Extention to JRS top priority for 94% of independent restaurants

Some 94% of independent restaurant owners ranked an extension to the JRS as somewhat, very, or extremely important to staying in business as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, with 62% describing it as extremely important.

An extension of the JRS is seen by many in the sector as being critical for survival, with the poll results also showing that 99% of founders and board level executives at multi-site restaurant and food to go operators also ranking it is very, or extremely important to staying in business.

More than three quarters (76%) of independent restaurant owners also cited a nine-month rent holiday as also being as somewhat, very, or extremely important to the survival of their business.

Group restaurant operators place higher priority on a nine-month rent holiday, however, with 96% saying such a move would be somewhat, very or extremely important to their business.

The poll also shows a big concern of a drop in revenue post lockdown among independent restaurateurs, with 44% of single site operators saying they could only handle a 10% of less drop in revenue while remaining profitable, compared with 24% of multi-site restaurants operators.

Asked to rate which element of support would help their businesses the most, access to loans were ranked the lowest in terms of priority, with only 34% of independent restaurant owners saying that access to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBIL) as extremely important, with almost a quarter (24%) saying it wasn’t of any importance at all.

Other concerns of independent operators highlighted in the poll were how to deal with potential social distancing measures once open and the failure of insurance companies to make any payouts.

The weekly Hospitality Leaders Poll spoke to 220 independent restaurant operators as well as hundreds of other execs and founders of independent pubs and pub chains, multi-site restaurants and food to go operations.