Over 700 restaurants in La Paz, Baja California Sur, that were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic will reopen today and provide takeout and home delivery service, announced the national restaurant association Canirac.

“We have approximately 1,580 affiliates [in La Paz], of whom at least 700 will reopen,” said Canirac President Lorena Hinojosa Olivas. “This situation can’t go on without revenues, which is why we have to begin to have liquidity in order to pay salaries, primarily.”

The restaurants will open with 25% of their staff, who will be required to follow strict physical distancing measures to continue minimizing the risk of transmission.

Restaurant owners and employees will also be responsible for their own delivery services, “so that the client receives a product [prepared and delivered] with all the established hygiene measures.”

Hinojosa lamented the fact that the biggest day of the year for restaurants, Mother’s Day, which will be celebrated on May 10 this year, will be severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We’ll have substantial losses. … [Mother’s Day] is the date when restaurants record their highest sales of the year, but due to this health crisis, … the economic loss will be … in the billions of pesos,” she said.

During April as many as 98% of the eateries in La Paz remained completely closed, but the owners continued to pay their employees’ salaries.

The neighboring state of Baja California also partially reopened closed businesses in its manufacturing sector today amid opposition and cries of the decision being “criminal” by labor unions and social activists.

Source: Milenio (sp)