Café Rimon
An Israeli kosher restaurant chain with locations in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh.
Last updated August 25, 2026
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Overview
Café Rimon is an Israeli kosher restaurant chain founded in Jerusalem in 1953. Its original restaurant opened near Ben Yehuda Street, an area known for its concentration of cafés, restaurants, shops, and nightlife. The business began as a meat restaurant and later changed its culinary format: in 1983 it became a dairy restaurant. This shift established the basis for the brand’s best-known offering, combining café service with a broad kosher dairy menu. The chain has operated through several formats and locations. Its flagship Café Rimon Ben Yehuda restaurant is located on Luntz Street in central Jerusalem and serves dishes including soups, salads, pizza, pasta, and fish. A second dairy location opened in Jerusalem in 2007 as part of the development of the Mamilla Mall. Café Rimon Mamilla became associated with large brunch buffets and serves visitors in one of Jerusalem’s major shopping and tourism districts. In 2014, the chain expanded outside Jerusalem with a restaurant in the Big Fashion Mall in Beit Shemesh. Café Rimon has also experimented with format diversification. In 2007, Rimon Bistro was added beside the Ben Yehuda restaurant as a separate meat-oriented steakhouse. The bistro later closed, while the dairy restaurants remained the core of the chain’s identity. The brand’s typical proposition is a kosher, accessible, full-service restaurant experience that accommodates café visits, casual meals, brunch, and family or group dining. The Ben Yehuda location was the site of a major terrorist attack in December 2001, when two suicide bombers detonated themselves outside or on opposite sides of the restaurant, killing ten people and injuring approximately 170. The location was also connected to a foiled 2002 plot involving an attempt to poison patrons. Despite these incidents, Café Rimon continued operating and expanding. The chain has been noted for employing both Jewish and Arab staff, an aspect of its workforce identity in the context of its Jerusalem locations. Publicly available reference material does not identify a parent company, founder, named owner, corporate headquarters separate from its operating locations, financial results, or a stock-market listing. Café Rimon is therefore best characterized as an active Israeli restaurant brand whose visibility is primarily domestic and whose history is closely tied to Jerusalem’s commercial and culinary life.
History
Café Rimon began in 1953 when its first restaurant opened near Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda Street. The location placed the business in one of the city’s most active pedestrian and entertainment districts, helping define the brand’s long-term association with central Jerusalem. The original format was a meat restaurant. In 1983, Café Rimon changed to a dairy format, a significant strategic and culinary change that shaped the chain’s later identity as a kosher café and casual dining brand. The restaurant’s history was affected by the violence of the Second Intifada. On 1 December 2001, two suicide bombers positioned themselves on opposite sides of the Café Rimon area and detonated simultaneously. Ten people were killed and approximately 170 were injured. The attack occurred late on a Saturday night in a part of Jerusalem normally crowded with young people. Arafat publicly condemned the bombing and called for an end to suicide attacks and terrorism. In 2002, Israeli authorities arrested three East Jerusalem residents accused of planning a separate attack on Café Rimon customers. According to the cited account, the suspects had worked with Hamas and developed a tasteless poison intended to produce a fatal heart attack after a delay of about fifteen hours. The three defendants received prison sentences of between five and ten years. These incidents made Café Rimon an unusually prominent example of a restaurant operating despite repeated security threats. The chain entered a period of expansion in 2007. Rimon Bistro was introduced beside the Ben Yehuda site as a meat restaurant and steakhouse, creating a distinct format alongside the established dairy business. The bistro later closed. Also in 2007, Café Rimon opened a second dairy branch in the newly developed Mamilla Mall. The Mamilla restaurant became known in particular for its large brunch buffets and benefited from the mall’s position as a major commercial and visitor destination in Jerusalem. In 2014, Café Rimon added a branch at the Big Fashion Mall in Beit Shemesh. The chain consequently developed a small multi-location footprint consisting of its Ben Yehuda flagship, the Mamilla restaurant, and the Beit Shemesh site. Reference material describes the restaurants as kosher and notes that the business employs both Jewish and Arab workers. This employment profile has been highlighted because of the brand’s operation in Jerusalem and its history of functioning through periods of severe communal and political tension. The available public material provides limited information about ownership, management, finances, legal structure, and current operating performance. It does establish Café Rimon as an active Israeli restaurant chain rather than a packaged-food or coffee-product manufacturer. Its principal brand assets are its longstanding Jerusalem presence, kosher dairy dining, broad casual-food menus, brunch service, and recognizable locations in central Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh.
