Prathap Nair: This is record of change, a podcast that documents how people’s lives are being shaped by the coronavirus pandemic.
Prathap Nair: I’m Prathap Nair, your host for this episode.
Prathap Nair: Today, we’re talking to Alkaios Michail, an architect turned chef who runs a vegan restaurant in Athens.
Prathap Nair: Alkis - as he prefers to be called - had to shutter his new restaurant almost as soon as it was inaugurated because of the lockdown in Athens.
Prathap Nair: His busy life suddenly screeched to a halt as he found himself locked down in his apartment and wondered what would happen to his new business.
Prathap Nair: He says it was scary.
Prathap Nair: Nevertheless, Alkis kept himself occupied – he picked up his guitar, got on Instagram, overhauled his
Prathap Nair: restaurant menu in the hope of reopening it soon and started doing calisthenics – a kind of exercise routine.
Prathap Nair: Let’s listen to him.
Alkis Michail: My name is Alkaios Michail and they call me Alkis, because it's easier.
Alkis Michail: I'm from Greece and I have studied architecture in London and at the moment, I live in Greece and I work in Greece.
Alkis Michail: Right now I'm in my apartment, in Athens, it's like almost 20 minutes from the center of Athens.
Alkis Michail: It's near the sea.
Alkis Michail: So outside the window?
Alkis Michail: Yeah, there is like a garden, because I live on the, zero level.
Alkis Michail: So there is a garden around and, basically, yeah, that's it.
Alkis Michail: A lot of, flowers and trees.
Alkis Michail: Yeah.
Prathap Nair: Can you tell me where you were when this pandemic and lockdown and everything was started.
Prathap Nair: Where were you and how was your life before that and how, it has changed after that?
Alkis Michail: So my life used to be like very, very, very busy cause I came from London to renovate my family business.
Alkis Michail: We own a hotel in the center of Athens.
Alkis Michail: So I came back to renovate the hotel and we renovated the hotel in 2017 and we finished in
Alkis Michail: 2018 and it was very busy years and then we had to make the restaurant inside the hotel.
Alkis Michail: So, the restaurant opened, in early twenties--2020 and, yeah, so, as soon as we opened the restaurant after like a month and a half, we had the lockdown.
Alkis Michail: So I was very, very, very busy, like, you know, until the lockdown and, you know, I was like almost like 30 hours a day in the hotel and the restaurant.
Alkis Michail: I had like very few sleep and yeah, it was very, very, very hard to be honest.
Alkis Michail: The first week of the lockdown, it was a nightmare.
Alkis Michail: I was very anxious, very stressed.
Alkis Michail: I didn't know what to expect - it was, oh my God - I don't even want to remember because, you know, we had put so much money in the business.
Prathap Nair: Yeah.
Alkis Michail: And we were waiting for the summer because, you know, for the tourists to arrive and everything.
Alkis Michail: So, you know, to start, getting some money back and all of that happened, but, yeah, it was, it was tough.
Alkis Michail: It was really tough.
Prathap Nair: And when was this?
Prathap Nair: This was in February, March?
Alkis Michail: Yeah.
Alkis Michail: We opened the restaurant in end of January and then the lockdown in Greece happened.
Alkis Michail: Basically, before the lockdown, the government closed all the restaurants and, most of the businesses in Greece on the 15th of March.
Prathap Nair: Okay, what was your day to day work like at the restaurant?
Prathap Nair: What were you taking care of?
Prathap Nair: Can you give me a little more detail?
Alkis Michail: Since I was little, I was cooking.
Alkis Michail: And, apart from architecture, my other passion is cooking and working out, basically.
Alkis Michail: So, I have done the menu for the restaurant and I'm also cooking for the restaurant.
Alkis Michail: We have like a chef and a big team in the restaurant, but I'm like the chef.
Alkis Michail: So I check everything.
Alkis Michail: I go there very early to make all of the sauces.
Alkis Michail: I cook some stuff and everything, and then, serving people, talk to people, do stuff, check that everything is right.
Alkis Michail: So I'm there, like from the beginning, like from around like six o'clock in the morning AM.
Alkis Michail: until, almost 1:00 AM that we close.
Prathap Nair: And how many employees did you have, how many people were working in your restaurant?
Alkis Michail: So in the restaurant at the moment, basically before the lockdown we're almost, 15 people.
Alkis Michail: And, in the hotel as well 15 people as well.
Alkis Michail: Yeah, so total, we had like 30 people employees.
