Restaurants & Food Tours

With the food and traditional cuisine of Racha being a top voted attraction and ICH, there are surprisingly very few eating establishments, cafes or restaurants in the city of Oni and even less outside of the city in the rural resort areas. The guest houses typically provide meals to visitors, with few offering a menu to visitors who are not staying on property (unless invited). The National Statistical Service of Georgia lists 9 registered catering facilities and the local government’s website lists 8, with 5 being bakeries. In an online search, only 6 restaurants appear on Google maps (4 in Oni and 2 in Glola/Shovi). This scarcity indicates a gap in standalone dining options, and the community will benefit from diversifying food service offerings to cater to both residents and visitors. 

There is a local supply-chain limitation to meet demand for the larger guest houses and hotels during high tourist season, identifying a need for more local agricultural, farming and food production. As a result, these businesses must source suppliers outside of Oni municipality, with large distributors typically servicing Ambrolauri where there is more regular demand. PMCG also mentions products that are not sold in the municipality at all (dried fruit, pickles) but these could be grown and produced locally. Similarly, winemakers are largely clustered in neighboring Ambrolauri. These distribution issues significantly increase prices which strain MSME budgets.