Pandemic slows down (source Who), haute cuisine accelerates: 83% of starred restaurants open

The catering industry, like the rest of the economy, wants to overcome the Covid crisis. Not an easy path, which as said in a thousand analyses will see several tables remain empty, and some shutters destined not to reopen. But some positive signs, in spite of everything, can be seen. And just in the hours in which the WHO announces that the pandemic is slowing down its run in the world, from the analysis of the “barometer” launched at the end of lockdown by the Michelin Guide, it emerges that on August 18 had reopened in the world 83% of the starred restaurants (2,627 out of 3,172). This is an important signal, also for high quality wine, from Italy and beyond, which in the “fine dining” world has a fundamental channel for the life and growth of wineries, especially for small ones that focus everything on the top of the range. A percentage, that of starred reopenings worldwide, close to that which Italy had already reached around the middle of July, with 87% of the top restaurants in the Belpaese having reopened their doors (a figure similar to France, already 84% at the time).
Going to look at the world “map”, in the United Kingdom reopened 73% of the starred restaurants, in Denmark 88%, in Portugal 85%, in Ireland 78%, in Spain around 80%. Furthermore, in Asia, in several countries, 90% of reopenings have been achieved in countries such as Japan or in cities such as Beijing, China. The situation is more difficult in the Americas: in Brazil, for example, only 44% of Michelin-starred restaurants have reopened (8 out of 18), but even more complex is the situation in the U.S., where only 14% of the restaurants that boast at least one Michelin star have reopened (29 out of 209).