COVID-19: Kuwait’s restaurants, cafes need five years to recover
Employees' salaries and miscellaneous costs have also piled up due to pandemic
Dubai: Restaurants and cafes in Kuwait will most probably need five years to recover from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Fahd Al Arbash, President of Kuwaiti Federation of Restaurants, Cafes and Catering.
He added that the country’s restaurants and cafes are still suffering from consequences of the coronavirus pandemic despite a gap of two years and will continue to suffer over the course of the next five years unless the government takes actions to support the local economy and open up tourism and employment.
The owners of restaurants and cafes are crippled with loans and rents due to closing of commercial and economic activities, in addition, employees' salaries and miscellaneous costs have also piled up due to the pandemic conditions.
Al Arbash stated that despite the country returning to normal, the restaurant sector has not recovered. There have been few customers coming to the restaurants mainly due to national holidays as a large number of citizens have traveled out of Kuwait due to long holidays.
Many restaurants in Kuwait have become dependent on home delivery orders, even in home delivery orders there has been a decrease due to the number of citizens who are either spending holidays on farms, chalets and hotels or have travelled abroad.
The restaurants and cafes which generally benefit from citizens are located in major commercial complexes, but these restaurants are merely 20 per cent of total restaurants operating in Kuwait, reports Al Anba. Rest of the 80 per cent restaurants are facing decline in revenue.