Bulgaria: Restaurant Owners Hope to Open in 10 Days

Owing to a recent spike in Covid-19 morbidity rates in Bulgaria the restaurants across the country will have to shut down again from March 22, and the owners worry that they will not return to work after 10 days.

"We hope that the dining facilities will be closed only for this period, as they promised to us. However, we think that probably it won't be the case.' commented to Nova TV Emil Kolarov, representative of the Association of Restaurants.

In his words, there is a chance that they will start work after this term because of the elections and because other businesses are closed.

It's very difficult for us to reopen when we haven't worked for a long time. All systems and installations need to be checked, we have to clean, to store up food, which is very expensive, to recruit staff," he explained, adding that it is extremely difficult to find staff now. "According to the National Statistical Institute, 30,000 employees in the industry have changed jobs. But in his estimation the figure is much higher," Kolarov was adamant.

The government promised us that the aid that was allocated would continue. This is extremely insufficient, because payments were effected with quite a long delay, but I hope that with repayment mechanisms in place, it will be easier. However, the idea of a business is not to exist thanks to aid and compensation. It's been a year now since we stopped working normally," he said.