The light blue debuts in Qatar 2022 and the country is transformed. Schools suspend classes, offices stop during game hours, and those who can get together to see it in a house or bar. That day, the routine changes and everything revolves around the ball.
But not only the mere fans live with expectation the game against South Korea that will be played this Thursday at 10:00. There are businesses that have expectations for the match, especially those that sell food.
The traditional snack of salami, bread, ham and cheese, which is used for matches that are played in the evening or at night, will be replaced by many by bread or biscuits, which will surely be eaten with the aim of calming the anxiety caused by the debut light blue.
That is why the bakeries, in the hour before the game, plan to sell approximately twice as many biscuits as they usually sell any weekday tomorrowsaid to The Observer the president of the Center for Industrial Bakers of Uruguay (CIPU), Álvaro Pena.
“Soccer World Cup times are always closely associated with the bakery. Since the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, when the games were at six or seven in the morning, the bakeries opened earlier and filled up to buy cakes to watch games“Pena assured.
The movement, according to Pena, takes place an hour before the game and that leads all the staff to join in serving the public and taking orders and does not rule out that some bakeries “take shifts” of the staff to serve more people. “It is that last hour before the game when there is more movement and everyone who works in the bakery is devoted to attention. Another time that there is movement is at halftime,” she said.
“Suddenly the bakeries can arrange the schedules of the staff according to the schedules of the games. If someone enters at 10, it may be that they enter earlier to serve the public,” he said.
In turn, Pena said that this sale also compensates for the fact that, during game time, “nothing is sold because people are watching the game“. “During the game you cross your arm in the game because people don’t come in,” he considered.
In addition, the result of the game also influences them, since if Uruguay wins, the mood will be different and the sale can continue at a good pace during the afternoon. “If Uruguay wins, the mood will change and people can go out to the boulevard in the afternoon to eat some biscuits. But if you lose it’s different“, he assured.
Uruguay debuts tomorrow at 10:00 against South Korea, the fans are excited and the bakeries are preparing for a day that will have them as protagonists in the sale to the public in the hour before the game.
