Dpcm: what changes for the catering, between different areas. Fipe/Confcommercio: “a tsunami”

In the “yellow zone” nothing changes: all open until 6 p.m., then closed with the possibility of take-away and home delivery, but only until 10 p.m., when the national “curfew” starts. In the “orange zone”, on the other hand, only home delivery and take-away remain safe, as well as in the “red zone”, where only food and basic necessities stores remain open. It is, in a nutshell, the picture closely linked to restaurants, bars and catering in general, designed by the latest Ministerial Decree, the one launched yesterday by the Government, published in the Official Gazette a few hours ago, and in force from November 6 to December 3, in the summary, at WineNews, by the Florence-based Studio Giuri, led by lawyer Marco Giuri.
“A collapse, in the next 30 days is expected to suspend the activity of 90,000 public exercises, 27% of the total, with 1.6 billion euros less consumption and 306,000 workers forced home. All this in the five red zones, where the most restrictive measures will be applied”, underlines Fipe/Confcommercio.
“What is hitting catering companies is a real tsunami. In fact, as the data from the Chamber of Commerce Register of Companies testify, the situation of public businesses was already dramatic before the last measure, with 10,000 businesses less between March and October 2020, compared to 2019. It is, therefore, more necessary than ever to expand the economic endowment of the Ristori Decree and address the further critical issues that will be created in the red and orange areas. At the same time - continues Fipe/Confcommercio - it is essential to sign a pact with the banking system. Today our companies are perceived as unreliable and these risks compromising the credit support measures put in place by the government. This is why there is no longer a minute to lose: without an immediate injection of liquidity, the entrepreneurial and occupational slaughter risks becoming irreversible”.
The effect of the new decree, according to Coldiretti estimates, would result in a loss of turnover of 3.8 billion following the closure of 180,000 restaurants, bars and pizzerias located in areas classified as high or high severity. These are more than half of the catering facilities present throughout Italy. The most affected by the measures is Lombardy, the region with the largest number of restaurants (over 51,000). What is also worrying is the stop to the activity of the over 10,000 agritourism present in the “red zone”.
The effects of the closure of catering activities, continues Coldiretti, are felt cascading over the entire food chain with cancellations of orders for the supply of many food products, from wine to oil, from meat to fish, from fruit to vegetables but also on high quality cold cuts and cheeses that find in the consumption outside the home an important market outlet. In some sectors such as fish and wine, the catering industry is even the main marketing channel for turnover. The limitations on business activities, concludes Coldiretti, must therefore provide adequate and immediate economic support throughout the supply chain to save the economy and employment in a key sector of Made in Italy.
Among other things, a not marginal issue for the world of wine remains suspended: the Ministerial Decree (Dpcm), among other things, in any scenario closes all museums and exhibitions; and in the operators the doubt arises as to whether a visit to the winery should be considered as a museum visit or not; a topic on which, in all probability, further investigation will be required. In the meantime, however, together with restaurants and bars, it is also the world of wine that is sounding the alarm, as pointed out yesterday by the Consorzio Vino Chianti, led by Giovanni Busi: with the closure at 6 p.m., and with even stricter measures in some regions, over 70% of wine consumption is at risk.