Takeaway sales SURGE as cities empty of workers

Takeaway sales have surged as city centres emptied of workers after the latest work from home guidance was issued.

Hospitality leaders said customers seeking delivery had skyrocketed outside major areas following the new restrictions. They said orders away from central London have gone up as employees left the capital for Christmas.

It comes as businesses demanded a ‘roadmap’ back to normality as they faced another hammer blow due to the curbs.

Bosses said they needed support in the form of ‘grants, rates relief or VAT relief’ to keep them afloat as the pandemic drags on.

Rishi Sunak is weighing up a VAT cut and cash boost for the ailing pubs and restaurants after jetting back to the UK from a ‘long planned’ California break.

The Chancellor is under fire from hospitality firms having only just returned from the ‘work trip’ to the US to meet tech bosses despite the threat of Omicron.

Chairman of Franco Manca owners Fulham Shore David Page told the Today programme: ‘Chris Whitty made his statement and our sales in our 20 city centric restaurants went down but then our sales on the south coast and all around England went up, exactly the same as last time.

‘We’ve got a geographical spread so that helps us. I mean if you’re exposed to central London and you’ve only got one or two sites then you’re in trouble at the moment.

‘Everybody’s in pain at the moment. we’ve switched to takeaway only in some branches because of Covid staff are self isolating.’

He went on: ‘I think if you want a choice of restaurants the Chancellor needs to do something very very quickly. I’m not sure any of the Cabinet understand cash flow.

‘And cash flow is the problem at the moment in the last week or two and over the next ten days and especially nearer London and nearer the city centres these businesses have no cash flow, they’re paying staff, they’ve got to pay their suppliers, it’s a bit of a disaster area for smaller businesses.’

Delivery and takeaway sales for last month showed they have rocketed 97 per cent on pre-pandemic levels. CGA & Slerp Hospitality at Home Tracker found sales in November were just one per cent below 2020’s figure.

Delivery sales were 192 per cent higher than in 2019, which is far higher than the 25 per cent growth in takeaways. The research showed lockdowns and tighter controls on movement had reflected the shift.

Businesses said the government has to bring in a ‘roadmap’ back to normality to save the hospitality industry.

Catherine McGuinness, policy chair of the City of London Corporation, said especially firms in central London are ‘in trouble’.

She said: ‘It would have been the busiest time of year for our hospitality sector and until last week that’s what we were seeing and it’s gone dead. 

‘If you’re in central London, you’re in trouble and you need help very very quickly. We’ve written to the Chancellor asking for support for businesses based on the number of businesses in the area.

‘Whether that’s grants, rates relief, VAT relief, we’re seeing firms that really have managed to cope so far but are going to fail if this carries on.’

She continued: ‘Tell office workers to stay home may be important for health and that’s vital but this really is cutting off their demand.’

She added: ‘What they’re desperate for is support. I think in a full lockdown what we would really ask for is as much clarity as government can give us about the roadmap out and look carefully at how the economy can continue to function.

‘Let’s look at the data and see if there are ways we can get people safely into the office. The sooner we can get people safely back the better.’

She added: ‘So businesses will need to adapt to the new normal when we finally get there, but what’s clear to us from all that we both hear and all that we see in terms of planning applications is that the office has a future long ahead of it.’

Mr Sunak is weighing up a VAT cut and cash boost for ailing pubs and restaurants suffering from the spread of Omicron.

The Chancellor is under fire from hospitality firms having only just returned from the ‘work trip’ to the US to meet tech bosses.

It saw Mr Sunak dubbed ‘California Chancellor’ as pictures from the UK’s major cities showed only a handful of revellers enjoying festive nights out.

Boris Johnson advised the nation to be cautious over the festive period, while Professor Whitty‘s call for people to limit their socialising caused cancellations.

But Mr Sunak returned to the UK to hold virtual talks with officials and the PM over details of a potential new bailout package.

The Treasury is trying to ‘build up a precise picture about crunch points’ for businesses to establish what is required, a source told the Telegraph.

