200 restaurants plan to reopen arbitrarily on Saturday
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Thursday, February 4
On Saturday, February 6th, a number of the restaurants will resume operations despite bans, Shota Burjanadze, the Chairman of the Restaurant Association and Levan Kokiashvili, director of the Georgian Gastronomy Association announced. Burjanadze says that according to preliminary data, about 200 businesses have already joined the protest. Restaurants claim they are now fighting for survival and are ready to work under regulations, following the rules. They also held a rally in front of the government chancellery last Saturday, but nothing has changed and they are still unaware when they will be allowed to work. Burjanadze says the decision to open restaurants on Saturday was made not out of desire, but by force. He also added that ‘If the negotiations yield results in this situation, this decision will be canceled.
"Unfortunately, the expectations of the hospitality industry were not met, instead of finding a reasonable solution, the meeting with the government officials was postponed and did not take place. Since we do not see any other solution, despite persistent efforts, we decided to open restaurants on Saturday, February 6th. We are explaining here, we fully understand all aspects of our decision and it is not easy for us to make such a decision either,” Kokiashvili wrote.
According to the plan to phase out restrictions on the Interagency Coordinating Council, restaurants and food outlets across the country, including hotels, will continue to operate only with delivery service.
For two months, since November 28th, restaurants across Georgia have only been allowed to offer delivery and takeaway services. The fine for hosting a guest on the spot was set at ?10,000. From February 1st Batumi restaurants opened to host guests in open space during weekdays.
The Minister of Economy of Georgia Natia Turnava warned the restaurant businesses which are going to open despite the restrictions. According to her, disobedience and violation of the law is unacceptable and will lead to the government's strict reaction.
“I hope such illegal actions will not complicate the dialogue between us," Turnava said.
The Economy Minister also reiterated that the government and the tourism industry (including restaurants) communicate almost daily. She recalled the meeting of the restaurant industry representatives with government members, Business Ombudsman and NCDC head on 25th of January - “We had a fairly detailed discussion when we introduced the approaches and criteria for defining the opening of various businesses,” Turnava said.
Beka Peradze, the head of the Labor Safety Inspection Department, announced yesterday that the majority of restaurants agree with the requirements and assured that they plan to follow the step-by-step opening process announced by the government. He also emphasized that sanctions will be imposed on the facilities that do not obey the rule.
