief not only for many hospitality entrepreneurs, but also for many clients who want to go back to a normal lifestyle.
A true relief for restaurant owners?
In the town of Bury St Edmunds, in the East Anglia region, British food diner Gastrono-Me saw its revenue raise to 189% compared with the same month last year. According to the owner Mike Simmonds, the “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme is “fabulous” for his casual diner Gastrono-Me. “For a lot of people who’ve been on furlough and 20% down on wages because of coronavirus, it gives them an opportunity to treat themselves,” he said.
On beaches of Whitley Bay, northeast England, fish and chips shop Trenchers Bay has been fully booked from Monday through Wednesday. And that was possible thanks to the government initiative.
The word “confidence” is on the lips of nearly every restaurant owner. The shutdown of public life and business under lockdown measures, together with the continued fear, severely damaged many established brands.
Iain Smith, head chef at No.50 Cheyne restaurant in Chelsea, praises the UK government for a “great, clever, unusual gesture.” But he also admits that the initiative has its limits. Many restaurants that are only open in the second half of the week cannot enjoy the benefits of the initiative, which runs only from Monday to Wednesday.
But the “Eat out to help out” scheme hasn’t satisfied anybody and many restaurants’ owners cast doubts over the eventual success of taxpayer-funded discounts. Paul Duran is the owner of a café usually full of office workers, tourists and locals. Despite offering discounted food, Duran has hardly seen customers and he fears for the future of his business. “The office workers aren’t here for our lunch trade and we don’t know when they’ll come back,” says Duran.
Also Rose Tuckey, owner of a modern restaurant in West Hampstead, says that the scheme is “so short-term.” She adds that “It’s a marathon to survive. It’s a nice thing but it won’t make a difference.”
One upside of the scheme is that younger diners who normally cannot afford her restaurant, are now reconsidering it. But anyway, the restaurant’s revenues are down 70% and with these tight margins it is hard to survive.
Tuckey is sure that in September, once the initiative will be expired, there will be a massive wave of closures.
Michael Gratz, co-founder of the restaurant Prairie Fire in West London, fears that the scheme will have a long-term impact on prices, causing severe damages to the industry. “People could get used to the idea of discounts and when it ends…high-quality, more independent places like us could potentially suffer,” he explains.
