Hospitality sector outraged with dinner restrictions

BarcelonaOutrage. This is once again the most repeated word by bar and restaurant owners after learning of the government's new restrictions to stop covid contagion, which this time will force them to sacrifice dinners. The imposition of time slots, with which bars and restaurants will only be able to serve breakfast and lunch meals, was received as "a hard blow" for a sector that already feels "very punished". The Barcelona Restaurant Association called the measure a "declaration of war, from today until 14 February", the date of the Catalan elections. For the entity, leaving them without dinner is "a covert lockdown", since many of the venues will not be profitable without evening activity.

In a statement, the Guild argued that the intermittent operation of bars and restaurants for 4.5 hours a day is "radically unviable. "Esquerra has a sickening obsession with the restaurant sector", the organization says, for whom it seems that "the Health Department has been waiting for the figures to get worse before closing bars and restaurants again". "The harassment we suffer is intolerable", they insisted.

From this Monday on, and until January 11th, these establishments will only be able to serve breakfast and lunch meals, with a limited schedule from 7.30 to 9.30 am for breakfast, and 1 to 3.30 pm for lunch. Additionally, dinners may only be offered as a pick-up service from the premises between 7 pm and 10 pm, and delivered at home until 11 pm.

"The time schedule is the biggest stupidity of all, because it bothers both owners and customers", Claudio Rojas, director of the Catalan Brewery in Barcelona, told ACN. "Who wants to celebrate Christmas lunch between 1pm and 3pm? The avalanche of cancellations will be terrible", the restaurateurs commented, who in recent days had called for moving Christmas meals to their premises because they are safer than homes.

It was precisely the event where this message was launched that the minister Ramon Tremosa had to attend, however, he cancelled at the last minute. Yesterday at the press conference on the results of the Barcelona Fair, the Minister said that the Catalan Government had "tried" to ensure that the hospitality industry "could continue to live" despite the restrictions, while overcoming "this very difficult period in which the top priority is public health". The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, criticised the Government for not announcing subsidies together with the new restrictions and demanded an "immediate plan".

"Disproportionate" measures

The nightlife sector - which is not yet part of the easing of measures plan - also considered the measures "arbitrary, ineffective, disproportionate and counterproductive". The entity asked for an urgent meeting with the Generalitat and warned that, if it does not accept their claims, they will consider challenging the limitations in the TSJC and asking for precautionary measures. Fecasarm insists that hospitality is not a focus of contagion and that without open premises the outbreaks will proliferate in illegal meetings and parties.