On Monday 30 June restaurants were allowed to reopen for Sit-Down Service, after having only been allowed to offer a Food Delivery service from May, and a Food and Alcohol Delivery and Collection Service from June onwards.
Last week I posted a List of Restaurants offering a Sit-Down Service, in addition to the Facebook Group which I created of Restaurants offering Food and Alcohol Delivery and Collection. The List I posted had over 100 restaurants. I have been updating the List, and am posting an update today, with 315 restaurants on the updated List.
The majority of restaurants offering a Sit-Down service will continue offering a Food and Alcohol Delivery and/or Collection Service. Continue reading →
Today is a day of excitement as well as disappointment for restaurateurs, who have so looked forward to reopening their doors for a Sit-Down Service. The official reopening date is today, but sadly it appears that many restaurant doors will remain closed, restaurateurs citing the prohibition of serving alcohol with a meal, and this being the quietest time of the year for restaurants as the reasons why they will not reopen now, continuing with their Food and Alcohol Delivery and Collection Service. 
It is unbelievable that the Government is keeping Restaurants, Bars, Shebeens, and Taverns in the dark as to the reopening date, as well as the regulations which will determine under which conditions Restaurants may welcome back diners for Sit-Down Service, as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa over a week ago. If restaurants are to reopen on 1 July, as is assumed, it gives them less than a week to set up after a three-month closure due to Lockdown Levels 5 and 4. 
I first heard about ‘Dark Kitchens’ when I met Ian Halfon, CEO of Slick Restaurant Group, last week, his company having opened Cape Town’s newest Dark Kitchen on New Church Street in the City centre. Also known as ‘virtual kitchens’, ‘ghost kitchens’, or ‘cloud kitchens’, Dark Kitchens are independent operations creating food for a multitude of brands, such as the Slick Restaurant Group is doing, having opened its operation with five restaurant brands initially, and more planned, all food prepared from one Central kitchen, with obvious cost benefits. Food is ordered online, for delivery to the customer.