It comes after a report from the Tory’s think tank warning Government bailouts have ‘fostered a sense of entitlement’ and left an ‘uphill task to restore expectations’.

Pubs ‘lost all their Christmas bookings virtually overnight’ in the wake of Government guidance to work from home due to the rising threat of Omicron.

Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin also lashed out at ministers for pursuing ‘lockdown by stealth’, with pubs saying the new guidance had persuaded many punters that it was not worth going ahead with their festive gatherings.

One London hotel told MailOnline it was expecting £100,000 worth of losses from cancelled events, rooms and covers – and said many staff were fearing for their jobs given the extent the industry relies on a lucrative Christmas period.

The Chancellor and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke, held calls with hospitality chiefs earlier this week.

Downing Street said some of the companies and organisations who took part were Prezzo, Black Sheep Brewery, Nando’s, Greene King, Whitbread, Adnams, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Federation of Small Businesses, British Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Wholesale Distributors and UK Hospitality.

They have called for a fresh support package, similar to those deliver earlier in the pandemic, in order to stay afloat.

But a Government source told The Times it is ‘not in the same position financially’ and would have to be ‘incredible precise’ about the allocation of funding.

Some industry bodies have pushed for an increase in cash grants to mitigate against the losses businesses are expected to suffer over a normally busy festive period.

Others are understood to have urged Mr Sunak to revive the emergency rate of five per cent VAT for hospitality and tourism firms and to reinstate the 100 per cent business rates relief for retail companies.

Mr Sunak is said to be considering options including the fresh emergency VAT cut and additional cash boosts. The Chancellor is also considering what further help may be required if further restrictions are introduced.

Meanwhile it emerged the PM’s plan to get every adult boosted by the end of the year descended into chaotic disarray.

The pledge to jab 1milliom adults a day has still not been hit and it means 2.1million adults must receive a booster every day – including on Christmas Day.

Official figures show a daily record of 986,689 were vaccinated on Saturday, including 904,598 receiving booster jabs.

Sajid Javid previously said 906,656 had their vaccines, with 830,000 getting boosters, but later on Sunday the figures were updated to include the higher numbers.

The figures mean more than 28million people in the UK have received a booster jab, but there are still more than 26million people aged over 18 who are yet to have one.

It means more than 2million adults need to be vaccinated every day for the PM to hit his target, including bank holidays Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The booster crisis comes in tandem with wider Covid chaos in Downing Street over whether to lock down the country before Christmas.

Mr Johnson was under growing pressure not to impose restrictions that will ruin the festive break for the second year in a row.

Tory MPs last night said any attempt to toughen rules before Christmas will provoke letters seeking to oust Mr Johnson as party leader.

The PM is reportedly considering three scenarios to tackle the Omicron variant, including restrictions on mixing indoors in England, a curfew on pubs and restaurants and even an immediate lockdown.

And Mr Javid yesterday refused to rule out Covid measures coming into force before Christmas Day.

But ministers indicated they will not back new curbs. Rishi Sunak is understood to be arguing that they need to plot a clear route out of restrictions before they are imposed, while Liz Truss says she is ‘uncomfortable’ with the current curbs. 

One Cabinet minister has even gone as far as to say they will resign if the PM introduced another full lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.

And in a sign of the ever-growing threat of further restrictions, Mr Johnson, who has repeatedly insisted Christmas would not be cancelled, cleared his diary today in order to hold emergency meetings with scientists and his advisers, reports The Mirror.

Britain yesterday recorded 82,886 Covid cases, with the number of infections rising by 32,473, or 64.4 per cent, in seven days.

But it is lower than Saturday’s figure of 90,418. Some 45 deaths were recorded, a decrease of 66 from last week’s 111 and a percentage decrease of 59.5.

And cases of the Omicron variant rose by 50 per cent in just 24 hours to 37,101 as the UK Health Security Agency confirmed a further 12,133 cases.