Restaurateurs association founder: restaurants will have to open starting January 15 or face closure

Burjanadze told local media 80 percent of the food venues were operating their facilities on lease and would face a risk of closure unless permitted to reopen in mid-January. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.

Agenda.ge, 23 Dec 2020 - 14:41, Tbilisi,Georgia

Restaurants in Georgia will have to open their doors starting on January 15 or face a risk of permanent closure, Georgian Restaurateurs Association founder Shota Burjanadze said at a press briefing on Wednesday in comments on the current governmental restrictions on the venues.

Burjanadze told reporters less than a quarter of restaurants that operated pre-pandemic would survive if the venues were not permitted to reopen in mid-January, as opposed to the current restriction lasting through January 31.

Restrictions on operation are the main problem. If we cannot resume our operation on January 15 at the latest, these restaurants will simply be unable to reopen [later]. If we take the pre-pandemic situation, where up to 11,000 venues operated, only 500 will survive [as a result]", the GRA founder said at the press conference.

Owners of restaurants will have to vacate the spaces they are using due to spiralling lease costs, the association founder said in his comments, telling local media 80 percent of the food venues were operating their facilities on lease.

Burjanadze also claimed "most" of restaurateurs had already left or were preparing to leave Georgia due to pandemic restrictions in the country, and warned against "losing professionals" in the field which he said employed 300,000 people.

Responding about a possibility of state assistance for those affected, the GRA founder told reporters the move would not be a full solution, adding it would be a "massive problem if 300,000 people were left unemployed."

The Georgian government's restrictions involve prohibition of full-scale restaurant operation, with only takeaway, delivery and drive services permitted between November 28-January 31.