Capital restaurateurs demand compensation from authorities for lockdown

According to the PRIME business information agency, in connection with the introduction of the lockdown, the Moscow authorities have promised the restaurant business measures of support. Their introduction is explained by the fact that in ten days of forced inactivity, catering enterprises will suffer losses.

“We think that Moscow will try to get the business out of this difficult situation as much as possible,” RIA Novosti quotes the statement of the Vice President of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia (FRiO), the Ombudsman in the Moscow restaurant business, Sergei Mironov.

The decision to introduce a lockdown in Moscow from October 28 to November 7 was made by the mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin. Due to a sharp deterioration in the epidemiological situation during the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the work of organizations in the sphere of trade, services, catering, sports and others is suspended in Moscow. The purpose of the lockdown is to separate people as much as possible and interrupt the chains of further transmission of infection from one person to another.

Authorities have allowed takeaway restaurants and ready-to-eat meals, but they are not allowed to accept groups of people on the premises.

In a number of regions of the country, where, due to an increase in the incidence of diseases, restrictive measures had to be introduced earlier than in Moscow, the restaurant and sports business is already reporting colossal losses, and some enterprises have already begun to close.

So, in Kostroma, after the governor of the region Sergei Sitnikov introduced mandatory QR codes on October 15, many catering enterprises faced a sharp drop in revenue and are seriously afraid of ruin.

The authorities banned catering to serve those customers who are not vaccinated and do not have a certificate with a QR code.

“At the same time, the decision did not provide for a situation when a person is vaccinated, but for some reason he does not have a certificate with a code,” notes Kostroma.Today .

The first to suffer were those Kostroma residents who do not use the State Services website. The next were the guests of the city.

“We are forced to refuse foreigners. Yesterday they deployed the Germans, the day before yesterday the Belarusians. All of them are vaccinated, and the Germans even have QR codes, but it is clear that they are not recognized in our country. Belarusians have a special application on their phones, which shows that a person is not sick, but this is also not a code. In fact, a citizen of another country, and vaccinated, now cannot eat in Kostroma. I don’t want to retell what people say about Kostroma hospitality. I want to cry, ”an employee of one of the most popular restaurants in Kostroma told reporters.

After the introduction of the codes, the establishments became empty - about two-thirds of the region's residents are not vaccinated and cannot go there.