Bonn: Changes in the city centre Café Extrablatt takes a break due to lull in visitor numbers

Bonn · The Corona pandemic and government restrictions are increasingly making themselves felt in Bonn's gastronomy and trade in the form of painful losses. Café Extrablatt, among others, has closed temporarily.

 Closed: Café Extrablatt has temporarily ceased operations.

Closed: Café Extrablatt has temporarily ceased operations.

Foto: Benjamin Westhoff

Turnover has "plummeted so steeply" with 2G-plus that expenses and turnover have become unbalanced, explains Bernd Harmuth, one of the managing directors of Gastro-Management-Köln GmbH (GMK). The company, based in Frechen, manages 14 establishments in western Germany; five locations are currently temporarily closed. For Bonn's Extrablatt, however, the initial situation was also particularly difficult, he says, because the café went into a lockdown lasting several months practically as soon as it opened.

"A continuous build-up phase with the formation of a regular clientele was hardly possible, not to mention establishing itself on the market," says Harmuth. He and his colleagues are now used to pain: "When, as happened in Trier, a Christmas party with 270 guests is cancelled, it hurts. But of course I also understand that the risk of quarantine for a company party is too great for an entrepreneur," says Harmuth. He thinks the current regulations are reasonable and hopes that normality will return with the spring.

Tacos: House in Bonngasse to be rebuilt

The current closure of the Tacos restaurant in Bonngasse, which is also run by GMK, has nothing to do with the pandemic. Rather, extensive renovation work in the 120-year-old building is the reason for the break, which should be finished by the end of March, according to current information. On Facebook, however, Tacos justified the temporary closure in a post on 15 January with the current Corona ordinance.

 Michael Schlößer, chairman of the Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) in Bonn, also confirms that his industry is currently being shaken up. However, one has to differentiate according to a supra-regional observation: There is a noticeable decline in walk-in customers in the city centres - which is also reported from the retail sector - and the frequency is lower in the evening than at lunchtime. Outside the city centres, where restaurants can count on regular customers, the situation is rather constant, he says. He is not aware of any other temporary closures in Bonn's gastronomy, says the Dehoga spokesman.

Many hotels have put their operations "on the back burner" - not least to keep their staff in line, says Schlößer and adds: "We remain hopeful that we will have a good spring. But until then, we still have some tough months ahead of us." Even more of a concern to him than sales is the expected sick leave if the Omikron variant continues to run rampant. His industry has two demands from politicians: That the complete costs for social security continue to be included in the short-time allowance and that the bridging allowance be extended beyond the first quarter of this year.

Service centre in the town hall remains open

The Bonn public utility company (SWB) is also currently concerned about the risk of infection, which is why it is keeping its service centre in its Welschnonnenstraße headquarters closed until further notice because of the high incidence rates. The opening, however, is not dependent on a certain value, but "on the rules in force at the time and the best possible protection of the customers,” an SWB spokeswoman said on Tuesday upon request. The other SWB contact points remain open - among other things because of a structural separation of staff and customers.

The administration's service centre in the town hall also remains open: visitors need an appointment and must prove that they have been vaccinated, have recovered, or have tested negative (3G rule). The test result must not be older than 24 hours, and citizens must also wear a medical mask.

 (Original text: Rüdiger FranzTranslation: Mareike Graepel)

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