Catering restart in Italy after Covid-19

Catering opening in Italy after COVID-19: what will be the new challenges?

The only certainty, unfortunately, is that restaurants, bars and public places in general have so far suffered losses of 12 billion euros due to the Corona virus.

Losses that, according to the latest estimates, will reach 28 (with 300,000 jobs at risk) between now and the end of the year for a sector that, in normal times, generates 80 billion euros, more or less, in added value.

It is more difficult to understand how and for how long the panorama of the Italian hospitality industry, at all levels, will have to change in order to get back to work.  Of course, with new regulations, all of which have to be put on paper, but are still restrictive,

According to many rumours, the bars and restaurants will be among the last types of activities to be reopened. In any case, people are trying to think about what the next phase will look like while at the same time dealing with a huge liquidity crisis, the difficulty of accessing the economic support launched by the government.

Certainly this new scenario will include a reduction in the number of tables covered, but also a number of changes in the kitchen, between the menus, which will have to be optimized in terms of cost without disrupting itself.  The imposed regulations to increase the working distances between employees, in the kitchen and the room, will be a challenge. It will not be improbable to see waiters serving with masks and disposable gloves, perhaps also in the room with mobile equipment, more than wearing the plate in the hand. But it's an uncertain future...

"In any case, the hardest thing will be to bring people back to the restaurant, to regain customer confidence, the desire for conviviality, because in the end the Italian restaurant has become a place of pleasure, not of food," says Paolo Marchi, creator of "Identità Golose" and one of the most important observers of Italian restaurants, especially, but not only, of a high level".

"We will be afraid of contamination. And it is a constant sword of Damocles, at least on the sit-down catering. We will have to start thinking about double services (and therefore the reservation almost mandatory), meals that last a certain time, as already happens in many countries, something that the Italians don't like. But we'll have to get used to it, because larger spread between the tables will become the norm and fewer tables will be possible to place so... And this goes from pizzerias to fine dining restaurants.

Also Niko Romito (three Michelin stars, with the Ristorante Reale, in Castel di Sangro), who also has restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing, in China, where the restart phase is a bit further on, argues that in restaurants only tables for two and four persons are allowed. For a while the big tables will of course be taboo. But with all this cooking at home, maybe even good, and with the quality of delivery, it will be complicated to get people back to the restaurant in general. Also because you'll be wondering a lot more than before if the dishes and cutlery have been properly cleaned and so on".

And probably something will change about the culinary proposal as well. "For a while, innovation and research in the kitchen will certainly be punished. Even the highest segment in terms of catering is facing a turnaround. Enrico Bartolini with a.o. Murder in Milan, the last highest award of the Michelin Guide says: it is clear that those who have gone to Mudec so far have done so in search of a certain kind of gastronomic experience, and when the restaurant reopens, it will not be changed. Maybe with a few less dishes. And that goes for those who are looking for a certain kind of cuisine, luxury. It's not about changing, it's about being intelligent, maybe about focus. In addition, we will also have to adapt to the fact that, as far as raw materials are concerned, not everything will always be available, as is the case now. So they will also be able to change the ingredients, maybe more territory. Those who have calibrated everything to the foreign clientele, even high-end, such as certain hotels or areas, for example, will suffer a lot. But you'll have to see how, for example, air traffic will start up again, how and how much you can travel, from a practical point of view, but also from an economic point of view.

However, beyond the changes, one wonders how many inhabitants will be able to survive this historic crisis and start again. "For many it will be very complicated, this is like a third world war against an invisible enemy. The impact will be very strong. I'm thinking, for example, of the star restaurants. Today there are more or less 370: I would be positively surprised if we still have at least 300 hotels in the autumn, because I am afraid, for example, that many hotels that have starred restaurants, without guests, will not be able to bear the cost and perhaps they will turn so much high-level offerings into bistros or other, more simple things

But there is another problem: part of the catering, it is useless to deny it, a little black does it, in terms of budget, but also in terms of staff employed. Now that you have to ask for contributions that are proportional to the turnover and number of employees, many will not be able to ask much". As said, there will be at least a "Phase 2" with restrictive measures, and the hypotheses for bars and restaurants speak of safety distances of at least one meter between customers and service personnel, but also, for example, barriers and partitions in Plexiglas or other.

Arrangements that somehow last for a while, or perhaps forever. Plexiglas or other partitions are one of the solutions indicated, but apart from how effective they can be from the point of view of virus protection, they are certainly little from the restaurant's point of view. Both from a practical and psychological point of view. More than anything else, there is reason to intervene to improve air recycling, to continuously clean up and to improve air conditioning management. But not all places can offer a solution in this sense.

I believe that the solution to be advocated in the near future is to intervene as little as possible, in the hope that a normal situation will soon return to normal. So, in principle, putting the spaces apart. In this sense, there will certainly be more disadvantaged tourist restaurants, working a lot to maximize the use of the surface, compared to high-level restaurants, where the distances between the tables, and at the table, may already be greater. Others are working to maximize delivery. And even before the Covid, for example, the trend towards take-away places is emerging, this is definitely going to take up a bigger and bigger place in the hospitality segment, especially now that the customer has been able to experience the quality in return. According to Enrico Bartolini of Murder - Milan.