A recent meeting held by the Restaurants and Coffee Shops Committee of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) focused on current classification issues within the sector.
The meeting was headed by Ahmed Alsaloom in Bait Altijjar, where it was decided that a consultative meeting will be held near the end of this month.
The committee spoke on a meeting it held with Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed Alzayani. The committee spoke highly of the acts the minister has taken in partnering with the committee to bring life into the industry. In addition, the committee introduced an ordinance that would allow restaurants to be categorized into a sub-classification that permits service charges at a lesser rate than tourist eateries. Restaurants can either be designated as “Tourist – Family A” or “Tourist – Family B.”
To ensure the restaurants comply with the requirements of each classification, the committee proposed bringing in the Tourism Directorate and the Directorate of Consumer Protection to monitor the actions of the diners. A second proposal by the committee would allow coffee shops to offer Sheesha.
Before adjourning, the committee negotiated the ministerial order recently set forth to place boundaries on restaurants’ freedom to enforce service charges, as well as the putting a mechanism in place that guarantees appropriate and reasonable application of the order for all stakeholders.
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