Restaurant owners in Bulgaria insist that local authorities in the country reduce several fees they have to pay in order to help them emerge from the crisis.

In an open letter, two restaurant associations have called for the fees for placing tables in public spaces to be reduced by 50%, while the restaurants located in municipal properties insist on rents being halved until the end of the year.

Restaurant owners are also refusing to pay garbage fees for the period in which they were forcibly closed. The business organisations also propose that regional anti-crisis centres are established and representatives of all affected sectors be a part of them.

Restaurants in Bulgaria were closed in November 2020 at the peak of the second coronavirus wave. Although Prime Minister Boyko Borissov announced that they should start working again on 1 March, they would have to do so with reduced capacity and limited working hours. This promise may not be kept, however, if infection numbers increase sharply.