“The challenge in businesses of my type is obtaining a business license. This is a continuous process that involves spending hundreds of thousands of shekels” – says Eyal Naor, the owner of the “Hederparti – Hospitality Experience” group and the event production company EXP. “We went through the process successfully during the corona epidemic, which was a double and much more complex challenge.”
Naor, who has over 25 years of experience in producing events, owns hospitality halls and a production company. “Fortunately, I don’t need loans to sustain the business,” he says. “What’s more, there was one point in time at the beginning of the corona crisis when the cash flow of the business was weak. During this period, the state came out with loans for small businesses, and I found myself helped by this and taking the first loan in my life.”
Naor shares the process of setting up the business. “Private room – a hospitality experience started with a small idea to host 20 people once a week and be an alternative to the various hospitality rooms that exist in the Tel Aviv area. The guest room very quickly became a place for private and business events for up to 150 people. It is a place I established eight years ago and is a business anchor for me. Later, Following the success, I established two more places: Lilly Kitchen Chef and Back Kitchen.”
In addition, Naor is also the founder of the “Lunch box” brand – carefully customized culinary boxes. “Before the corona epidemic broke out here, I owned three businesses: EXP – an event production company, a private room, and Lilly Kitchen Chef,” he explains. “During the first closure, I recognized an opportunity and brought all the employees back to full and intensive work.
“Thus, through joint, strenuous and Sisyphean work, we created the ‘Lunch Box’ brand that was a response to the private audience and especially to the business sector. These are mainly high-tech companies, but not only, that wanted to take care of their employees and send them culinary packages while they were at home. The brand flourished and became successful very quickly. We came out with a timing of a month and a half before the holidays and during this period we sold over 5,000 cases.”
In the last six months, Noor even founded the Pop up wine bar project out of a desire to make the wine culture in Israel accessible. As part of it, he holds meetings where wineries come to Tel Aviv and give people the opportunity to taste their wine. “The project was established following a culinary tour I did in Rome. At one of the stops during the tour, wine tastings were held in a warehouse near the market. This was actually the inspiration for my wine project here in Israel.
“When I arrived in Israel, I conducted a poll on Facebook about a wine bar. The response was very high, and already at the first event over 200 guests came. Following the pop up wine bar, I was exposed to a rich and diverse world of Israeli wines. Today, I have a growing desire to work in this fascinating and rewarding field.”
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