We keep working just to have a plate on our table every day

Kanoula taverna at street Raktivan nº 8, near Ano Poli © Àlex Sánchez Aragón

by Àlex Sánchez aragón

The testimony of the Kanoula’s owner, Stella, is just one of the harsh stories that Covid-19 consequences has left behind. Many Greek bars and restaurants are struggling to pay their bills, as the situation has obliged them to close down their businesses for more than 3 months already. The future remains uncertain, but the Government aids seem insufficient to cope with the problem.

If something makes Thessaloniki special for both locals and visitors, it’s its street life; with two big universities, its young environment is one of the main attractions of the city. One can easily pass by dozens of bars and tavernas every day, and they are always full and buzzing with activity.

However, with the Covid-19 crisis, Greek catering businesses have been obliged by state law to close down their locals, as it’s considered a focus of infections. Since the 3rd of November 2020, bars and restaurants are not operating, with no clear signs of opening again. Despite the low number of infections, compared to other countries, the restrictions in Greece have remained strict and inflexible during autumn and Christmas period. Also, in the first wave of Covid spread, bars and restaurants had to cope with a two-month strict lockdown, not being able to open their businesses and fill their tables.

Empty terrace of a downtown café in Aristotelous Square © Àlex Sánchez aragón

This is why some traditional tavernas have had to “reinvent” themselves, offering a delivery service to balance out the economic loss they have suffered since the second wave of infections hit hard in Greece.

This is the case of “Kanoula”, a Greek taverna that has been functioning near the old city neighborhood of Ano Poli for 21 years now. It has gained the love and care of locals, going for less conventional dishes with high quality of products and originality. Stella and Dimitris are the married couple who are taking the reins of this business. “

We survived the first economic crisis, and we are not sure we are going to beat this second one”. With this clear statement, Stella sadly admits that she and her family are struggling to pay the bills after almost three months with their doors closed. Despite offering a delivery service, the phone does not ring every day, and the orders are just a few.

When they have a lucky day and people call for food, Dimitris takes his old scooter and drives around the city to send the orders; an activity he would have never imagined as the owner of the taverna. They have five workers and they are paid by the state while they are not working, but once the Government allows them to open again, they still don’t know if they are obliged to hire all of them back.

“ We need the Government to keep paying the insurance of the employees once we restart the activity, so the employer doesn’t take on the full amount”, explains Michalis Epitropidis, the general secretary of the Association of Bars and Restaurants in Thessaloniki.

According to him, 40 food stores or businesses have already closed in the center of Thessaloniki because they were not able to pay the rent. “Downtown, very often the owner does not know the tenant personally, so it is more likely that they get immediately kicked out when they don’t pay the rent for one month, with no negotiation in between”, he adds.

In order to help the affected businesses that have had to remain closed by state order, the Greek Government has approved a regulation regarding the rent: the tenants will not have to pay the monthly amount of January and February. After a 40% discount on November and December, the conservative leaders are going now for full forgiveness of the bill.

“ We were asking for this measure since the first wave of the pandemic, and we want it to keep going, at least, for March and April”, argues Michalis, who is calling for more measures. “Forgiving the rent is not enough, we need to reduce the taxes for all 2021 and give more direct money for the businesses”.

USB Volunteer Magdalena Kokonezis with a waiter of Kanoula, Manolis Daltos

© Àlex Sánchez aragón

This was the first aim of “Επιστρεπτέα προκαταβολή”, a national plan for different kind of businesses that was given in the first wave of the pandemic and offered liquidity for the owners. But it was a tricky measure: the owners have to give back this money in a long term, with small interest. So, in the end it is a loan that works as a patch for the deeper problem. With the new approval for 2021, businesses who ask for this financial support will just have to return half of the money back.

Another of the “recovery plans” is “Διέξοδος”, a measure from the regional department of Central Makedonia, where Thessaloniki is located. It gives back 50% of the total expenses of 2019 to the businesses that have been heavily affected by the pandemic. One of the main requisites is to have had minimum 10.000 euros of expenses and up to 100.000 euros. Its main purpose is to provide liquidity in the market with public money (a non-repayable grant), that sums up to 200 million euros and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

However, the Association of Bars and Restaurants in Thessaloniki has sent a letter to the Governor of Central Makedonia to complain about this last program because, according to them, the catering businesses have been listed low in the priorities of the financial support, and most of them did not receive the money.

“ Now we are just having debts”, insists Stella. She regrets that the delivery service does not cover all the expenses; actually, she thinks they lost approximately 90% of their average benefit with the pandemic.

The family is facing two problems: the platforms Efood and Wolt, the two main digital applications that provide the delivery service to the restaurants, charge a 26% of the total amount for using their apps. Secondly, what people look for in a taverna is the coziness and atmosphere surrounding the Greek food, not just the dish. Delivery may work for fast food, thought for laying in your couch, enjoy and relax. But users are not going for traditional Greek food to order at home.

Therefore, the worse is yet to come, according to Michalis: “Stores remain open so they can take advantage of the government aids; but when the helps are over and the owners will be able to open back, many will not do it”, he anticipates.

And this is precisely what Stella and Dimitris are considering. Now, they just work to have food every day to eat. To feed their family. “We live day by day; we know what is going on today, we don’t know about tomorrow”.

In order to help them to overcome this crisis, the volunteers running this magazine and other volunteers from United Societies of Balkans, we ordered food there for a 25 people meeting as a gesture of gratitude. And it was delicious!