Businesses consider extending Eat Out to Help Out scheme

After a month of cut price meals in restaurants and cafes across the country, the UK Government’s Eat Out to Help Out initiative has ended.

The scheme, which offered 50 per cent off food up to £10 per person, ran each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday throughout August.

It aimed to help businesses get back on their feet following lockdown restrictions, with the government footing the bill.

The scheme has been hailed as a success, with more than 64 million meals ordered in the first three weeks, amounting to payouts of over £336m.

Now that the scheme has ended, some businesses are taking matters into their own hands and extending the scheme in a bid to keep tables full, tills ringing and protect jobs.

Muhammad Sultan from Charcoals restaurant in Glasgow says they are considering continuing the scheme to keep the business busy.

“We are considering it as well because nowadays the prices of everything is going up, it’s not going down,” he says.

“It should be extended more, the government should take initiative.”

Colin Barland, from the Federation of Small Businesses, says that the public should continue to support local restaurants as the scheme comes to an end.

“A lot of these businesses are operating on very thin margins so they weren’t doing exactly brilliantly before this pandemic struck, so we’re going to have to be very careful that we don’t cut off the supply of support too soon,” he explains..

With the Government’s furlough scheme due to come to an end soon, businesses say although eating out in August has helped out, they have no idea what’s on the menu for the rest of 2020.