A number of owners and managers of restaurants in the Khaitan region have expressed their dismay with the conditions their restaurants are going through due to the total lockdown implemented in the area as a way to contain the spread of the coronavirus, reports Al- Seyassah daily.
They are troubled as their revenues have decreased by as much as 90 percent compared to normal days. The daily reported that they admitted to facing the worst conditions at present, as low revenue is barely sufficient to pay rent and salaries of workers, and they are gradually moving towards a kind of ‘bankruptcy’.
An owner of a restaurant, Abusam, outlined the difficulties faced by the restaurants under the current circumstances. He said, 14,000 dinars are owed for rent per month in addition to the workers’ wages, while the property owner ignores pleas to forego the rent or even reduce it. To make matters worse, sales do not exceed 10 percent of the normal days, he added. He explained he currently keeps the restaurant open to avoid losing his customers and his reputation, but as for the income, the profits is almost nothing.
He employs more than 60 workers and right now all them are in their houses with no work. “I try to help them, so they don’t go hungry and with the burdens of life as much as possible because it no fault of theirs of what has happened.” Walid Hamad, director of one of the shawarma restaurants, said the truth is that sales do not exceed 10 percent, as we used to earn revenue from our food worth approximately 400 dinars in normal days, for example, but now it does not exceed 30 dinars per day.
“We open the restaurant now in order to earn for the expenses only for workers in the restaurant.” He added, what makes matters worse is that the total lockdown prevents us from delivering requests to the neighboring areas in Farwaniya, Al-Omariya, Al-Yarmouk and other adjacent areas, in addition to that the lockdown limits our working hours, as we have to close the shop at five-and-a-half in compliance with laws and instructions.
Hamad added all restaurants are facing difficult times and losses due to the area lockdown, and we pray to God to remove this epidemic that has destroyed the economy of entire countries and institutions, stressing the commitment of workers in the restaurant to all precautionary measures such as wearing masks, gloves and sterilization, and implementing health measures for their safety and that of customers in the restaurant.
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