Iran attack fears keep Israelis home, restaurants feel the hit
Occupancy drops up to 35% outside Tel Aviv amid Iran tensions.
The nerve-wracking wait for a possible strike on Iran is keeping Israelis at home in the evenings. Last weekend, as rumors of an imminent attack intensified, many Israelis avoided going out. Shopping malls reported lighter evening foot traffic, and the restaurant industry is also seeing weakness amid heightened security tensions.
According to data from reservation platform Ontopo obtained by Calcalist, restaurant occupancy fell by approximately 25% last weekend (February 19-21) compared with the weekend two weeks earlier (February 5-7), which preceded Valentine’s Day. Compared with the Valentine’s Day weekend itself, occupancy was down 30%. Year over year, reservations declined 17% compared with the same period last year.
The drop was not uniform nationwide. In Tel Aviv, considered Israel’s entertainment capital, occupancy slipped by just 1%, according to Ontopo. Outside Tel Aviv, however, restaurant occupancy fell by 35% compared with two weeks earlier.
The slowdown was also evident in delivery and takeaway orders, not only in dine-in activity. Early last week, Wolt offered a 25-shekel discount voucher in honor of Family Day. Restaurateurs working with the delivery platform said that despite the significant discount, demand remained subdued and customers were slow to redeem the coupon.
Chef Yuval Ben-Neriah, owner of Taizu, said: “We are already in the third or fourth round in which the public is convinced there will be an attack at the end of the week, and for us that means an immediate drop of about 20% in orders. Beyond that, compensation from the previous round has still not been fully paid, so in practice we have no safety net.”
Oral Kimchi, chef and owner of Popina in Neve Tzedek, reported a 20%-25% decline in diners in recent days. “Last Wednesday, when security tensions escalated, reservations were cut by nearly 50%. At some point, I stopped refreshing the reservation system because it was clear bookings were not going to increase. Thursday and Friday were also 20%-25% weaker than a typical weekend, excluding Valentine’s Day. You can see how instantly the situation affects behavior. There is particular concern among families with children, as parents are hesitant to leave their kids with a babysitter.”
Asaf Atias, co-owner of the Vivino and Zozobra restaurant group, which operates dozens of branches, said that compared with the average of the previous four weeks, activity declined 10% in Kiryat Shmona, 15% in Rishon LeZion, 20% in Netivot and Haifa, and 15% in Be’er Sheva and Ashdod. By contrast, Petah Tikva and Karmiel saw no decline over the weekend, while Kiryat Ono and Zichron Yaakov even recorded slight increases.
