Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
The financial destruction of the third ban on alcohol saw South African Breweries (SAB) left with one option; to pursue legal action against Gov. in order to protect the company’s employees, suppliers, customers and consumers.
However, now post the third ban, is there a difference in the local market? Or better yet, when compared to the end of the first ban, have people’s behaviour, after the third ban, changed? Norbert and Cathy Kade owners of Newcastle based pub, Pint and Pigout, offer some insight into these questions.
Firstly, the business partners explain that the blanket ban on alcohol impacted them significantly. “Without alcohol, our turnover drops by 80 to 90%,” affirms Cathy.
Yet, with President Cyril Ramaphosa lifting the alcohol ban at the beginning of the month, Norbert says business immediately shot up. “Business went up by 70% since the end of the ban on alcohol sales.” However, when compared to the original ban, he states, “Following the end of the initial alcohol ban, after the five-month period, business was better, but from my perspective, people are now more cautious. This is because of the number of COVID-19 cases in Newcastle.”
Cathy confers, explaining how the general demeanour of clientele has changed as of late. “People now prefer coming during the early afternoon and evening, keeping their distance from each other.”
Explaining the change stems from a sense of understanding on the seriousness of the pandemic. “After the alcohol ban was lifted the first time, we struggled at closing time for people to leave. But now, people cooperate, and when we call the last round of the night, they fully understand.”
However, they do face one challenge—the wearing of masks. “There are times, when people try to walk around from table to table to greet each other, without wearing their masks. Addressing this can be rather challenging after they have had a few drinks,” Cathy laughs.
In closing, the two send the following shoutout “Follow protocol, so we can stay open and save the hospitality industry.”
The motivation to adhere to this statement is simple. In January 2021; SA Breweries highlighted that the severity and impact of the last two bans were dire—cutting deeply into the alcohol industry’s survivability. SAB noted over 165 000 people lost their jobs, with a further 100 000 people moving into poverty due to the bans.
Therefore, working with each other and adhering to regulations could potentially prevent the fourth and final instalment of a catastrophic ban which will not only impact companies like SAB but, local, privately owned businesses such as Pint and Pigout.
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