Prathap Nair: So you completely shuttered the restaurant as soon as the lockdown was announced, in mid-March.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Prathap Nair: So these people were let go, the people who were working?
Alkis Michail: Basically, we're all on hold.
Alkis Michail: I mean, we didn't know, you know, they just announced that, you know, you have to close nothing will open on Saturday because Saturday was the 15th of March.
Alkis Michail: So we all stayed at home.
Alkis Michail: And we saw that coming.
Alkis Michail: Like, I mean, I was very worried almost like two weeks before the shutdown and, yeah, I started to reduce all of the orders.
Alkis Michail: I was very worried.
Prathap Nair: You made precautions and how was the mood like at that time?
Alkis Michail: Because we're in the center of Athens, we have the hotel as well.
Alkis Michail: We saw like a major decrease in reservations, and you know, not too many people were working outside the hotel.
Alkis Michail: Because we're close to Syntagma square, which is like the parliament of Athens.
Alkis Michail: If you don't see like many people around that area it's very weird.
Prathap Nair: Yeah.
Prathap Nair: Sadly it's completely empty.
Alkis Michail: Yes.
Alkis Michail: Exactly.
Alkis Michail: So, I mean, the restaurant used to be like, from day one, full, like from the opening until closing.
Alkis Michail: So yeah, it was very good.
Alkis Michail: And, the last two weeks it was like empty.
Alkis Michail: Well, I mean, almost the last week, we only had like, six, seven tables, so, yeah.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Prathap Nair: And how was the communication by the Greek government?
Prathap Nair: Were they strong?
Prathap Nair: Were there prior warnings for businesses?
Alkis Michail: I mean, it was really good because they acted really fast.
Alkis Michail: I think when they told us to close our businesses, we only had like 40 cases or something like that.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Alkis Michail: So it was like, you know, very low in comparison with other countries, so, yeah, I mean, it was, it was okay.
Alkis Michail: I mean they were very fast.
Alkis Michail: They shut us down and then, almost like, the next day they started doing all the television
Alkis Michail: advertisements, radio advertisements about, you know, what's going on and everything.
Alkis Michail: So, we were feeling a bit safe.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Prathap Nair: So, you stopped, procurement.
Prathap Nair: You woke up one day suddenly, and then you decided, "Oh my God.
Prathap Nair: So today we're going to stop the restaurant."
Prathap Nair: Can you explain that?
Alkis Michail: I mean, yeah, it was so weird because it was Friday, Friday morning and we have done some work for the weekend because like Sunday used to be our most busy.
Prathap Nair: Popular days.
Alkis Michail: Yeah.
Alkis Michail: So we've ordered like a, you know, tofu and everything.
Alkis Michail: And by Friday night, we all got like an SMS text on our phones that from Saturday, everything will be shut.
Alkis Michail: So we were like, "okay, what's going on now?"
Alkis Michail: you know, this is serious stuff.
Alkis Michail: So, I mean, it was like, it was very weird.
Alkis Michail: Because, you know, we were calling each other, you know, to see what's going on.
Alkis Michail: If it was spam, you know, as soon as we got the message, we thought it was a spam.
Alkis Michail: So yeah, after a while, we started realizing what's going on.
Alkis Michail: And, yeah, we couldn't do anything.
Alkis Michail: I mean I just went there to clean all the fridges to take some stuff to, you know.
Prathap Nair: All these perishables that you ordered, you're saying you ordered tofu, you must've also ordered vegetables and so on.
Prathap Nair: What did you do with those?
Alkis Michail: Basically, most of the vegetables we gave it to my staff and to my family.
Alkis Michail: And, I got a few as well.
Alkis Michail: But other stuff that we had, we threw them away cause we didn't know when to open.
Alkis Michail: So, you know, I mean, it was like March and then we opened almost in June.
Alkis Michail: So most of the stuff expired, but we didn't know.
Alkis Michail: I mean, in the beginning we thought that we're going to open maybe after two weeks, maybe a week.
Alkis Michail: So, yeah, most of the stuff expired.
Prathap Nair: You said for two years, you didn't have time for anything else.
Prathap Nair: You were so involved in your work.
Prathap Nair: And in the middle of March, brakes are slammed, and everything was shut down.
Prathap Nair: So how did it feel for you to have this sudden quietness in your life.
Alkis Michail: Exactly.
Alkis Michail: I mean the first week was very, very tough.
Alkis Michail: Because you can't sleep, because I almost sleep like four or five hours per day, for me to have like nothing to do.
