Morocco’s Restaurant Industry in Crisis: Thousands of Cafes Close, Jobs Lost

It’s no surprise to anyone: the restaurant and cafe sector is doing badly. And it has been for several months now. But in recent times, between inflation, the accumulation of penalties and fines owed to the CNSS (National Social Security Fund) and debts, nothing is going well and the sector is going through a deep crisis. The number of establishments that have closed is estimated at 8,964 units for the Casablanca-Settat region alone, with a loss of around 53,800 jobs, according to Noureddine Harrak, president of the National Association of Cafes and Restaurants in Morocco (ANPCRM), as quoted by the daily L’Économiste. The Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region and the Fès-Meknès region are not spared. For the former, the number of closed establishments stands at 4,769 units, including 874 before 2023, according to the ANPCRM.

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On May 14, the federation’s office discussed the causes of the crisis facing the restaurant and cafe sector during a meeting with the relevant department heads of the Ministry of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills. These causes are also the subject of the union’s grievance file. Among them, the rise in the prices of ingredients, particularly that of coffee. The coffee market is experiencing a sharp increase in prices with an initial increase of more than 30%, according to the ANPCRM. Due to this increase, some cafe owners and managers are considering a possible increase in the price of coffee. An illegal practice, according to the Competition Council.

The ANPCRM advocates the cancellation of the remaining penalties and fines owed to the CNSS, the rescheduling of the principal of the debt over a period that suits the repayment capacity of the professionals, but also the revision of the tax component which seems to handicap the operators of the sector facing new competitors, some of whom are in the informal sector. In addition, the association proposes a contribution from the State to cover 50% of the contributions. "We should not compare our sector, whose turnover per establishment is generally less than 500,000 dirhams per month, with large companies that generate tens of millions of dirhams," argues Naïma Raiss, president of the Rabat section of the ANPCRM.