Owners of traditional Maltese restaurants in Mġarr claim they are being driven out of business by the growing number of illegal eateries.
“They are everywhere and new ones are opening all the time. They’re killing local cuisine,” Mġarr restaurant owner David Micallef said, referring to claims that a number of people were offering catering services from their homes, gardens and other property.
The Malta Tourism Authority describes illegal restaurants as “any catering establishment not in compliance with the regulations governing them”.
These include a myriad of criteria affecting facilities ranging from the kitchen, to restrooms and fire safety equipment.
Mr Micallef believes the number of establishments that do not abide by the regulations has increased substantially over the past few years, many operating “below the radar”.
“Anyone can open a restaurant and start roasting pigs in their back garden. No one monitors these places,” he complained.
Earlier this month, an illegally developed farmhouse operating as an unlicensed restaurant was closed down following a report by Times of Malta.
Scicluna Farmhouse, in Gudja, had been operating on a daily basis for several months despite a planning authority enforcement notice ordering it to close down. When contacted, the MTA said it had closed down 25 similar establishments since 2011.
Mġarr restaurant owner Steve Sammut believes that the Gudja restaurant was “just the tip of the iceberg”.
“There must be at least 50 of these places across the island. People emulate successful business models, so they’re sprouting up everywhere,” he said.
These places just open their doors with no health standards and no health inspections
His restaurant is one of several Mġarr establishments offering the traditional fare of rabbit, horsemeat and suckling pig, but the locality prized for its traditional cuisine is facing tough times.
“People used to flock to Mġarr for traditional Maltese cuisine but now they’re going to these illegal restaurants: they’re cheaper and we just can’t compete with them,” complained Simon Micallef, who also runs a restaurant in Mġarr.
He confessed he had almost given up on finding a solution to the dodgy eateries.
The irked restaurateurs formed a consortium last year in the hope of finding a solution to the illegal restaurant “epidemic”.
The consortium believes that food preparation standards and regular health inspections are among the most important factors in the industry.
“These places just open their doors with no health standards and no health inspections. Who knows what they’re doing in those kitchens,” said a consortium member who preferred not to be named.
“Needless to say, we’re threatened by them,” he said, referring to an encounter with an illegal restaurant operator after he reported him.
Over the past two years, the MTA carried out over 1,300 investigations involving restaurants, several hundred of which were identified as being unlicensed.
A spokesman said that although several illegal restaurants had been investigated, the MTA was committed to helping them come in line with regulations.
“We want establishments to operate within the law, so we point them in the right direction. That said, we take reports of illegal activity very seriously and investigate every report we receive,” he said.