Morocco Cafe and Restaurant Owners Protest Reopening Restrictions Amid COVID-19

The owners of cafes and restaurants are not satisfied with the opening conditions imposed by the Ministries of Health, Interior, Industry and Commerce. After having dismissed all of their human resources, they are now in a dilemma. These owners no longer know what choice to make among their employees if they have to comply with the government’s decision to open with half of their reception capacity.

In a statement to Hespress, the president of the National Association of Cafe and Restaurant Owners of Morocco, Noureddine Harrak, recalled that a meeting was scheduled between his cooperation and certain municipal authorities to discuss the new opening conditions, this Monday.

Unfortunately, he argues that instead of a meeting with their corporation before any decision, they were informed of the joint decision of the authorities in the local press. While he recognizes the relevance of this decision to reopen with half of their capacity in view of the epidemiological situation, he points out that their demands have not been taken into account and that his corporation is also not informed of the measures related to the health aspect, sterilization of premises and staff support.

The representative of the catering industry regrets not having met as planned the Monitoring Committee with whom they would have liked to discuss "the management of the crisis and all the accumulations of charges (water and electricity bills, taxes...), and staff management.

If in Tangier, the professionals in the sector have been invited by the mayor of the city to discuss the new reopening measures, the other city councils have done nothing to meet the professionals in their city on the reopening, in "a context of financial crisis", laments the president of the restaurateurs and bar owners.