Deliveroo and resturants want Eat Out To Get COVID brought back

[Fambo Number Mive]

Takeaway firm Deliveroo and 300 restaurant groups are urging the government to run Eat Out to Help Out again when restaurants finally reopen.

They said the discount scheme, which gave 50% off meals in August, would boost demand for ailing restaurants.

They also said other urgent support was needed to stop "viable" hospitality firms failing despite optimism about the vaccination programme.

It came as one worried pub boss called for pubs to be reopened by April.

Young & Co's Patrick Dardis accused the government of a "lack of respect" for the sector and of basing the decision to close pubs on "unproven" science - a claim which experts dispute.

In a letter to the prime minister, Deliveroo and partners including Itsu and Pizza Hut said that with all restaurant businesses closed, many were "under immense financial pressure".

"Even when they are able to reopen to customers, restrictions around mixing of households and social distancing measures mean that a return to trading at full capacity will remain dependent on the successful vaccine rollout," they wrote...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56060962

The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention say that dining out is one of the riskiest things to do during a pandemic:

https://twitter.com/holstat/status/1304349282699485184?s=21

In September there was clear evidence of Eat Out to Help out having coincided with a rise in caseloads: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,81369.msg4315931.html#msg4315931

The letter also called for government to:

Extending the 5% VAT rate - reduced from 20% last year - on restaurant food until at least the end of 2021
Extending business rates relief for the retail and restaurant sectors for a further financial year
Maintaining the furlough scheme as long as is necessary
Supporting businesses to manage their rental arrears
And prioritising hospitality staff for small-site rapid testing and vaccination

To be fair all of these seem like reasonable ideas (and the third one is essential), but Eat Out To Help Out just doesn't seem a good idea to me. Opening pubs in April seems like a bad idea as well.

If the hospitality sector can get governments to agree to the other demands in their letter than hopefully there won't be too much of a financial issue for not having Eat Out to Help Out.

There's no way I'd go into a restaurant or pub this year, much as I miss them. Not sure about having a drink outside in the summer though (if this happens). Who knows.

No doubt the government will bring back Eat Out to Help Out though, to help promote the successor to Johnson Rishi Sunak. The best option for the pub and restaurant industry would surely be to get as close to zero COVID as we can before opening up, to reduce the risk of another lockdown.

Dr Bharat Pankhania, senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter medical school, said talk of reopening pubs by April was premature.

"What the executives of pubs need to know is that failure to get it right equals back to square one. And back to square one equals much more pain economically, much more hardship."

He added: "Whichever way you want to cut it, you drink alcohol to relax and have a bonhomie with your friends.

"One of the consequences of relaxing is that you drop your guard," he said.

Dr Julian Tang, honorary associate professor at the University of Leicester, agreed.

The consultant virologist said: "Opening pubs will bring more people into closer contact with each other - this will allow the virus to spread - we already know and understand this concept."

On other forums whenever scientists are quoted you get people saying "WHAT DO THEY KNOW THEY ARE SCIENTISTS NOT ECONOMISTS OR BUSINESS OWNERS" as if scientists live on another planet and don't miss going to pubs or restaurants. People also seem to think that scientists don't have friends or family who own pubs or restaurants.

[bgmnts]

Firms failing lol fuck off.

Just take 50% of some executives' stupid wages and spread it around the business. Done.

Oh but we can't do that because.