Loadshedding hitting SA restaurants. Image: Pexels
Loadshedding hitting SA’s restaurants
South Africa’s restaurant sector is struggling under the conditions created by ongoing state-controlled powercuts.
Loadshedding hitting SA restaurants. Image: Pexels
This time it is not the state-imposed regulations that are forcing restaurants to close their doors. It is the lack of power due to loadshedding.
After having come out of the Covid-19 pandemic, many restaurants are now finding themselves under great pressure once again.
The relentless bouts of loadshedding are having a severe impact on many of the country’s restaurants which are seeing higher operating costs, reduced patronage and more obstacles.
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MAJOR IMPACTS OF LOADSHEDDING
Loadshedding presents numerous obstacles for restaurants to overcome. There is a huge need for power, to run the equipment in restaurant kitchens.
Not all restaurants have generators with the capacity to run restaurant operations for prolonged hours during increased stages of load shedding.
Kitchen equipment such as ovens, coffee machines, blenders and toasters cannot run on alternative fuel sources. This results in losses for restaurants that are forced to stop offering certain popular menu items during bouts of loadshedding.
FEWER PATRONS
Loadshedding also has an impact on the sector’s clientele. While it may be logical to think more people would head out to restaurants during bouts of load shedding, the opposite is true.
More people in fact stay home. With dangerous roads and rising levels of crime, it is not hard to understand why people prefer to stay home during extended bouts of darkness.
CLOSING DOWN
A number of restaurants, both smaller independently owned businesses, as well as larger operations, are facing severe challenges. Sadly, many of them are being forced to close their doors for good.
Durban’s Market Café Restaurant has indicated that it will permanently close its doors on 21 May. Loadshedding is stated as the cause.
According to IOL, the popular Buns Out restaurant in Linden was also forced to close in September last year, due to the energy crisis.
Another property that has closed its doors is Feta and Olives restaurant which was located at Cresta Mall (Johannesburg). The restaurant is also a victim of the severe conditions facing businesses in the country.
ALSO READ: South Africa’s restaurant sector feeling the pressure again
