Retailers voice frustrations over indoor dining regulations
Print17 August 2021
The Convenience Stores and Newsagent Association (CSNA) has spoken out against the “zero accommodation” granted to the convenience sector within the government’s current indoor dining regulations.
In the latest issue of ShelfLife, Vincent Jennings, chief executive of the CSNA said: “While the regulations might work in a slow moving fine dining restaurant with a small number of covers, in our operations where we have hundreds of people coming through and only a small percentile wishing to use that facility, you certainly can’t ask every customer coming in for their Covid cert as it’s not relevant and when they make their purchase, you don’t know whether they are sitting down or walking out the door.”
Jennings added that the real problems arise when you throw alcohol into the mix and it seems like the restrictions were devised for pubs and restaurants to prevent people becoming too free and easy and dropping their guard.
“The vast majority of our retailers have said ‘no, we’re not going there’,” he said. “They can’t afford to have a separate staff member dealing with this. And coupled with the fact that we’ve had 18 months of being targeted by a small but incredibly vociferous group of people, this would be just something to further intimidate us with.”
A number of retailers also explain why they have decided to postpone reopening their seating areas in the latest issue of ShelfLife, which can be read on page 26 here.
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