Is daylight saving time good or bad for restaurants? Businesspeople give their opinion

So far, there is no forecast for the return of daylight saving time. The federal government’s assessment is that the country’s good energy supply conditions, guaranteed by the planning implemented since the first months of the government, do not require a return to the model.

In September this year, the Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants (Abrasel) sent a letter to the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, asking for the return of summer time. The entity understands that the resumption of the measure, abandoned in 2019, in the first year of former president Jair Bolsonaro, has a direct impact on the operation of bars and restaurants, with growth between 10% and 15%. A letter on the same subject was also sent to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Minister of Development, Industry and Commerce, Geraldo Alckmin, and Tourism, Celso Sabino.

According to Silveira, the reservoirs of hydroelectric plants are in the best water storage conditions in recent years. “Summer time will only happen if there are signs and evidence of a need for security of supply in the Brazilian electricity sector. For now, there is no sign in this regard.”

The Abrasel document sent to Lula and ministers points out that the sector is still recovering from the losses caused by the pandemic, and that implementation would benefit a branch of the country’s economy “that generates direct income for more than 7 million Brazilians and has around 1, 5 million enterprises in the country”. The letter also argues that summer time boosts the economy, especially in commerce and tourism, as tourists tend to make better use of destinations, extending their activities until later.

More: Abrasel research carried out between the end of October and the beginning of November shows that, with an eye on summer and end-of-year movements, 35% of entrepreneurs in the segment intend to hire employees by the end of this year. Another 58% said they would maintain the current staff and only 7% said they might resign.

Since there is no prospect, at least so far, of moving the clocks forward by one hour, something that happened in the country every year, from 1985 to 2018, is not on the horizon, Bom Gourmet went to listen to some businesspeople in the sector in Curitiba to know the impact of daylight saving time on business.

Marcelo Simões – The Gardener

Summer time extends people’s consumption, and this helps establishments at an important time, as the rains in September and October had a huge impact on revenue during this period, which is normally very good. In this way, daylight saving time is a help.

Iron Mendes – Maniacs Brewing Co.

Daylight saving time is very good for the beer industry. All bars and restaurants sell more and breweries increase supply. We don’t have statistics on this but, in practice, previous years have always been good.

Rafael Vieira – Doppo

For those of us who don’t have a happy hour and are a restaurant, daylight saving time ends up being a bit of a detriment. People end up going out to dinner later (waiting for it to get dark) and, as a result, the establishment’s turnover is hampered, and we have “idle time” from opening until dark.

Divaldo Maciel – Limoeiro

During daylight saving time, Happy Hour was busier. It must be in the genes, the tendency of the ‘man animal’ is to retreat to the cave only when it gets dark… when it gets dark later, they stay longer [tempo] in the street.

Marcelo Freitas – The Mar’s

We had just over two months of lots of rain and little sales. We have 13⁰ and investments at the beginning of the year to pay for. I believe we need to enjoy Curitiba more outside the home, and summer time does that… even more so with these high temperatures, where a happy hour with cold draft beer makes the trip home postponed and consumption greater.

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