Suntory CEO says 20% of restaurants may fail as coronavirus slams Japan's dining scene
08 June, 2020
Takeshi Niinami, the top of Japanese drinks and food group Suntory Holdings and a government adviser, predicted on Friday that a lot more than 20% of bars and restaurants could fail as a result of coronavirus pandemic.
Japan's vibrant dining scene, from tapas style izakaya pubs and restaurants to Tokyo's high-end eateries boasting the greatest number of Michelin stars of any city, mostly turn off in April as the government declared a state of emergency.
Despite having the emergency status lifted, many restaurants are reopening with caution and with limiting seating and opening hours as customers remain wary of eating out. Niinami said he feared the country's eating-out culture could be hurt for good.
"If you ask me just how much will return, I'd say roughly, around 80% will be back," Niinami, an economical adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, told Reuters within an interview.
Niinami said that while the government's $1.1 trillion extra spending package approved last month was substantial, the federal government needed to be prepared to provide more if another wave of infections were going to.
"I think it would be good to have 80% of these return, although of course I must say i want 100% back," he said. "Given the existing coronavirus situation, what I'd like to see is to allow them to make it through another 2-3 years until we are able to enable more noisy, intimate get-togethers."
Privately-owned Suntory would depend on the survival of Japan's dining industry, worth 25 trillion yen by some estimates, as an outlet for its drinks including Yamazaki whisky and Laphroaig single malt Scotch together with Premium Malt's beer.
The business is backing a new dining app called Saki-meshi, meaning meal in the future. It allows consumers to support their favorite restaurants by spending money on meals up to 180 days in advance, to supply restaurants with essential cash to survive until business returns.
Niinami added his weight to demands easier usage of coronavirus tests, to permit persons to more confidently resume business activity.
The Japanese government has been widely criticized in the home for its insufficient testing, although the country appears up to now to have escaped an explosive outbreak with around 910 deaths up to now.
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