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Business Times writes that casual sit-down dining, one of the sectors hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns, is facing an uncertain recovery path, with analysts expecting it to return to some semblance of normality only in 9-12 months.
The lag is due to the “excruciatingly slow” vaccine rollout, they say. Even the more resilient quick-service restaurant segment, with its focus on takeaways and deliveries, faces hurdles as consumers come under increasing pressure because of rocketing unemployment, higher food prices and cuts to the Covid-related social grants from the government. Small Talk Daily analyst Anthony Clark said that with the third wave upon SA, there was definitely anecdotal evidence that people have been shying away from going out to restaurants in general over the past two weeks. “People still want to go out but they are fearful about going out. Deliveries are still doing quite well, which tells you they are still fearful. And whilst underlying trends are encouraging and coming off an awful base of last year, I think it is going to be at least another 9-12 months before any semblance of normality comes back to casual dining or until the vaccine rollout gathers momentum,” Clark said. He added that key to the recovery of casual dining and the fast-food sector would be what happened during the Covid-19 third wave, and whether the vaccine rollout could be sped up so that there was a weakened fourth wave by the time the summer months came and there was a traditional pick-up in fast food. Independent investment analyst Chris Gilmour said the pace of recovery in casual dining could be tied “almost exactly to the pace of the vaccine rollout”.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nick Wilson at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
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