Panel SA: Return of the restriction to bars and restaurants after the omicron is an isolated case, says businessman

The initiatives to resume restrictions to try to contain the advance of Covid announced in recent days, as the city of Amparo (SP) did, should only be isolated cases, according to Sylvio Lazzarini, founder and general director of Varanda Grill restaurants.

“It has a psychological effect, which stems from the vacation period and end-of-year festivities”, he says.

According to the entrepreneur’s forecasts, the new crisis of the pandemic should not last more than 30 days, approximately. He says that the focus to overcome the virus, now, is vaccination. Therefore, a group of restaurants in São Paulo came together to launch a campaign in favor of booster doses and childhood immunization, according to him. The message will be given to customers right at the door of the establishments.

Lazzarini says he does not want to politicize, but he has a firm position in favor of the vaccine for children and is not afraid of losing clients who reject the immunizer.

“What we are in favor of now is the vaccination of children, because it is a transmitting agent. We don’t want to make this a political position. This is the discussion about our participation. But, unfortunately, they politicize this discussion”, he says.

Has the resumption of restrictions on the operation of commerce, as the Amparo prefecture did, scare the sector? I speak from my individual observation and not as a sector. I have the impression that it is an isolated case. The restriction after 23:00 has a psychological effect, which stems from the holiday period and the end of the year festivities. I think it’s still too early to assess all this.

After the onomicron showed that it has such an accelerated contagion, are there other initiatives that can rescue practices from previous moments of the pandemic? We have the Restaurantes do Bem movement, which donated lunch boxes.

In November [do ano passado], we already published a manifesto saying that we were against Carnival and asking for restrictions on New Year’s Eve. How to avoid releasing Avenida Paulista, as it was done. And now with Carnival [cancelado] also makes us more relieved at this point.

We are devising a campaign to put posters on the doors of the restaurants of this group, saying that we are in favor of vaccination and that 100% of our employees have been immunized. Let’s support the booster.

We do not want to politicize the situation, but rather give full support to the vaccination program.

Is this campaign related to the government of the state of São Paulo? No. It is our initiative. We say that employees are immunized. We practically impose an imposition that you have to vaccinate because we are dealing with the public.

The restaurant sector has complained of a lack of manpower because of employees contaminated with flu and Covid. how do you they are? From the information of our group, as they are all vaccinated, we have not suffered. We have been on this vaccination measure since the beginning of last year.
They are being removed, but participation is small. I don’t think I have more than five [funcionários afastados]. Vaccine protection is great. The difficulty that we suffer is in relation to movement, the recovery of the sector. We were closed for months.

Has the movement dropped because of the advancement of the omnin variant now and the flu outbreak? Every year, from the 20th of December, there is a decrease in the movement because of the companies that give collective vacations and school vacations. There is a slight retraction, but life goes on. Our expectation is that it will pass. Another 20 or 30 days and everything is ok.

What is your opinion on charging customers for vaccination passports in restaurants? This passport would be required for large agglomerations. If you have an establishment that obeys the rules of distancing, you have preventive measures. We are in favor of preventive measures and not of bureaucratization.

Does this not clash with the message you are trying to convey in the vaccine support campaign? Some of the establishments had thought of giving a discount, for example, of 10%, for those who present the booster dose. What we are in favor of now is the vaccination of the child, because it is a transmitting agent. We don’t want to make this a political position. That’s the discussion about our participation. But, unfortunately, they politicize this discussion.

Aren’t you afraid to scare away vaccine-denying customers? We do not have. We know that, at least here in the state of São Paulo, participation [de não vacinados] is small. We have the support of the people of São Paulo. That’s reassuring.

What do you think of Uber’s decision to end the Uber Eats meal delivery service in Brazil?There was a big drop in delivery due to the drop in the home office. This we felt, is a point. The second point is that the competition was being brutal, even negative.

A motoboy picked it up from iFood, but on the way, he picked it up from Uber Eats. This started to scare consumers because it delays. I think this will balance the market. It’s my personal opinion. I think this is a normal market action.