Five restaurants shut down

Five restaurants in the capital have been closed down for alleged violation of sanitation laws and using inappropriate equipment.
“We lost around SR 100,000 during more than one week that we were closed,” the expat manager of one of the restaurants told Arab News yesterday.
He said that about 10 days ago, around 10 representatives from the municipality showed up at the restaurant to inspect the premises, the sanitary conditions and equipment.
The restaurant, which is popular among both Saudi and expatriates, operates a busy catering business, in addition to a fleet of cars to deliver orders to customers.
The restaurant has been allowed to resume operations after its representative reported to the authorities concerned that “our restaurant has complied with their recommendations.”
The manager of another restaurant, considered one of the biggest in terms of the number of customers, also complained about the closure order, saying that “being one of the biggest, if not the biggest, in terms of the number of customers, we've lost much in terms of revenues and reputation.”
“The incident is saddening, considering the fact that the restaurant had been rendering good service to customers and making good money for the owner until it was ordered closed,” the South Asian manager said.
Another restaurant which is popular among overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remained closed the time of going to press. On its door is an announcement saying “We're sorry for the inconvenience while we're undergoing renovation.” One of the restaurants had been allegedly found to be not only unsanitary but also had an expired business license.
The same announcement could also be found on the doors of two other popular restaurants, making one worker wonder “when these would resume operations?”
But the management of the restaurants concerned complained that there “seemed to be discrimination in the implementation of local laws as to hygiene and equipment sufficiency.”
Without being specific, they said that one restaurant was allowed to continue operating despite the fact that “there was much to be desired in terms of sanitation.” They alleged that the food is “exposed to the elements with flies sometimes hovering overhead,” adding that these could also be seen flitting about from one table to another.
“The staff sometimes even handle the food with bare hands with utter disregard for health and sanitation. As if the food is for their own consumption and not for customers. And yet, the restaurant continued operations while we were losing money because we were closed,” they said.
They wondered whether local laws on sanitation and hygiene are “uniformly implemented among all the restaurants in the city.”
“One time, a municipality representative would show up in our restaurant and find nothing wrong. When another representative visits the restaurant the following day, he would find something wrong as far as equipment and health and sanitation are concerned,” one said.
They expressed the hope that there would be uniformity in the implementation of local laws as far as restaurants are concerned.