Shota Burjanadze, one of the founders of the Restaurant Association says that 4,000 food facilities no longer exist on the market, whereas over 2,000 outlets are operating at a full capacity.
According to him, after the pandemic, most of the restaurants could not be put into operation due to the accumulated taxes towards the tenants. Moreover, Burjanadze notes, that restaurant chains have reduced the number of facilities and consequently laid off employees; and today it is difficult to find qualified employees.
“The restaurant needs financial resources for operating. There was pressure from banks, so banks could not withstand this financial pressure.
We had 9 million tourists in the previous years, if we return to the same figures, then restaurants will be able to recover, but today we cannot get that number because there are no restaurants and infrastructure," - said Shota Burjanadze.
According to him, restaurants that operate at full capacity based on the current demand are also facing challenges.
"On the other hand, the tourism recovery at 50% of 2019 is paradoxical. In addition to infrastructure problems, the existing restaurants that operate today do not have the required number of employees. It is strange that number of vacancies is very high, while unemployment is increased. There is no qualified staff,” said Burjanadze.
According to the founders of the Restaurant Association, they are planning to appeal to the Ministry of Economy officially.
