Perthshire venues have suffered mass cancellations as people ditched festive parties over fears about the spread of the Omicron variant.
The First Minister revealed yesterday that 5,951 new cases of the deadly virus were identified across the country in the last 24-hour period.
During an announcement to MSPs at Holyrood on Thursday, December 16, Ms Sturgeon strongly advised people to stay at home to prevent the spread.
Perth and Kinross residents are being urged to limit their socialising to a maximum of three households in a bid to protect Christmas.
But businesses – still struggling to recover from the impact of previous restrictions – have been left with empty tables and wasted stock.
The curbs on socialising will not be put into law, but everyone has reconsidered their plans, putting a spanner in the works for those preparing to do multiple covers in restaurants across Perthshire.
Perth and Kinross Council asked school staff to not meet up for special Christmas meals last Friday. Many end of term gatherings were cancelled the same day as Ms Sturgeon gave the message to take extra care.
Brown and Blacks in Scone was a typical case where a booking for 35 for today cancelled in light of the advice.
Owner Katie Long told the PA the group understandably got cold feet and pulled out of the Christmas party that would have taken over the dining room.
But the ripples of this cancellation and many others at venues across the county are far-reaching, hitting taxi firms, hairdressers, wholesalers, fresh vegetable, fish and meat suppliers as well as serving and cooking staff.
“It should have been Black Friday for us today, but instead we’ve lost most of our covers and I’ve given the head chef the day off,” Katie informed us.
“We have lost another booking for 25 that was for next week and the phone hasn’t stopped as people call in to say ‘we were a party of eight, but now it’s just going to be four’.
“We appreciate these cancellations can’t be helped, but in what should have been our busiest time, we’ve had to watch helplessly as the trade vanished overnight because suddenly a works Christmas party is the last thing people feel comfortable with.”
Katie explained she is “planning for the worst”, preparing to make Brown and Blacks pub and restaurant do takeaway service only, just as she did last year.
“We are rolling with it every day that passes. The knock-on effect of the latest Omichron advice from Edinburgh is cancellation, cancellation, cancellation.
“I would estimate we have lost around 200 covers since last Friday.
“Two years ago this Friday was our best day for takings. I had 370 covers in 2019.
“A measure of what has just happened is we have so few coming in today, Friday 17, that I have allowed Kathleen Reid our head chef to take the day off, we don’t need her, it has gone so quiet.
“Kathleen has had to work with the seafood supplier George Campbell and Son. A huge amount of fresh fish was pre-ordered ages ago for all the parties we had lined up.
“I’m lucky we moved from Perth city centre to Scone as we can be better supported by our community here. We still have lads in the public bar, we have vouchers selling, I’m making up hampers with local products.
“We only had seven weeks open in this new location last year before we were forced to close the restaurant on Boxing Day – for five months. Doing takeaway saved us, local Scone people were very loyal.”
In Perth, chef and takeaway owner Pete Chan felt the same sudden lull on account of the pandemic worsening due to the Omicron Covid variant.
Pete (left) explained: “I had four parties running up to Christmas, two of which were actually in private homes.
“It just goes to show how people are taking the announcements seriously.”
He explained he could use the stock in day to day trade and some pre-prepared items could be frozen, but it was still a big blow to have the cancellations.
“Like all professional kitchens, we work very hard over the Festive Season for the business. This helps us obviously with our end of year tax bill and hopefully that little bit more to tide us over the slower winter months.
“Fuel bills are going through the roof. Credit card commissions are quite high. Margins are getting tighter and tighter.
“I can see many operators not making through next year.”
Vicki Unite, chief executive of Perthshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “Businesses, especially in hospitality, were already feeling the pain after the First Minister’s briefing last week, with the subsequent cancellation of many events and gatherings.
"The latest announcement – outlining the most stringent set of measures in the UK at the moment – is a double whammy of misery for those affected."
On Thursday 16, Ms Sturgeon announced that she has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking for more financial support to combat Omicron.
The First Minister told the Scottish Parliament she was “acutely aware of and deeply concerned about the considerable impact” on businesses of her government’s advice for people to limit social interaction.
She said businesses need the “scale of financial support” that was available earlier in the pandemic. But she added: “However, there are simply no mechanisms available to the devolved administrations to trigger the scale of finance needed to support such schemes.
“We need the UK Government to act urgently and in the same way some other countries are already doing.”
She said the issue needs the “urgent engagement of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor”.
