Russian restaurateurs unite to defend against the bankruptcy

The Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia made a decision not to wait for the next steps of the Government to save the business from the widespread bankruptcy and published the Declaration of Restaurateurs. Every restaurateur can now put his or her signature on a joint statement regarding rental matters and published on the special website. For the moment, the declaration has already been signed by nearly 400 restaurateurs, representing the interests of about 5 thousand enterprises throughout Russia.

The decision of the authorities to close the public places that are visited by many people is quite understandable. It could be explained by the force majeure circumstances.

The restaurateurs unanimously say that discussions with lessors are held in a manner that is very far from the atmosphere of partnership.

The Government’s decree, allowing postpone the lease payments, also does not significantly change the situation, since the rates remain at the same level. At any rate, it will be necessary to pay the debts at the rates that were approved before the pandemic.

What do the restaurateurs want to state in their declaration? First of all, they demand for a complete abolition of rental payments during the period of restrictive measures, introduced by the authorities. Those, who continue to work on a take-away basis, are encouraged to pay the rent as a percentage of the revenue. The restaurateurs propose to limit the maximum payment in the amount of a kind of tithe, i.e. to pay up to 10% of revenue. The restaurateurs want to introduce the same measures with regard to the rental rates after the restrictions are lifted, and the activities of restaurants and cafes are resumed.

A restaurateur and a founder of Meat & Fish restaurants Sergei Mironov told “Rusbankrot” that many lessors understand the situation and say that there is no need to pay. Some have reduced payments, but there are those lessors who continue to demand the full payments - and in fact, there are about 50% of them.

“The rental cost depended on the location of the place and the flow of people - from 100 thousand to 6 million rubles per month. But the problem is that when everything is over, there will be customers at all. That is why the rent should be tied on the revenue, but not on the location,” Mironov said.

Sergei also told us about the agreement that appeared between the restaurateurs - not to occupy the other people's rental spaces. It means that if the lessor stands his ground and refuses to reduce the cost, but says something like “if not you then somebody else,” another restaurateur will not rent this place.

The restaurateur is sure that the authorities should hear the business representatives and take into account the prepared declaration. The restaurants were closed not of their own free will, but at the request of the officials - now it is their turn to support the business.

The declaration is also interesting if to consider the legal part of the agreement. Indeed, for the first time, the participants of the restaurant market agree on the rules of competition, pledging to warn everyone else about the possible termination of the contract due to the reluctance of the property owner to discuss rental conditions.

The lawyers warn that all this is not far from a cartel agreement.

However, the declaration itself does not violate any laws, giving everyone the opportunity to decide whether to unite or try to stand alone.

Now, as the ancients used to said, it is necessary to listen to another side, i.e. to wait for the reaction of the property owners. The experts believe that the latter could have made an agreement with the restaurateurs provided they received at least some compensation from the state. Moreover, on March 24, the lessors have already sent the letters to the Government. The shopping centers, for example, predict the possible dismissal of about 1 million employees, while their total debts to the banks amount to about a trillion rubles.