A high-end restaurant in Nyarutarama – Kigali has announced the closure of its services citing the negative impact of COVID-19 crisis.
Zen Restaurant told its new and old clients that it was pulling out of the hospitality industry due to the long effects of the pandemic on the industry which caught up with the hotel despite attempts to stay afloat.
“Our struggles have really started from last few months due to lack of full working hours resulting in low turnout of customers and low business and high maintenance costs. Our main challenge is meeting the deadline of many things be it salaries, taxes, rents the list goes on,” Zen Restaurant said in a Facebook post on August 17, 2021.
The Restaurant said they have been in this business for the last two years and nine months as new management but the last couple of months have been the hardest.
“Now we have reached the end of the road. Unable to continue and we give up. We know many of our customers have many precious memories attached to the place, we are at a loss for words to express our disappointment as well. APOLOGIES,” the restaurant’s statement reads in part.
The facility managers informed the public that they are closing business on 24th of August, 2021.
Hospitality industry was hard hit by COVID-19. Las week, two hotels including Hotel Villa Portofino and The Mirror Hotel located in Nyarutarama and Remera in Kigali went on auction as a result of failing to service the loans from the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD).
In the meantime, hotels and restaurants in Kigali continue to operate with government relaxing measures, increasing vaccination services to nearly one million people vaccinated.
Last month the government announced plans to increase the Economy Recovery Fund (ERF) from the earlier Rwf100billion which provided hospitality up to a 50% share, to over Rwf350 billion in the wake of the Delta COVID-19 variant spread in Rwanda.