The Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts (HOK) section representing owners of catering establishments on Tuesday called for equal working conditions for all catering establishments as the lockdown on the sector is gradually lifted, noting that horizontal reopening was key to equality.

The head of the national Covid-19 response team, Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic, has announced the gradual relaxation of epidemiological restrictions before 1 June, including an increase in the maximum number of participants in gatherings from 25 to 100, the opening of restaurants’ (but not cafes’) indoor sections, and extending the working hours of catering establishments from 2200 to 2300 hours.

Commenting on the announcements, the HOK section representing owners of catering establishments and tourism workers called for allowing the reopening of indoor sections of all catering establishments and not only of restaurants. Partial relaxation of epidemiological restrictions will enable restaurants to work almost completely normally while cafes, which are part of the same sector, will be prevented from operating normally, it said.

“We are confident that cafe owners, too, can adapt their indoor sections to epidemiological measures to protect public health and therefore ask the national Covid-19 response team to reconsider the announced measures and enable all catering establishments to work under the same conditions,” said Joso Smolic, head of the HOK section representing owners of catering establishments.