Dubai’s restaurants are often crowded on most evenings, with diners from both locals and visitors filling tables throughout the city. However, several of those tables have been vacant for the previous month.
The change has been abrupt and dramatic for Natasha Sideris. In 2014, she launched her first eatery in Dubai. Her Tashas hospitality group has expanded to 14 locations nationwide during the last ten years, employing over 1,000 workers. However, her firm is currently suffering greatly as a result of the US-Israel war with Iran.
Revenues at many of her restaurants, which are well-liked by both locals and foreigners, have decreased by more than 50%, according to Sideris. However, businesses that rely heavily on tourism have suffered far more, with declines of 70% to 80%. She was compelled by the crisis to reduce her own and other employees’ pay by thirty percent.
Sideris continues, “If many of her stores hadn’t been situated inside community malls and near residential neighborhoods, where they still rely on local customers, the impact would have been worse.”
According to a top executive of a chain of restaurants who wished to remain anonymous, foot traffic at their locations has decreased to barely 15% to 20% of what it used to, prompting them to put over half of their employees on unpaid vacation.
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