Another day of COVID-19 restrictions, another business owner’s life work destroyed; CrossCafe, a Czech coffee chain with locations in most of the major cities, is closing all five of its Prague locations indefinitely.
In a company statement, CrossCafe says that the restrictions have limited the functioning of their business to the point where it’s impossible to operate anymore.
“The measures taken by the Czech government for almost a year now in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, which limits the normal functioning of the entire hospitality/restaurants/catering sector including CrossCafes, is the main reason we have to close our five Prague locations.”
The statement goes on to mention said that it has lost virtually all of its target customers because of the restrictions. There are no more tourists, students, or office workers who are allowed to come and buy coffee. They also note that the government compensation they’ve received is underwhelming at best.
“The current state of the situation isn’t indicating that things will change in the near future and allow Prague cafes and restaurants to return to its 2019 levels of sales. We also would like to note that the government support falls far short of our costs and therefore we are unfortunately forced to go ahead with the above-mentioned decision.”
CrossCafe’s move to turn its lights off echoes Costa Coffee’s recent closing of a large portion of their chains in the Czech Republic.
The current COVID-19 restrictions will be in place at least for another 14 days until some businesses maybe able to open.
