To make matters worse, opening hours will be further reduced from Thursday and restaurants, pubs and bars will have to close as early as 10 pm. So far, they could be open until midnight.
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Dušan Makovský, the owner of the Dno pytle pub in Prague’s Vinohrady, is feeling a drop in sales and a rapid decline in attendance since the beginning of the month.
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“It seems to me that at the moment it is worse than at the time of the forced closing in the spring. The change in people’s behavior began to show more or less at the beginning of September. As it got scared, there was talk that the curve was growing, so people stopped walking, “he told Novinky.
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Compared to last September, the outflow fell to a third. “This is the first time I have earned my rent in poverty. This did not happen in the spring either. And the other costs, such as electricity and the like, I don’t know how to cover this time, “he said.
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According to Makovský, the current situation is most evident on Thursdays, when his pub normally has the strongest sales. “Normally it can be 18 to 20 thousand, now with poverty four thousand,” he specified.
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“In the spring we finally managed more or less, we ended up plus or minus to zero. In the end, it worked thanks to the fact that there was a certain solidarity with pubs and breweries, events such as Save the Beer. People didn’t have much to do because of the quarantine, so they went around pubs and ‘saved’, “Makovský summed up.
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At that time, it also helped the pub that from the beginning it focused mainly on regular customers from the Czech Republic, not on tourists. According to Makovský, people also often ordered beer at home, in addition, the weather was nice, which wished for outdoor drinking. He operated a “thirsty window” at the time, where it was possible to buy draft or bottled beer with him, and in the afternoon he distributed beer to regulars all over Prague as “Uber beer”.
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“It’s worse now. On the one hand, people are afraid, on the other hand, they no longer have so much money and they do not know what will happen, “said Makovský.
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It can also be seen that many companies have still left employees at the home office, or are returning to the home office after the holidays. “Probably also because of the home officers, they don’t go for beer that much after work either. I haven’t had a bunch of people here to drink after work for a long time, “added the pub owner.
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According to Makovský, other Prague pubs are also facing the current lack of interest from guests. “When I have time, I look at the situation in other companies, I ask if people go. Restaurants that, unlike us, cook lunches have a big problem. People stopped going to the lunch menu, these sales fell to half or a third, for example, “he concluded.
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Makovský mainly offers beers from smaller artisan breweries, such as the Pilsen Raven. In addition, he operates two of his own pubs in Pilsen.
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However, the brewery does not currently feel a decline in interest. “We are working normally. Both the brewery and both pubs continue in normal operation, “Raven’s co-owner Ladislav Vrtiš told Novinka.
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“On the other hand, large breweries are suffering. I saw photos from the restaurants of Plzeňský prazdroj, where the tables were empty on Friday or even turned off. People who drink our beer are not so scared. We recently organized an event where we had as many visitors as in previous years. When I compare it with the actions of more massive breweries, they had, for example, a third of the people there compared to normal, “he added.
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However, he admitted that consumption in Prague has been weakening in the last two weeks. “Nevertheless, Brno continues to run normally. So this is a local Prague affair, which I would not necessarily associate with the crown, “Vrtiš emphasized.
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The brewery coped well with the spring crisis. “We had an extreme decline in wholesale, however, this was largely offset by retail, where we sold to end customers in pots, bottled in PET bottles or through a newly launched e-shop,” said Vrtiš, adding that after the measures were relaxed, the brewery experienced a rapid increase. sales and by far the best month in the last five years.
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Fast foody emptied
After the introduction of the obligation to wear veils indoors, the tables also thinned in some Prague fast foods.
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The seating area in the Can Bey kebab bar in the center of Prague was vacated on Thursday afternoon.
Photographs from the Can Bey kebab factory in the center of Prague, for example, show that the seats were completely empty on Thursday after six o’clock in the afternoon. According to the editor of Novinek, most customers bought food with them, although under normal circumstances the seats are mostly full.
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According to the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Self-Employed Persons, the gastronomy sector has so far lost 30 billion crowns in sales this year. By the end of the year, that number could rise to 50 billion. “Most operators will end this year with a loss of hundreds of thousands to millions of crowns,” said the association.
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Kebabárna Can Bey without guests
“A large part of companies are kept afloat by government programs to support employment, but they are coming to an end in a few weeks. If the situation does not change, the first wave of pub and restaurant crashes will come at the turn of the year, “warns the association.
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The situation was further complicated on Tuesday, when the new Minister of Health Roman Prymula (for YES) announced that opening hours would be further reduced and restaurants, pubs and bars would have to close as early as 10 pm.
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According to the head of the Czech Association of Breweries and Malthouses, Martina Ferencová, the closure of companies at 10 pm will mean the loss of up to a third of daily sales. The union will push for the last orders to be accepted at 10 pm and would definitely close an hour later.
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