Turn off the lights in the restaurants and light the candles for an hour during the evening of Thursday 27 January and carry out the candlelit dining room service. This is the protest initiative against the expensive bills launched by Andrea Graziano, an entrepreneur from Catania who immediately received the support of several hundred fellow restaurateurs in Sicily, as well as the Fipe Confcommercio Catania, and who, with the support of the Italian Ambassadors Association del Gusto, has extended to the whole national territory.
“From Catania to Palermo to get to Messina, Syracuse and Ragusa and cross the strait to Rome, Milan and Turin – says Andrea Graziano, founder and creator of the Fud Bottega Sicula brand -. I personally asked hundreds of restaurants throughout Italy to join this unusual protest: turn off the lights in their restaurants and light candles for an hour during the evening of Thursday 27 January and perform the candlelit dining room service, a a sign of protest against an unsustainable expensive bill ».
A protest that will be relaunched on social networks with the use of the hashtag #blackoutdinner and which already has several supporters. «Bills in hand – continues the entrepreneur – I found myself facing an expense of over 32,000 euros against just over 12,000 euros in the same period last year. An increase of over 150%, truly unsustainable in a difficult time like this where, between declining customers and quarantined staff, it is even more difficult to do our job. I ask those like me who work and live in restaurants to join this protest, turning off the light of their premises at 8pm on Thursday and posting the photos of the “candlelight dinner” on social networks using the hashtag #blackoutdinner. In this way we hope to be able to make our voices heard and not be left alone by the institutions, considering that this is only one of the aspects linked to company management and that the increases have affected all product sectors “.