Alkis Michail: I mean, I was waking up at the same, you know, same time as usual.
Alkis Michail: I couldn't sleep more.
Alkis Michail: I was very anxious, to be honest.
Alkis Michail: I slept for only like for one to two hours, because I was very anxious about what will happen, because, you know, we were thinking that we have to pay our stuff.
Alkis Michail: How are we going to pay our staff if we don't have any income, especially from the hotel.
Alkis Michail: Because the hotel, in comparison with the restaurant, makes like five more, five times more money.
Alkis Michail: So, for us, it was really tough because, all of the summer was fully booked.
Alkis Michail: Most of the reservations were, refundable.
Alkis Michail: And so we had to return all of the money back.
Alkis Michail: So until now we returned money to our clients.
Alkis Michail: So it was really tough because suddenly you don't have any income and you have to give, too much money, you know, that you owe to other people.
Alkis Michail: And the most of that money that we had from the non-refundable bookings, went to renovate and to make the restaurant.
Alkis Michail: So it was very weird.
Alkis Michail: I couldn't sleep at all, for me because I was very active, you know, with everything
Alkis Michail: I was like inside my house, you know, walking, you know, up and down all the time.
Alkis Michail: And I didn't know what to do.
Alkis Michail: Sometimes I was really stressed.
Alkis Michail: Sometimes I was very relaxed.
Alkis Michail: And because I was like, you know, okay, this is like a global situation, so I don't have to be worried.
Alkis Michail: I mean the governments around the world will do something, you know, for all of us.
Alkis Michail: So it was really tough, you know, I was trying to find to do, you know, some stuff just to forget about the situation, but I couldn't.
Alkis Michail: And, it was very weird for me.
Alkis Michail: I mean I was like locked, trapped inside my house.
Alkis Michail: I want to go out to do, you know, to work, to help some for…, you know, to do some stuff.
Alkis Michail: I couldn't do anything.
Alkis Michail: So yeah, after the, the first week or the second week, maybe I started to, you know, to get used to the situation.
Alkis Michail: So I was sleeping for almost like 10 to 12 hours per day.
Alkis Michail: I started playing guitar.
Alkis Michail: I started, like, I was working out, two to three times per day.
Alkis Michail: I was cooking all day long to… for the new menu after the lockdown.
Alkis Michail: And, yeah, that was basically my, my life.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Prathap Nair: So you were suddenly emotionally also that this is financial distress of having to repay all your customers who have already booked.
Prathap Nair: And, but you don't have the money ready because you have, you know, invested that money in renovation and starting a new restaurant.
Prathap Nair: So did the Greek government do anything financial help, for small businesses.
Alkis Michail: They did help almost every business.
Alkis Michail: So, they gave the money that we had to give to our staff, all of the money, for the whole period of the lockdown.
Alkis Michail: So that was really good.
Alkis Michail: And they gave almost like 8,000 to the owners of the businesses.
Alkis Michail: They reduced the taxes that we pay.
Alkis Michail: So we didn't have to pay any taxes.
Alkis Michail: We didn't have to pay any bills for the energy, electricity, water and stuff like that.
Alkis Michail: They sort of made some loans from the bank with very small rating.
Alkis Michail: So most of us, you know, applied for the loans.
Prathap Nair: So you're saying that all your employees were on roles, you did not, send them away.
Alkis Michail: No.
Alkis Michail: We kept everyone, so..
Prathap Nair: Remarkable.
Prathap Nair: Yeah.
Prathap Nair: Not many people can afford to do that.
Alkis Michail: It was tough.
Alkis Michail: Yeah.
Alkis Michail: It was really tough.
Alkis Michail: I mean, to do that, we got the loan.
Alkis Michail: If we didn't have the loan, we couldn't do that.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Alkis Michail: But yeah, most of other, like many other businesses, they haven't done that.
Alkis Michail: They have fired everyone.
Alkis Michail: We tried, you know, to keep everyone because they have helped us, you know, over the years.
Prathap Nair: So you said you started playing guitars and you started planning menus for when the lockdown is eased.
Prathap Nair: Suddenly you found this extra time and hand.
Prathap Nair: How else did you spend it?
Alkis Michail: So, I mean, we couldn't go outside.
Alkis Michail: We had to text to send the text to the government and then they were replying to us giving us like a sort of permission.
Alkis Michail: So you can go out.
Alkis Michail: So we had like five, options.
Alkis Michail: One was to go to the supermarket one.
Alkis Michail: The other one was to, go out for jogging or stuff like that.
