restaurateurs continue to fight two years after the start of the pandemic

Few customers, and it’s been like that since the end of December. Didier Desert, restaurateur at the Embassy of Auvergne in Paris, however, has regained hope since the announcement of the lifting of health restrictions and the end of compulsory teleworking. “We imagine that it will free up reservations, that people will meet for lunch, to talk business, to talk with friends, which we have not seen for a few weeks now“, he says.

In the kitchen, too, the atmosphere is very calm in Didier’s restaurant Desert. Aligot is the specialty of the establishment. Always à la carte, it now serves much less. He laments: “Usually, casseroles like this, you can make 20, 30 in a service. Today, we can do two, no more“. In January alone, he would have lost 70% of its turnover. For two years he from struggle to keep his restaurant afloat between take-out sales, staff management and planning. To pay his bills, state aid was essential. “We’re kinda in survival mode.“, he admits. This noon of Friday January 21, Didier Desert will have served 12 covers for 600 euros in revenue.