You don’t really have to be a genius or an MBA graduate to conduct a simple feasibility study and see if opening a restaurant or a cafe or any business for that sake at a specific location is a good choice or not. Unfortunately, very few people do that in Lebanon and then they curse their luck when they go bankrupt and have to close down.
If an arguile place opens, 4 or 5 other arguile places open right next to it. If a burger place is doing well, they open 10 other burger places on the same street. The worst part is that no one even bothers to offer competitive prices anymore. On the contrary, the new mentality is to up the prices and claim they offer a better quality which is not true most of the time.
Take for example this very special offer I spotted the other day at a small restaurant. Taouk + French Fries and Coleslaw for 10,000LL! How is that a good offer? The place is located in a deserted alley next to a hospital, was almost empty of course and there were a couple of tables smoking arguile and playing backgammon. The worst part is that Malak el Taouk is 200 meters from this restaurant and offers you a huge Taouk platter with fries, coleslaw, ketchup and garlic for almost the same price.
I really don’t know why some Lebanese are so keep on throwing their money away to be honest. Here’s another place on the Kaslik maritime road that’s been puzzling me for quite some time. It’s now a trading company, but before that it was a car showroom, a sushi place, a poker place, a shop that sells dairy products and a Shawarma place.