Tourists are not. Neither do workers in the downtown offices or in the Courts area. The theaters are open but, for reasons of protocol and also due to the economic crisis that prevents many families from paying a ticket, the public that visits them is small. Thus, without the flow of customers that existed prior to the pandemic, after several months of closure and after a return with consecutive days of loss, classic pizzerias of the City of Buenos Aires are in danger.
In a timely manner, La Americana and Los Inmortales are today the most weakened. The first, with three offices (one in Corrientes and Uruguay, another in Rivadavia and Jujuy and another in Callao 83), is undergoing a restructuring process and is evaluating the possible closure of one of its branches. While the second, with two locations (in Lavalle 746 and in Corrientes 1369), it no longer has the margin to survive and Analyze lowering the blinds in March, in case of not receiving the Emergency Work Assistance Program (ATP), canceled in December.
Los Inmortales opened in 1952 on Corrientes avenue and immediately became a benchmark, thanks to the recipe for the stone pizza that “Doña” Rosa di Ciancia had brought from Castronovo, southern Italy. Later it was the seat of intellectuals, musicians, bohemians and actors. And closer in time the place became where to go to eat with Gardel, by the box of the singer located in the center and at the back of the premises, which welcomes those who enter. Today all that imprint continues, although without customers and with 19 employees who, from time to time, look towards the avenue hoping that people arrive.
On the busiest days, according to the figures that the owners of the pizzeria gave to the newspaper El Cronista, a box of $ 30,000 is reached, an amount four to five times lower than a year ago at the Lavalle headquarters. While, over Corrientes, a total of from 70 covers per day to 25, on a productive day.
Los Inmortales de Lavalle 746, one of the places that, due to its location, suffers the most from the consequences of the pandemic. Photo: Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
In La Americana the situation is similar. There also the adjective is repeated “critical”. “We are bad, very bad, like the whole sector but between the owners and the employees we evaluate the way out. We all throw to the same side,” he told Clarion Alejandro González, managing partner of La Americana, a pizzeria founded in 1935.
Between the three locations are 150 employees. “Throughout the pandemic we did not fire anyone and now we are not analyzing doing so. We are complicated but we are not talking about closing the company. Moving would be an option. The Corrientes store (at its intersection with Uruguay Street) is the most affected, “he explains. And continues:” We do not rule out closing in the future. Right now it is impossible to pay 100% of the rent with 20% of what we sold a year ago “.
In the City of Buenos Aires there are 1,200 pizzerias. During the first stage of isolation, according to data from the Association of Owners of Pizzerias and Empanadas Houses (APPYCE), 15% of the total stopped working. “Now we are talking about a second regrowth of closures. Both the emblematic pizzerias with a structure of 40 to 50 people, as well as the smaller ones, are not being able to sustain themselves. There is no billing: the money does not come in because there are no people consuming, “he told Clarion Lorena Fernández, head of the APPYCE board of directors.
The Americana of Avenida Corrientes 1383. It has two other branches and is also affected by the pandemic and the loss of customers. Photo Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
The pizzerias that are most vulnerable today are those located in Courts, Retiro, Microcentro, Courts, Corrientes Avenue and De Mayo Avenue, and that before the pandemic they were not used to making deliveries because their greatest demand occurred within the classrooms. “They made a huge effort and investment to adapt, they incorporated delivery applications with their very high commissions and they were able to survive with the ATP, but now they can no longer continue. From the Association We are very worried“added Fernández.
Faced with such a crisis, the sector is in communication with the Buenos Aires government, from which it requests the continuity of the exemption from the payment of Gross Income and ABL, which expires in February. And at the national level, they ask for the return of the ATP.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/la-americana-and-los-inmortales-two-classics-of-buenos-aires-pizza-at-risk-from-the-pandemic/
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