CUBA'S RESTAURANT WARS

From 1959 to the early 1990’s in Cuba, any Cuban citizen who was not strictly towing the communist party line was accused of being an ideological diversionist, known as diversionismo ideologico in Cuba. Though the phrase is rarely heard today on the island, it still exists, and its spirit is regularly applied to the most successful private businesses that have opened recently in the island. The battle against ideological diversionists is now waged against restaurant owners who run successful and popular restaurants. The restaurants that have been singled out in this war of ideas and business stand out when compared to most restaurants in Cuba. 

These restaurants have a high percentage of foreign clientele, high prices, and everything that’s listed on the menu is always available. While this may seem normal, in Cuba it is not. From 1959 until today, shortages and their consequences are a regular part of daily life in Cuba. Scarcity is a common occurrence across all sectors of the Cuban economy. Items like cooking oil, eggs, toilet paper, soap, gasoline, and many common vegetables disappear for days and sometimes entire months from the supply chain, and are not available in stores. Since all stores belong to the government, this problem affects everyone. When eating out in Cuba one of the first things you learn is to ask what’s available when you’re at a restaurant, menus are theoretical, they are not based on reality. State run restaurants usually only have a handful of menu items available on any given day.  The few times that we have arranged stays for guests at five-star all-inclusive resorts in Cuba the complaint has always been the same, the food was awful. Common practice in Cuba is for employees to steal from their employer, and in the case of hotel kitchen employees, one of the easiest things for them to steal is seasonings. Everyone is entitled to his or her share, and at the end of the day there is very little left for the food that is prepared for hotel guests.  

When private restaurants were finally allowed to hire employees a few years ago, they started to directly compete with government owned restaurants. This presented a threat to a state monopoly, and that put them in the Cuban government’s crosshairs. Restaurants and other businesses owned by Cubans should be small and preferably, barely solvent. Though not stated anywhere, as with many things on the island, it is understood, that success is dangerous, and draws unwelcome attention from authorities. In a country where everything must be bought on the retail market, and many items cannot be purchased legally year-round because the Cuban government does a terrible job at supplying the marketplace, the only way for restauranteurs to consistently be able to offer their full menu is for them to buy food, napkins, drinks, etc. on the black market. Since October 2017 six of Havana's best restaurants have been closed by authorities. Until the Cuban government stops punishing economic success and entrepreneurship, the country will remain an economic basket case.  

The issuing of new restaurant licenses has been suspended since the summer of 2017 for an undefined period. 

See you in Havana!  

By Frank Gonzalez