Arrears in the catering industry increased to nearly PLN 715 million in 11 months of the pandemic (April to February), according to data from the BIG InfoMonitor Debtors Register. 7 out of 10 companies describe their financial condition as weak and bad.
“Lockdown was in force in the gastronomy sector last year from March to May, it was active again from October 24, and there are no signs that it will end any time soon. Some places sell take-out, thus partially compensating for the decline in turnover. authorities to come up with the idea of a temporary reduction of VAT on catering services, as well as the introduction of food vouchers similar to tourist vouchers. There are also announcements of opening gardens. An industry that has never been a top priority when it comes to the quality of settlements with suppliers and financial institutions, including The pandemic increases the arrears on an even larger scale. Its overdue liabilities to contractors, within 11 months of various types of restrictions, grew twice as fast as in the case of all companies “- said Sławomir Grzelczak, president of BIG InfoMonitor.
When, in the period from the end of March last year, by the end of February this year, the arrears of all entities listed in the BIG InfoMonitor Debtors Register and BIK increased by 5.4%, in the case of gastronomy it was 10.4%. The difficult situation is confirmed by the statistics on the use of aid from the Financial Shield 2.0 PFR. In a situation where one of the conditions for receiving support were revenues lower by at least 30%, more than half of the companies used them.
At the end of March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, 9,830 companies (active, suspended and closed) running services related to catering had arrears with suppliers and banks. Until the end of February this year, this number increased by 342 entities, to 10 172. Even before the lockdown, the overdue debt of gastronomy exceeded PLN 647 million and although the percentage of entities with problems remained at the level of 7.3% during the year, the amount of liabilities increased by 67 PLN, 4 million, i.e. over 10%.
The most, because by 22%, increased overdue liabilities of mobile food outlets, at the end of February this year amounted to almost PLN 17 million. The largest amount of unpaid liabilities, however, rests on restaurants and stationary food outlets – over PLN 590 million, there is also the highest percentage of companies that delay settlements with suppliers and banks – 8.1%, with an average for the entire economy of 5.9%.
Source: ISBnews
