Atletico-MG’s good phase boosts bar revenue in Belo Horizonte

The bars and restaurants of Belo Horizonte expect to close December with sales up to 90% higher than that registered in the same month last year. And one of the reasons for the rise is the good stage of Atlético-MG, the team that won the Brazilian Championship this year.

According to Abrasel-MG (Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants in Minas Gerais), establishments that broadcast the club’s matches had an average increase of 30% in revenue on match days.

Some, like Estação Savassi, doubled their revenues in Galo’s last two games, when the team won the championship by beating Bahia in Salvador and when it lifted the cup, at Mineirão. Expectations are positive for the team’s matches in the final of the Copa do Brasil.

Danilo Rossi, owner of the bar, says that current sales are much higher than in December 2020, when it fell to around 15% of what it was before the pandemic. Now, the results have been 20% to 30% above those recorded in December 2019.

The bars of BH, a city famous for its bohemian style, also celebrate the return of get-togethers of companies or groups of friends.

“Everyone is working at home, or working in a mixed scheme, so happy hour had died. But in December, these groups are marking a holiday gathering and a hidden friend”, says Marco Panerai, owner of Laicos, at Savassi. According to him, sales have grown from 10% to 15% per month since July, following the reduction of restrictions.

The restaurant Gastrô Hub, in the Serra neighborhood, had a 30% increase in reservations for December compared to previous months. The owner, Roberto Zhen Qiu, says that since October there has been a gradual increase in sales.

The movement takes place thanks to the advance of vaccination and the relaxation of the protocols adopted by the city of Minas Gerais, which came to prohibit, a year ago, the consumption of alcoholic beverages in bars and restaurants in the city. The measure ran from December 7, 2020 to February 5, 2021.

“Due to prohibition, we earned around 20% of what we could have earned in December of last year. Many people stopped going to bars at the end of the year, because bars without drinks are useless”, says Matheus Daniel, president of Abrasel-MG.

At the time, according to the city hall, the measure was planned as an intermediary way to preserve the functioning of activities as much as possible.

Despite the return of billing, the President of Abrasel-MG says that the profit is still lower than before the pandemic, due to inflation.

“Inputs in general are more expensive, beef had a very large increase, electricity too. Many people had to pass on part of these costs to customers. But bars and restaurants have learned to be more efficient in the pandemic and are able to hold back a little of this price increase,” he says.

According to a survey by Abrasel-MG, the bar and restaurant sector generated around 10 thousand job openings in Belo Horizonte in the second half of 2021. The number, however, still does not replace the nearly lost jobs at the beginning of the pandemic .