The government on Thursday announced plans to reimpose restrictions on public gatherings as part of the effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but the decision to again limit restaurants' operations is threatening to make the food industry's plight boil over.
Israel's culinary scene all but came to a halt when the government announced the first corona lockdown in mid-March. Limiting eateries' operations to deliveries and take-out services has forced hundreds of small venues to close their doors, while various established restaurants have had to substantially cut back on their operations just to stay afloat.
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But with infection rates spiking and the government scrambling to avoid a second full shutdown, the ministers decided to again limit restaurants to deliveries and take-out services, leaving anxious restaurant owners to protest what they called the ministers' "senseless and capricious" decision-making process.
According to online reservation website Ontopo, some 80,000 Israelis have restaurant reservations for this weekend, but over 1,000 have canceled them by Thursday night.
"The latest government outline is a serious blow for restaurants and the culinary world. We're still reeling [from the previous lockdown] and now we again have to place employees on unpaid leave – not to mention the losses incurred for the goods and produce we have in storage and will now go to waste. That's tens of thousands of shekels down the drain," said Yaki Kabir, owner of Serafina, the Tel Aviv location of the popular Italian-American chain.
"The way we are being treated is a fiasco. Businesses are going under and I'm afraid people may resort to extreme acts over this dire situation," he said.
Chef Kobi Bachar from Pastel restaurant told Channel 12 News that the industry is experiencing nothing short of an "apocalypse."
"It's a death sentence for us," he said of the new restrictions.
Shay Berman, head of the Israeli Restaurant Association accused the government of acting recklessly.
"Once again, we are witnessing the government's capricious decision-making process. They [the ministers] are hysterical and detached from reality and the Health Ministry's data, which shows only 21 infections in restaurants over the last 40 days and only six infections in bars.
"The government's accordion policy produced only jarring sounds that spell a complete shutdown for us and offers no solutions and no future outlook," he said.
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