Each business and its unique story during the war: some have trouble recruiting workers, some have trouble selling.
Mbo Kitchens, a small kitchen factory, was founded in Sderot 45 years ago and before the war worked mainly with customers from the Gaza envelope. These days, the family factory, run by four Cohen brothers (Dvir, Yoni, Adir and Kuti), is fighting for its survival, and all they ask for is kitchen orders.
The Coen Brothers, Photo: None
"We are a family company, four brothers. We established an industrial factory in Sderot for the production of kitchens, which employs 30 workers. Most of our customers are from the affected communities - Beeri, Kfar Azza, Re'im, all the communities in the western Negev. As an industrialist, I want to go back to work, I want to create orders, I don't want donations or grants, and that's what my employees want. They are with me," says factory CEO Yoni Cohen in a conversation with Israel Hayom.
Cohen lives in Kibbutz Zikim near Sderot, and was evacuated with the other residents when the war began. "On October 7, we were locked in the safe room. At first there were still WhatsApp messages, but at a certain point the network went down and it was impossible to communicate. The terrorists failed to cross the line of defense of our brave alert squad," he recalls.
Lots of customers from the envelope
"However, a large proportion of my clients are from the envelope. Some were murdered, kidnapped, wounded. Anyone who plans kitchens knows that very personal relationships are created with customers, you know the people personally. My dad says, 'We don't just make kitchens, we open relationships.' Some of my clients were murdered, their families were murdered, very sad. For the first week or two, I had hours of turning off the phone because I didn't want to hear any more."
Cohen adds: "In Bari I was supposed to have an expansion of operations to 60 clients, and at the moment nothing is moving. On 7 October, not only did we lose loved ones and were evacuated from our homes, but our economic security was also affected. Uncertainty undermines us."
"No reservations at all"
According to Cohen, "Right now we're without any reservations at all, because I'm mostly built on this area. If I manage to make a business move and move to the center, it can help. At this point, I'm trying to contact the center, try to bring orders, that's what we need right now. We're back in production, but we don't have so much work.
Struggling to make a living, photo: None
"Even if customers from the center want to come and buy, they don't have to go all the way to Sderot, we are in both Design Center and Ashkelon. We produce kitchens of very high quality, without compromise."
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