Alkis Michail: The other one was to go to the hospital and the other was to, go to a family member that needs help.
Alkis Michail: So that was our routine.
Alkis Michail: If we want to go out, we had to choose one of the options.
Alkis Michail: We were texting the government and then they were replying to us.
Alkis Michail: Okay.
Alkis Michail: You can go out.
Alkis Michail: Yeah this is your permission.
Alkis Michail: So if they stop us for a check outside, the police, we were showing them the, via text message.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Prathap Nair: That's interesting.
Prathap Nair: What was this an app or was it just SMS?
Alkis Michail: It was, yeah, a number.
Alkis Michail: SMS texting on number
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Prathap Nair: So this was managed by somebody locally or like a mayor's office?
Alkis Michail: That was someone from the government.
Alkis Michail: I mean, the government was managing the whole thing.
Alkis Michail: It was pretty remarkable because, too many texts we were sending, you know, at the same time.
Alkis Michail: And, they were replying to all of us, you know, at the same time it was very good.
Alkis Michail: They have done that.
Alkis Michail: So, yeah.
Prathap Nair: It seems very strict, the lockdown was near total.
Prathap Nair: You, cannot go out.
Prathap Nair: You have to get permission even to jog.
Alkis Michail: Yes, exactly.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Alkis Michail: Because what happened in the beginning when text message happened, like almost two weeks after the lockdown, and
Alkis Michail: they have done that because, most of, you know, the Athenians were going all the time out, to, you know, for jogging.
Alkis Michail: So there were too many people in some places.
Alkis Michail: So for the government to control that, they have created the text message.
Alkis Michail: So not too many people can go outside at the same time.
Alkis Michail: So yeah…
Prathap Nair: Was it like a major curtailment in your freedom?
Prathap Nair: How did you take it?
Alkis Michail: I mean, yeah, it was really weird because, you know, I don't live with my parents, you
Alkis Michail: know, so to ask from the government to give them permission to go out, it was like very weird.
Alkis Michail: I was asking the government to go to the supermarket, to go for jogging, to go, you know, to see my parents.
Alkis Michail: So it was like you had like a big brother, taking care of you.
Prathap Nair: Did you see your social media consumption going up in the lockdown because that's all we were doing indoors…
Alkis Michail: For me, I didn't use Instagram or Facebook.
Alkis Michail: I didn't even have an account.
Alkis Michail: But, before the restaurant, I've created the account of our restaurant and I was the one that was using the page of the restaurant.
Alkis Michail: So, during the first two weeks of the lockdown, I was using quite a lot of Instagram.
Alkis Michail: And, you know, I saw that too many people, were using Instagram almost all the time and my girlfriend, she normally uses Instagram all the time.
Alkis Michail: After like, the third week of the lockdown, she didn't use it.
Alkis Michail: She was so bored
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Alkis Michail: Yeah, so I got bored using, you know, all the social media and, you know, this kind of stuff.
Alkis Michail: So I started, you know, playing guitar, cooking, working out, you know, I was painting, I was doing this kind of stuff around the house, like cleaning all the time.
Alkis Michail: I didn't even watch like television.
Alkis Michail: I didn't even watch like a movie on Netflix.
Alkis Michail: But, in the beginning of the lockdown, I was watching TV.
Alkis Michail: I was using my phone too much.
Alkis Michail: I was, watching a series on Netflix.
Alkis Michail: And after like two weeks, I stopped everything.
Alkis Michail: I got bored, you know, watching TV, using my phone.
Alkis Michail: So I found, you know, other interests, here.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Prathap Nair: Give me some examples of what other interests you found - you were exercising indoors…
Alkis Michail: I was exercising almost like three times per day.
Alkis Michail: And, yeah, I mean, I started doing calisthenics, trying to do like a handstand…
Prathap Nair: Oh, okay.
Alkis Michail: So, with my girlfriend, we were dancing.
Alkis Michail: We were cooking all day, we were painting.
Alkis Michail: I mean, we were doing, you know, normal stuff.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Prathap Nair: Wait, you were in lockdown with your girlfriend.
Prathap Nair: How long have you known each other?
Alkis Michail: For a year?
Prathap Nair: For a year.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Prathap Nair: So have you been living together before that also?
Alkis Michail: We started living together almost two months before they lockdown, in December.
Prathap Nair: So how did that go?
Prathap Nair: Suddenly you found locked up together for four months.
Prathap Nair: How did that go?
Prathap Nair: How did that benefit the relationship?
