Most Maltese restaurants fund investments out of their own pockets

Most Maltese restaurants who invested in their establishments in the past two years used their own money to do so, a new survey has found. 

The survey, by PwC for the Association of Catering Establishments, found that 84 per cent of local catering establishments carried out some kind of investment in the past 24 months. 

Most of these investments (65 per cent) were of under €50,000, while 18 per cent invested between €50,000 and €100,000, and 17 per cent invested over €100,000.

The absolute majority of investing establishments – 70 per cent – used their own funds or retained earnings, with only 12 per cent making use of public schemes, and 8 per cent making use of bank financing. 

Only 21 per cent of respondents attempted to access EU funding and only 15 per cent actually secured funding, with investment equipment by far the most common funding purpose.

Out of the 79 per cent of catering establishments who didn’t apply, the main reported barriers were a lack of awareness (39 per cent), difficulty finding clear information (17 per cent) and process complexity (14 per cent). 

Only 15 per cent of all catering establishments attempted to access bank financing over the past two years, with 11 per cent of these applications fully approved. 

The majority of approved borrowers generally invested relatively modest amounts of around €100,000.

The survey was carried out in March among a sample of 233 licensed catering establishments, with PwC projecting a confidence level of 95 per cent.