The Restaurant Association of SA (Rasa) is calling for the Cabinet to end restrictions on eateries after an estimated 1 100 restaurants shut down during the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, says a Business Day report.

Before the onset of the pandemic, Rasa CEO Wendy Alberts said the association had a database of more than 23 400 restaurants. Their database has since dropped to 9 000 and while not every restaurant it no longer works with has closed, she believes thousands have shuttered their doors for good, leaving tens of thousands of workers jobless.

Rasa’s internal surveys suggest more than 1 100 restaurants closed in recent months after lockdown regulations forced them to shut their doors during the height of the third wave of the pandemic, said Alberts.

Cape Town restaurant Test Kitchen, one of the world’s top 50 restaurants that was often booked up for months in advance, recently announced it has closed its doors for good, in part due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Current lockdown regulations dictate that restaurants must close by 9pm, which means some consumers do not have time to go out for dinner and instead stay home, said Alberts.

Repeated alcohol sales restrictions have also cut into industry profits.

Liquor sales boost restaurant margins, but many people choose not to eat out if they cannot order a drink with their meal.

Alberts said the sector’s ongoing pleas for financial relief to the government, Cabinet and the Minister of Tourism have fallen on deaf ears.

Restaurants in tourist areas are struggling because of low local and international travel.

‘We are still sitting with a vast amount of our staff unpaid with no immediate relief from the government employment relief scheme.’

Full Business Day report