‘We’ll Lose Even the World Cup Revenue’
“There is no connection between Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire in the war and what is happening in Lebanon. There is shelling here, UAVs and alerts. The difference for customers between 1,000 missiles and two UAVs is not great, especially when it is not a local crowd,” says Gilad Matrany, owner of the “Breakfast Club” restaurant in Shavei Tzion, and co-owner, יחד with Morris Zerihan and Idan Finer, of the food and entertainment complex “Jacq Exact Complex” in Gesher HaZiv, which includes a deli, a café, fast food and an events hall. His businesses in the north are surviving day to day, he has not yet received compensation, and he is cutting shifts and not opening in the evening.
According to Matrany, “The people from the center are not coming to restaurants or going on nature hikes, so nothing has changed from a month and a half ago. We are open all the time and have not closed for a moment, but we are not working in the evening because it is more frightening. For the past three months, ‘Jacq Exact Complex’ has been closed in the evenings, and Thursday evenings used to be a celebration of hundreds of people who came to the complex.” Matrany had hoped the World Cup would draw large crowds to the complex, but in the current situation he understands the chances are low, and he is not preparing to broadcast the matches.
“There is a World Cup coming soon, and our complex in Gesher HaZiv was really built for the World Cup. We have a giant screen on which football matches are projected, draft beer with hamburgers, and many beer companies want to do collaborations with us for the World Cup. But I am not doing it, I am economically worried, because I need to pay Charlton for the broadcast, and connect to a company that will build the infrastructure for me, and in the end there are two UAVs from Lebanon and nobody will sit here. So for now I am not doing it. The World Cup is our bread and butter, and the loss of its revenue is added to the losses from dozens of events that were canceled for us and no new ones came in.” What are you doing in the meantime? “I am rolling with the current expenses. That means the business is surviving day to day. The restaurant is in slightly better shape because we are a bit farther away, 9 km from the border, but there are still no Israeli tourists. In both businesses I have 40 employees. We are reducing shifts, some of the workers were on unpaid leave for a period at the start of the war and returned, and some are in reserve duty. Everyone is pitching in because they are residents of the area and understand the situation.”
Have you received compensation from the state? “Only now are we submitting the compensation claim because the framework is based on a profit and loss report from previous months, and it will take more time until we receive the money from the state. It is difficult because I have to pay employees and suppliers. To this day I have not received a single shekel, and I am still waiting, while continuing to rely on loans and deferred payments to suppliers.”
