Madrid’s Tapas Bars Take a Hit as Virus Keeps Spaniards Away

(Bloomberg) -- The coronavirus pandemic is hitting Spaniards at the heart of their culture: in their beloved tapas bars.

A spike in coronavirus cases is keeping people from indulging in one of the country’s favorite pastimes -- hanging out at bars and restaurants that serve up a wide variety of tapas, everything from olives and sliced ham to fried baby squid and garlic shrimps. Daily sales are down an average of 15%, says Hospitality Madrid, which represents 2,100 bars, restaurants and cafeterias in and around the Spanish capital.

“This is one of the worst moments in the 14 years I’ve been working here,” said Ana Milena Torres, a 40-year-old waitress at Delifresh, a restaurant in central Madrid. “Our daily takings usually amount to about 2,200 euros ($2,500), but in these last days it has dropped to no more than 1,500 euros. It’s always half empty.”

Surrounded by banks and corporate offices, Delifresh is a casualty of the steps the government has announced to slow the march of the pathogen. Schools and universities were shuttered and companies were called on to send workers home, a measure implemented by many of Spain’s top employers including Banco Santander SA, Telefonica SA and Inditex SA.

Madrid is the region that’s been hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, accounting for about half of the cases in Spain. The country has reported almost 3,000 cases, with 84 deaths.

Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais that he expects Spain to follow the same pattern as Italy, the center of the epidemic in Europe, which is enforcing a total lockdown, closing all bars, cafes and restaurants.

A measure like that would hit the Spanish way of life hard. Eating out is almost a sacred rite in Spain. While the country’s work habits have changed over the last few decades, Spaniards still stubbornly stick to some traditions like a two-hour lunch break that many spend at bars enjoying a three-course lunch known as the menu ejecutivo, or executive menu.

The love of eating out is reflected in the sheer volume of bars in Spain. There are more than 300,000 of them catering to the country’s 47 million inhabitants, giving it the greatest number of such eateries per capita in the world, according to Juan Jose Blardony, managing director of Hospitality Madrid.

Small and crowded -- many with hams hanging from the ceiling and floors covered with peanut shells -- the restaurants encourage close human contact as customers often drink beer and eat standing up after negotiating space at the bar. Tapas are snacks served in small dishes shared by several people who use their hands, toothpicks, forks or spoons, making them particularly disposed to spreading the virus.

On Friday, Madrid withdrew outdoor-terrace permits for bars and said bar owners should consider closing their establishments. Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida said in an interview on Antena 3 TV that the authorities are studying a lockdown of bars and restaurants.

“We were all young once and I know it’s not easy, but the greatest civic duty at the moment is to stay at home,” he said.

For Hospitality Madrid’s Blardony, the first real test of how much the virus has hit the city’s vibrant nightlife will come this weekend.

He said that the government is expecting the virus crisis to last two months. Any extension on that could prove fatal for many of Madrid’s bars and restaurants, he said. He expects several of them to have problems with cash flow and loan servicing.

“People are really worried,” Blardony said. “These are mainly small establishments and they can’t survive more than three months under these conditions.”

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez addressed some of those concerns Thursday, letting small businesses defer tax payments by six months to give them 14 billion euros of liquidity. He also opened the credit taps for them at state institutions.

In the meantime, Madrid’s tapas culture will have to adapt to a new reality, said Torres, the waitress.

“The requirements of the few clients who’re still coming to the restaurant are now stricter,” said Torres. “They ask for disposable dishes even if they’re not taking their food away.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Charlie Devereux in Madrid at cdevereux3@bloomberg.net;Thomas Gualtieri in Madrid at tgualtieri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rodrigo Orihuela at rorihuela@bloomberg.net, Vidya Root

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