Friends,

We’ve decided to close the doors of Manta Ray on December 17, 2026.

Question: How many people have dined with us at Manta Ray?
Answer: 1,320,795 unique guests, 2,640,093 total diners.

Question: How many loaves of Balkan bread have we baked?
Answer: 803,072.

Question: How many kilos of potatoes were bought to make gnocchi (not including mashed potatoes and fries)?
Answer: 44,970 kg.

Question: How many current members of Knesset once worked at Manta Ray?
Answer: One – take a guess.

Question: To how many employees did you offer kind words?
Answer: ∞

Question: How many eggs were cracked to make our breakfast omelettes?
Answer: 1,880,302.

Question: What’s your proudest moment?
Answer: A girl born to a couple who had their first date here now works for me as a waitress.

Question: How many times did you say “Good morning” at Manta Ray?
Answer: Two million times in Hebrew and one million in English.

Question: When did you stop being amazed by the sunset?
Answer: Never! No two sunsets are ever the same.

Question: On how many acres were the eggplants grown for the eggplant mousse?
Answer: On 110 dunams in the Lachish region.

Question: How many glasses were broken here?
Answer: 50,000.

Question: How many tons of mullet gave themselves to our Mullet Ceviche?
Answer: Seas of tons.

Question: How many employees have worked at Manta Ray since the beginning?
Answer: 924, 9 of them medicine doctors.

Question: How many steps have you taken at Manta Ray?
Answer: According to my step counter and a bit of extrapolation- 79,546,117.

Question: How many men and women work for you?
Answer: Roughly half and half.

Whom to thank:
To the millions of guests, to my family, to Avi – you know, to Uriah, thanks to whom Alma Beach transformed from a grain of sand inside a shell into a pearl.
To Tamara-the sweet honey that binds everything together.
To Chef Ronen Skinezis-the superpower behind Manta Ray.

And of course, to all the wonderful employees who’ve been part of Manta Ray through its 10,107 days of uncurable optimism.

Question: What comes next?
Answer: I’ve asked Tel Aviv municipality to hand over Manta Ray, my beloved creation, in February 2026, to good, professional people – who will cherish her and love her at least as much as you and I have.

Question: And what about me?
Answer: Well, I’m continuing – business as usual 🙂

With heartfelt thanks for your love and loyalty all these years,

Ofra Ganor