Relief for Paris restaurants as virus lockdown ends

PARIS: Paris cafe and restaurant owners cheered Monday as the government finally allowed them to reopen their dining rooms after losing three months of revenue during the coronavirus lockdown.

The sooner-than-expected reopening for the Paris region was announced by President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, followed by news of nine COVID-19 deaths in the previous 24 hours -- France´s lowest daily toll since March.

While restaurants across most of France were allowed to open earlier this month, those in and around the capital, where COVID-19 circulation remained high, could serve clients only on outdoor terraces.

"The question now is whether clients will come back," Albert Aidan, the manager at L´Ami Georges, a few blocks from the Opera Garnier, told AFP. "Most companies are still having their employees work from home," he said.

Not all restaurants immediately threw open their doors -- the Vaudeville, a classic brasserie down the street, remained closed. Yet many shared Macron´s optimism that France has marked a "first victory" against the coronavirus thanks to strict stay-at-home orders imposed in March. "The bulk of the epidemic is behind us," Health Minister Olivier Veran said Monday, though he cautioned: "this doesn´t mean we can stop fighting the virus." "It´s going to be a party," Stephane Manigold, owner of four Paris restaurants, including the two-starred Maison Rostang, told AFP.

Manigold made headlines last month after successfully suing his insurer, French giant Axa, to pay around 70,000 euros ($79,000) in compensation for lost business. Insurers argue that most contracts do not cover the nationwide administrative shutdown but restaurants say their livelihoods are on the line, and have called on the government to intervene.

Even in the rest of France, where restaurants were allowed to fully reopen on May 11, owners have had to remove tables to ensure a distance of one metre (3.3 feet) between diners. Didier Chenet, head of the GNI association of independent hotel and restaurant owners, estimates the social distancing rules have cut capacity by half at least. Unless the government lifts the one-metre rule, he said, "recovery will be very slow, with economic conditions that are not viable for our businesses," he said.