A popular partially Israeli owned restaurant chain, who had a restaurant in Washington, DC and Rockville, was forced to shut down due to the BDS Movement.
By Rachel Avraham
The highly popular kosher partially Israeli owned restaurant Shouk announced that it will close its final two locations, in Rockville and Washington, D.C., in part due to boycotts related to the Israel-Hamas war, the Washington Jewish Week reported. “After nearly a decade of cooking, sharing, and gathering with you, we’ve reached the bittersweet moment of saying goodbye,” a Sept. 30 statement by Shouk read. “Shouk has officially closed its doors.”
Shouk was a joint business ventured of an Israeli and an American Jew, who named the restaurant Shouk after the Hebrew word for Israel’s open air market. Shouk’s veggie burger earned early acclaim, Haaretz reported. According to the report, the Washington Post called it their favorite in the area during the restaurant’s first year, and in 2018, the Food Network highlighted it on its series “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” Dennis Friedman and Ran Nussbacher co-founded Shouk to bring healthy, plant-based food to the Washington, D.C., area as part of a fast-casual concept.
However, in recent years, Shouk had become a target of the BDS Movement, who frequently sent people to protest outside of their restaurant. Shouk, which opened its first location in 2016, was listed on D.C. for Palestine’s “Apartheid? I Don’t Buy It” boycott initiative in March, categorized under “restaurants that culturally appropriate or sell Israeli settlement products,” Haaretz reported.
“I’m disappointed when we don’t use food as a bridge,” Nussbacher told Moment Magazine in 2022. “Is pizza an appropriation of Italian culture? Is pasta Italian or Chinese? Food is not owned. Food is dynamic. And it’s created and recreated time and again. The question of ownership is irrelevant.”
Friedman, who did not share specifics about the business’ financials, attributed the downturn to protesters chanting “Free Palestine” outside the restaurant, gluing posters to the restaurant’s windows and outdoor seating, and coming inside to intimidate customers and staff, Haaretz reported.
“One factor was that we found ourselves caught in the crosscurrents of a toxic political climate surrounding the Israel/Gaza war,” a Shouk statement read. “More and more, customers have chosen to avoid businesses connected to Israel. We heard from long-time regulars who stopped visiting us for these reasons.”
At Shouk’s Georgetown location, which closed in 2024, protesters were “steady and frequent, and they just didn’t let up,” Friedman said. “We heard from customers that there was some concern. It was either safety concern or just not wanting to deal with that negativity in that type of environment,” Friedman said. “And I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to, either.”
According to Haaretz, Friedman said he was in touch with authorities about the incidents, and a plainclothes officer began monitoring the situation from a car across the street. But he said the extra security ultimately didn’t make a difference.
According to the Forward, Friedman emphasized that Shouk was “not a political place.” To the extent that the restaurant did engage in advocacy, Friedman said, it was focused on environmental issues, from promoting plant-based eating to using biodegradable cutlery, the Forward reported.
“We wanted to truly do something that could be a game changer. And for quite a while it was — so that’s why it makes it a little heartbreaking that we had to stop,” he told the Forward. “Even though I’m sad of how it ended, man, I’m grateful for the last 12 years.”
Photo from Ralf Roletschek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.#/media/File:12-07-13-washington-by-RalfR-08.jpg
