The union raised the campaign “Until when” to ask the authorities to meet the needs of the sector.
The Guayas Restaurant Association (Asorest) states that in January the sales of the establishments in the province have fallen by at least 45%.
Andre Obiol, president of the union, says that this decrease is explained by two factors. The first are the restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of new variants of COVID-19. Among them, the reduction to half (50%) of the capacity in the premises.
On the other hand, the wave of insecurity that stalks the country, especially the city of Guayaquil.
The head of the union explains that there is a very large bill that has left the issue of violence, which has caused customers to stop attending establishments because they are considered unsafe. “The influx drops as well as the billing and the balance point (a measurement that restaurants make between income and expenses) even more so in a month in which, naturally, sales are reduced after a high season such as the weekend. of year”.
In this sense, Obiol points out that restaurants that have open spaces or that are exposed to the street are among the most affected. “Premises located in hotels, squares and shopping centers feel, in part, more protected; but street-facing restaurants and cafes are having a hard time right now.”
Asorest launched a campaign called “Until when”, to generate a space to make feasible requests in matters of taxation, security and permits to the authorities. Every two days the guild publishes its requests with technical arguments on social networks; Likewise, support is exercised in the request to increase the clothing of the forces of order to reduce the wave of violence that is registered.
“We must think that an attack on a business generates an impact on the image that can later lead to a temporary or total closure. We must think about the investment losses that a closure due to an assault or murder would represent,” remarked Obiol, who added that The hotel, restaurant and cafeteria sector is still using strategies to recover from the drop in sales that occurred at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. (I)
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