German restaurants still hungry for customers post-lockdown

by Florian Cazeres

There’s no sign of the usual lunch crowd at Berlin’s Zen Kitchen, with just a few scattered diners dotting its terrace despite the sunny weather.

Two months after Germany lifted its lockdowns, the small Asian restaurant, like so many others, is struggling to attract customers as coronavirus fears linger.

“We’ve only seen 20 to 30 percent of our clientele back since the reopening,” said Zen’s owner Vu, whose eatery is located near Berlin’s busy Unter den Linden avenue.

Having weathered the pandemic better than many of its neighbours so far, Germany was among the first countries to reopen its economy and its progress is being closely watched across the continent.

Restaurants, bars and hotels have adapted to the new normal with face masks, physical distancing and by asking customers to share contact information so they can be alerted to any fresh outbreak.

But despite the efforts, Germany’s hospitality sector has struggled to pick up speed, highlighting the difficulties facing Europe’s top economy as it confronts the steepest recession since World War II.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, which has pledged over a trillion euros in stimulus spending to cushion the coronavirus blow, is hoping for an economic rebound in the second half of 2020.

“I’m certain that we can halt the downturn in our economy after the summer break and that the German economy will start to grow again by October at the latest,” Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told the Bild am Sonntag daily.

The unemployment level is expected to keep inching up “before slowly decreasing from November”, he added. (AFP)

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