A little outing to the restaurant this Sunday? Maybe not if our favorite restaurant is closed. More and more of them decide to close the whole weekend, or add an extra day of closure during the week. For what ? Because of economic difficulties, or shortage of personnel.
It’s a habit for some of us: the Sunday lunch restaurant. Habit sometimes undermined now. More and more restaurateurs decide to close on weekends. The reasons are purely economic.
Some restaurants close on Saturday and Sunday. Others, one more day during the week. Jean-Pierre Mallrée, owner of the Carillon in Mons, explains: “The weekend, for some, are great moments, but for others, it’s really too quiet. Therefore, indeed, these are the days that will be targeted and not the midday days when they will be full. It is therefore a question of profitability. It’s also a matter of staff and staff flexibility.”
The duration of certain services is sometimes shortened, as the boss of Mons restaurants explains at the microphone of Bel RTL: “Before, we waited 2 p.m. if a client had to come. There now, if at 1:30 p.m. everyone is served, everything is sent, then we cut the stoves because it is no longer profitable to wait 30, 45 minutes for a customer and leave the gas on. Ludivine de Magnanville, president of the restaurant sector of Horeca Brussels, adds: “We are obliged each time to weigh the costs, the benefits, the outputs, the incomes. We have to calculate everything, as well as our mental health.”