- 2014
Beit Shemesh expansion
[1]Café Rimon opens a branch at the Big Fashion Mall in Beit Shemesh.
- 2007
Mamilla branch and Rimon Bistro are introduced
[1]The chain adds a second Jerusalem dairy location at Mamilla Mall and launches the meat-oriented Rimon Bistro beside the Ben Yehuda restaurant.
- 2002
Suspects arrested in alleged poisoning plot
[1]Three East Jerusalem residents are arrested over an alleged plan to poison Café Rimon patrons; they later receive prison sentences of five to ten years.
- 2001
Terrorist attack at the Jerusalem location
[1]A simultaneous suicide bombing at or beside Café Rimon in central Jerusalem kills ten people and injures approximately 170.
- 1983
The restaurant changes from meat to dairy
[1]Café Rimon changes its culinary format from a meat restaurant to a dairy restaurant, establishing the core format associated with the brand.
- 1953
First Café Rimon opens in Jerusalem
[1]The first Café Rimon restaurant opens near Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem as a meat restaurant.
Products and positioning
A long-established Israeli kosher restaurant chain combining café service, casual dining, and broad dairy menus in prominent Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh locations.
Kosher dairy restaurant · 1953
Café Rimon Ben Yehuda
The flagship restaurant on Luntz Street in central Jerusalem. Its menu is described as including soups, salads, pizza, pasta, fish, and café beverages, offering a broad casual-dining format rather than a narrowly specialized coffee menu.
Kosher dairy restaurant · 2007
Café Rimon Mamilla
The chain’s second dairy location opened with the Mamilla Mall development in 2007. It is associated with large brunch buffets and serves shoppers, tourists, and local diners in a prominent Jerusalem commercial district.
Kosher restaurant · 2014
Café Rimon Beit Shemesh
A Café Rimon branch opened in 2014 at the Big Fashion Mall in Beit Shemesh, representing the chain’s expansion beyond its Jerusalem base.
Meat restaurant and steakhouse · 2007
Rimon Bistro
A meat-focused companion format introduced beside the Ben Yehuda restaurant in 2007. Rimon Bistro offered steakhouse-style meat dishes but later closed and is no longer part of the active location portfolio.
Brand decisions
2014
Expansion to Beit ShemeshStrategyBackground
After operating primarily in Jerusalem, Café Rimon added an opportunity to reach customers in a neighboring Israeli city.
Action taken
The chain opened a restaurant in the Big Fashion Mall in Beit Shemesh.
Aftermath
The Beit Shemesh branch became part of the chain’s reported active location network.
2007
Expansion into multiple restaurant formats and locationsStrategyBackground
Café Rimon had an established Jerusalem restaurant and sought to broaden its presence and offer.
Action taken
The chain opened a dairy branch at Mamilla Mall and added the meat-oriented Rimon Bistro beside the Ben Yehuda location.
Aftermath
The Mamilla dairy branch remained part of the chain, while Rimon Bistro later closed.
1983
Shift from meat dining to dairy diningStrategyBackground
The original Café Rimon restaurant had operated as a meat restaurant since its opening in 1953.
Action taken
The business changed its restaurant format to dairy, creating the foundation for its later kosher café positioning.
Aftermath
The dairy format became the chain’s principal identity, although the company later tested a separate meat concept through Rimon Bistro.
Recent events
- 2014
Café Rimon opens a Beit Shemesh branch[1]
Product launch
Café Rimon opened a restaurant at the Big Fashion Mall in Beit Shemesh, extending the chain beyond its Jerusalem locations.
- 2007
Café Rimon expands with a Mamilla location and Rimon Bistro[1]
Other · Product launch
The brand broadened its Jerusalem presence in 2007. A second dairy restaurant opened at Mamilla Mall, while the meat-focused Rimon Bistro was added beside the Ben Yehuda location.
- 2002
Authorities arrest suspects in an alleged plot to poison Café Rimon patrons[1]
Other
Jerusalem police and Shin Bet arrested three East Jerusalem residents accused of planning to poison customers at Café Rimon in cooperation with Hamas. The suspects were reported to have developed a tasteless substance intended to cause a delayed fatal reaction. They later received prison sentences ranging from five to ten years.
- 2001
Suicide bombing at Café Rimon in Jerusalem kills ten and injures approximately 170[1]
Other
Two suicide bombers detonated themselves simultaneously near Café Rimon on 1 December 2001. The attack struck a busy Jerusalem nightlife area and caused extensive casualties. Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat condemned the attack and called for an end to suicide bombings and terrorism.
Sources1 sources
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