Japan pub-chain leader urges new PM to help eateries hit by COVID-19
23/09/2021 02:00
TOKYO, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Miki Watanabe, the chief
executive of Japanese pub chain Watami, has urgent advice for
the next prime minister: provide fair compensation for
restaurants impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions on eateries.
Watanabe, himself a former politician who spent six years in
parliament, has a relationship with outgoing Prime Minister
Yoshihide Suga from his time in politics.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will pick a new
leader on Sept. 29 who will replace Suga as prime minister since
they are the majority party.
Speaking to Reuters from one of the company's restaurants
before that vote, Watanabe's story epitomizes the challenges the
new Japanese leader will face to help businesses recover from
the pandemic's bite.
Last year, Watanabe converted this restaurant from an
izakaya-style pub, where small dishes are typically served with
alcohol, to a yakiniku-style pub where diners grill their food
at the table with robots serving meat and other items to cut
labour costs.
He now plans to convert 40% of its 300 outlets into these
high-tech barbecue restaurants, which also include using
conveyor belts to dispense dishes, by next April.
This is Watami's strategy to better suit consumer tastes and
ride out emergency curbs from the government to prevent
COVID-19's spread that cut opening hours and banned serving
alcohol.
Watanabe has been loudly critical of the government's
COVID-19 curbs on restaurants, a rarity in typically cordial
Japan.
"I was frustrated with (the government's) response to the
pandemic," Watanabe said. "It's too slow and too sloppy."
The contenders for the LDP leadership have pledged to
respond to the pandemic and roll out fresh stimulus to ease the
pain, but whoever succeeds Suga, the food service industry will
face a "long battle" with COVID-19, Watanabe said.
Government compensation for businesses impacted by the curbs
was too generous for small firms but insufficient for larger
companies like Watami, making it "unbalanced and unfair," he
added.
"We want the new government to pay fair compensation for the
business suspensions in accordance with the size of businesses
so that everybody would shoulder a fair amount of losses."
Japan's curbs have so far focused on asking eateries to
close early and refrain from serving alcohol, but not all
restaurants and bars are complying with the non-binding rules.
Watanabe said he wanted the new leader to exercise more
power over eateries to abide by the curbs.
(Reporting by Akira Tomoshige, Rikako Maruyama, Akiko Okamoto
and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
((tetsushi.kajimoto@thomsonreuters.com;))