Prathap Nair: Did you guys have any friction or did you love it?
Alkis Michail: Yeah, I mean before, if we didn't know that the lockdown was going to happen and someone, you know, told me that
Alkis Michail: you're going to live for three months just with your girlfriend and you won't see anyone, you will just stay at home and
Alkis Michail: do nothing… I would be very scared of the situation, but, it was actually really cool because she was calming me down…
Prathap Nair: That's great.
Prathap Nair: Because, in this lockdown, people found out that they're not compatible.
Prathap Nair: And how did people take the lockdown in Athens?
Prathap Nair: It's slowly opening up, no?
Alkis Michail: After the lockdown, we started opening like very slowly, some businesses.
Alkis Michail: And, then, we had the restaurant, after like 20 days, you know, the restaurants opened with all the regulations and, you know, following the rules.
Alkis Michail: So, you know, we had to wear masks.
Alkis Michail: We couldn't sit inside the restaurant, so everyone was sitting outside.
Alkis Michail: So we used to have in total, 30 tables.
Alkis Michail: So, when we opened up after the lockdown, we only had three tables because nothing was allowed inside and we had a very, a small area outside.
Alkis Michail: And with the regulations, we only could afford like three tables.
Alkis Michail: So yeah.
Prathap Nair: That's a drastic reduction.
Alkis Michail: Yes, exactly.
Alkis Michail: Because we have like staff for 30 tables.
Alkis Michail: Now for three tables, I mean, I could do everything by myself.
Alkis Michail: I didn't want, you know, anyone.
Prathap Nair: Yeah, yeah.
Prathap Nair: But has the situation improved now or is it still…?
Alkis Michail: Yeah, it's a bit weird again, the situation, because we don't know what to expect.
Alkis Michail: And we, I mean, like I can plan for, you know, for the winter, because if there is like a
Alkis Michail: possibility for a new lockdown, it will be, you know, a disaster for us so we can't plan anything.
Alkis Michail: And we just wait to see what will happen.
Prathap Nair: So the Greece's tourism industry, it picking up?
Prathap Nair: You were mentioning the other day that people are not landing in Athens.
Prathap Nair: They just directly going to the islands.
Prathap Nair: And how is the situation now?
Prathap Nair: For the hospitality industry in Athens in particular…
Alkis Michail: It's really, really, really bad.
Alkis Michail: Compared to the restaurant, businesses, the tourist, especially in Athens, it's really bad.
Alkis Michail: Because, as you said, like many people come to the airport and they go directly to the islands, so they don't stop to see the center of Athens.
Alkis Michail: So yeah, at the moment we only have like two rooms in our hotel and yeah, the total number of rooms we have in our hotel is 30.
Alkis Michail: So yeah.
Alkis Michail: To have like two rooms in the middle of summer, it's scary, never happened before.
Alkis Michail: Most of the hotels in Athens are closed at the moment.
Alkis Michail: Yeah it's weird.
Alkis Michail: I don't know.
Alkis Michail: I mean, I don't see it improving any time soon…
Prathap Nair: The next few months.
Prathap Nair: You're not very sure what’s going to happen...
Alkis Michail: Yes, basically what I have done, during the lockdown, I have changed the menu completely.
Alkis Michail: So, the dishes we serve right now, have less ingredients.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Alkis Michail: Most of the ingredients we use, I mean, I tried to use almost same ingredients to all of the, dishes.
Alkis Michail: So if one dish, you know, isn't going, we're going to use the ingredients of that dish to another dish.
Alkis Michail: Most of our dish are really easy to make, so, I don't need many stuff in the kitchen.
Prathap Nair: okay.
Alkis Michail: Yeah, basically I have reduced, you know, the number of ingredients I have used and almost all of the dishes have the same ingredients.
Alkis Michail: So, you know, if one dish, you know, doesn't sell, I'm using the ingredients to another dish.
Alkis Michail: So I don't have to throw anything away.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Alkis Michail: And it's very easy to make, all of our dishes are very easy to make, so we don't have to, you know, bring, all of our stuff back.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Alkis Michail: So
Prathap Nair: Can you give me some examples of what you are serving?
Prathap Nair: What kind of dishes you're serving?
Alkis Michail: Like one of our most popular dishes is a poke bowl, a Hawaiian bowl.
Alkis Michail: So we make like a sushi rice, and then we have watermelon like in season now.
Alkis Michail: So you can find it very cheap and with a big watermelon, I can almost serve 40 dishes.
