Coffee shop owners complain state support is humiliating

The coronavirus pandemic makes life difficult for everyone. Restaurants, hotels and other service facilities are in a particularly bad position, as they have almost no revenue during the epidemic. There is no common regulation within the European Union, so it is up to the Member States to decide how to support companies in sectors close to bankruptcy.

Hungary is not at the forefront when it comes to aiding. Tourism has completely stopped; you can only visit restaurants and cafes to take away. Decreased or completely eliminated turnover means less revenue. However, the expenses are not decreasing. The most significant of these expenditures are the wages of employees and rents.

A coffee shop in Budapest has announced on Facebook that state support had arrived. This support is not much, and the cafe owner wanted to let the public know that he feels like the Hungarian government has let them down.

Telex.hu contacted the manager of the Jedermann café, Gábor Boskovics. The cafe applied for government wage subsidies immediately after the November announcement of the grants.

The amount of the wage subsidy covers 50 per cent of the gross wage up to a maximum of 150 per cent of the salary.

Boskovics said nothing happened for a long time after the request. They first received a response in January when data corrections were needed.