The recent ban on alcohol sales has left many local businesses struggling to make ends meet and unable to pay their staff.
Once such establishment is the The Quench Corner in Selcourt, whose staff staged a protest outside their premises last Wednesday morning.
This small business employs 10 people who are serving less and less people every day.
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“We have to keep our doors open because we’ve paid our rent, we need to try and get some business in.
“To survive, we’ve had to cut salaries, and reduce some shifts,” says owner Johan Burger.
Burger, who bought the business in November last year, says before Covid-19 business were going well.
“We had started building up our clientele and we staged live entertainment. All our plans for the business have been interrupted,” says Burger.
The owner says their plea to government is to allow the sale of alcohol at sit-down restaurants to help them survive and be able to pay their staff, whose families depend on them.
Additionally, expenses like rent, rates to the municipality, liquor licence fees and security still need to be paid.
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“Businesses were not warned about the ban on the sale of alcohol.
“Not only did we order stock, we put measures in place to make sure we could trade safely while adhering to the lockdown regulations such as social distancing, sanitising equipment more frequently and screening customers before they enter.”
Burger says its not just the businesses that are suffering, but the whole value chain, from the farmers, suppliers, distributors, and especially the staff.
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