Alkis Michail: So what we're doing with the watermelon is we bake it in the oven.
Alkis Michail: And so it loses all of the moisture.
Alkis Michail: And then we marinate for at least three days.
Alkis Michail: So it gets a taste of tuna tartar.
Alkis Michail: So, it's sort of like a very interesting recipe and a very nice dish and when someone is ordering the dish, everything is ready because we have the rice ready.
Alkis Michail: The watermelon is ready and marinated...
Alkis Michail: So, you just have to plate the dish.
Prathap Nair: Did you say you put watermelon in the oven?
Prathap Nair: What happens when you…
Alkis Michail: It becomes much smaller and it has like the texture of meat...
Prathap Nair: Really?
Alkis Michail: Uncooked meat.
Alkis Michail: Yeah.
Alkis Michail: So then when you marinate it longer, I mean, we leave it in the marinade for at least three days, so it gets the texture of fish.
Alkis Michail: So it loses the qualities that, you know, the watermelon has and, yeah, it gets the taste of the sea
Alkis Michail: because in the marinade we use seaweed ginger, lime, you know, stuff that reminds you of seafood.
Prathap Nair: Where did you learn this technique?
Prathap Nair: Roasting the watermelon in the oven.
Alkis Michail: Yeah.
Alkis Michail: I was in Los Angeles like five years ago.
Prathap Nair: Okay.
Prathap Nair: Very interesting.
Alkis Michail: Yeah.
Alkis Michail: It's really nice.
Alkis Michail: So yeah, we have another dish that is salmon made from carrots.
Alkis Michail: So yeah, and this is like one of like most popular dish as well.
Alkis Michail: So we bake the carrot inside the salt, so we cover the carrot with salt.
Alkis Michail: And we bake it in the oven.
Alkis Michail: Almost like a salmon lachs.
Alkis Michail: It's like the same technique.
Alkis Michail: So then we take the carrots out of the oven, we break the, salt and, we cut it very thinly and we put in the marinade.
Alkis Michail: So then we serve it, like with the bread, sourdough bread, and my truffle cream and, the carrot, tastes like salmon and it looks like salmon.
Prathap Nair: Wow.
Prathap Nair: If it was a normal day, a journalist, a travel writer would have visited the restaurant and wrote about it.
Prathap Nair: How these amazing things are being done at a restaurant in Athens.
Prathap Nair: Now we can only dream about it.
Prathap Nair: Mostly now your clients are all locals.
Prathap Nair: How are they taking to this experimental cuisine?
Alkis Michail: They real like it, I mean, almost 99% of our clients are non-vegans.
Alkis Michail: And for me it's a huge success, because I want to introduce the vegan cuisine to non-vegans, mostly.
Prathap Nair: So you think that's a blessing in disguise that this lockdown happened, and then your restaurant is now
Prathap Nair: catering to the local public… otherwise would be frequented by tourists, do you think that's a blessing in disguise…
Alkis Michail: I think, yes, it is good because, when Greeks come to our restaurant and see
Alkis Michail: more Greeks in the restaurant, they say this a nice spot, we're going to stay here.
Alkis Michail: If they come and see like, mainly tourists, they say ok this is a tourist spot.
Prathap Nair: You’re saying there is still uncertainty, you don't know how this is going to pan out in the coming months, and you cannot make plans also.
Prathap Nair: So how's your mindset now?
Alkis Michail: For the restaurant, I'm pretty positive that it will pick up.
Prathap Nair: Because you've built a solid local client base…
Alkis Michail: Yes, exactly.
Alkis Michail: So when we open again from September, we're going to do a lot of advertisement, we're going to improve some stuff, because I'm sure that it will go well.
Prathap Nair: There’s a lot of uncertainty, but there's also positive things happening… So I will reconnect with you in a couple of months.
Prathap Nair: Thank you so much for spending the time, on that positive note, we will end this conversation…
Alkis Michail: It was my pleasure.
Prathap Nair: Thank you so much.
Prathap Nair: That was Alkis.
Prathap Nair: He will return in the second season to tell us how his business is coping.
Prathap Nair: Next week, a Cape Town based playwright and consultant Mike Van Graan reflects on how COVID hit the arts sector in South Africa.
Prathap Nair: Stay tuned.
Prathap Nair: Follow us on your favourite Podcast provider and look for us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or our website, recordofchange.com.
Prathap Nair: This podcast is implemented with and by members of the Bosch Alumni Network, a community that brings together
Prathap Nair: former and current fellows, grantees and staff members of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and its partners.