The year that Collserola has emptied and restaurateurs are suffering more than in the lockdown
Cyclists and hikers have stopped arriving and restaurants doubt if they will continue to be alive when the government aid arrives
BarcelonaFor nine months, Collserola has been emptied of hikers and cyclists who found it a quick escape from the city. The outbreak of African swine fever (ASF), which already totals 384 positive cases, has forced extreme measures to be taken to prevent the virus from spreading, and to reinforce the closure of the natural park when the infections reached Barcelona. Aside from farms and slaughterhouses, a sector fully affected by this situation are the restaurateurs accustomed to serving breakfasts and lunches to cyclists and hikers who have not made an appearance for months. Despite the aid approved this week, the restaurants that ARA has spoken to agree in explaining the difficulties they are going through, some to the point of considering closing, and which they all describe as more serious than those caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Masia Can Jané restaurant is next to the Sant Medir hermitage, in Sant Cugat del Vallès, a spot very frequently visited by hikers. The person in charge of the establishment, Isidre Jané, explains that they have lost "practically all breakfast customers," who mostly arrived by bike or on foot. Now those who come must arrive by road, and they usually come for lunch. Summer is always usually the slowest season of the year for this and the rest of the establishments in the natural park, which make more money in the autumn and winter, with barbecues and calçotades.
Even so, at Can Jané, the drop in clientele has led them to decide to cut staff and now there are three fewer people, nine, instead of the twelve there were normally. Isidre Jané calculates that turnover has fallen between 30 and 40% compared to a normal season. In this family business, they still have to study the aid that the Government has announced and see if they can qualify for it and under what conditions, although to receive it they will have to "hold on" until next year.
"Four of us workers are from the family and that way it's easier to endure, but it is just enduring," insists Jané. In fact, this restaurateur asserts that with the closure of Collserola they are suffering more than they suffered with the lockdown due to the covid-19 pandemic: "In a way it was better. You didn't have staff expenses and everything was closed, now the problem is that you are open and you cannot invoice."
"I don't know if I will be able to make calçotades"
They are also having a worse time now than in 2020 at El Racó de Collserola, in Vallvidrera. Back then they had just opened —they inaugurated in December 2019— and the owner, Thais de las Heras, remembers that they experienced the opposite situation to most restaurant owners in Barcelona: "Since people could not leave the city, they went up to the mountain". On the other hand, the clients they retain now are residents of Vallvidrera who arrive on foot, or some who arrive by car or public transport, because they are very close to the train station.
De las Heras has two more establishments in Vallvidrera and claims that she has lost up to 60% of her turnover. In the largest of the three, El Racó de Collserola, they focus mainly on grilled food and 'calçotades', and the majority profile of their clients are cyclists and hikers. The owner does not see it at all clear that they will receive the aid announced by the Government —"maybe we will be closed by then, it is unsustainable", she laments— and in fact at this moment they are evaluating whether to freeze the concession of the restaurants or close one of the three. For now, they have cut staff and of the fifteen workers that there were for the three premises, now only eight remain.
The situation is no different on the other side of the mountain. The manager of the Can Coll restaurant in Cerdanyola del Vallès, Xavi Vila, calculates that every Sunday they receive between 70 and 80 fewer people than before. The specialty of this restaurant, which used to be a picnic area as well, is grilled meat, and before the outbreak of African swine fever, it was frequented by many cycling enthusiasts. "People who go to the mountains don't want to be stuck at home for so many days, they go somewhere else. Summer is usually slow, and we have also closed for holidays, but even now I have no idea if I will be able to serve calçots in the winter," comments Vila.