With the increase in the number of cases of COVID-19 in the country, what was supposed to be a lifeline for a short time is becoming routine, a sales routine well below what is necessary. Sales in restaurants and enterprises in the out-of-home food segment, the so-called food service, have been dropping at a higher rate than accumulated in retail.

The information is from the Food Service Brasil Institute (IFB), which gathers data from the sector, as reported by Exame magazine.

In April, the establishments associated with the IFB had a 54.5% drop in sales, which means that the segment has been much more affected by the pandemic than the retail sector, which has seen sales fell by 36.5% in the same month, according to the ICVA index by the largest Brazilian card acquirer Cielo.

In the month of May, in the week-to-week IFB data, as physical stores, including shopping malls, began to reopen gradually in Brazil, the fall began to decrease, although still in sharp decline compared to 2019. In the week of May 18 to 24, sales dropped 48%.

As several cities and states are forced to adopt more intense isolation measures in the coming weeks in an effort to stop COVID-19 spread, the impact on sales in the segment also tends to grow.