MARS to take a hit?24 Sep 2020 13:12
I visited my local Marstons last night (Bure farm in Bicester - normally RAMMED in a busy town centre, it was quiz night and it was empty).
I got talking to the manager. They've claimed that sales and daily takes have been horrendously low since reopening on 4th July, and can just about cover the staff salaries, with very little / no profit.
With the changes announced my Boris which come into play from today (Thursday), the main concern that they have is not that the place has to close at 10pm, they can deal with this -- it's the fact that table service is now mandatory for ALL customers. This wasn't an issue for food, but they have no idea how they will be able to handle the extra overheads required to manage the sales of drinks without putting on more staff, and thus decreasing profits even further.
They can't force customers to order via an app either - the majority of cutomers during day time are those of an elderly nature and don't have the capacity to do this...
Earner reports out W/C 12th October. I can see this taking quite a hit...