Dilip Thakkar runs a restaurant serving Gujarati thali for 42 years in Ahmedabad.
Never has he seen such a time when he had to let go of at least 50% of the staff while operating with just half the staff.
“Since the pandemic, revenues have taken a big hit because of frequently changing norms.
Even though the business did begin reviving around Diwali, the first and second wave of Covid infections brought along restrictions.
As footfalls reduced, meeting even operating expenses became next to impossible,” said Thakkar, who has conditionally let off his staff, promising to hire them back as the situation improves.
Crowd control measures and allied restrictions imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 spread caused havoc to the restaurant business, bringing order volumes and restaurant footfalls tumbling down.
As revenues declined by a significant 60% in 2020-21 against 2019-20, many restaurants shut down, some others downsized their staff and some moved to smaller premises.
Similar is the case of Smit Sagar, who runs a restaurant serving international cuisine at Rajkot.
Sagar said, “We had a live kitchen concept and hired chefs from different parts of India.
But due to the pandemic and related restrictions, the business didn’t take off, and I incurred losses worth Rs 70 lakh and had to relieve some 18 people.” Estimates by Hotels and Restaurants’ Association (HRA) Gujarat suggest that at least 10lakh persons are employed across restaurants in the state, of which a significant 50% have lost their jobs or have been forced to take up alternate occupations, as earnings of restaurants went down.
The challenge lies the other way around too, say industry stakeholders.
Staffers employed with restaurants have taken up farming in their native places or have turned to alternative sources of livelihood as they fear the third wave will bring along similar restrictions and once again affect their income and job security.
Outdoor catering business lostBesides dine-ins and takeaway, outdoor catering is a significant source of revenue for restaurateurs.
However, estimates suggest that in the past one year, catering business has declined by a whopping 90%.
Narendra Somani, president, HRA – Gujarat, and an Ahmedabad-based hotelier and restaurateur, said, “With barely any events taking place, outdoor catering business is at a huge loss.
While business conferences and private social gatherings have barely taken place, even we ddings were a muted and downsized affair.
Due to this, at least 90% of the outdoor catering business has been wiped out.” Deliveries take a hit tooTakeaway business too was adversely impacted with the second wave.
In Ahmedabad, order volumes have come down by at least 50% or more of what they were in March.
In pre-pandemic times, the city which used to witness some 75,000 food deliveries every single day, now sees barely 30,000 takeout orders.
Similarly, in Rajkot, the number has reduced from 50,000 deliveries in a day to about 10,000 at this point.
Third wave fears cloud outlookRestaurateurs are no more optimistic about the near future fearing a third wave of Covid may once again hit business.
Thus, many are unwilling to resume.
The second wave hit businesses even harder because restaurants have been allowed to operate only for deliveries and stop dine-in services.
“People go to restaurants for an entire experience.
With dinein services being barred, the revenues dropped 30% against March.
Dine-ins account for over half of our revenues.
While takeaways do help sustain order volumes, it is no match to the dine-in revenues,” said Rushad Jinwala, owner of an Ahmedabad-based restaurant.
“During the first wave, restaurants were closed, and landlords were cooperative.
However, this time, all overheads were as is including electricity bills, rent, cost of gas and staffers too,” said Jinwala.
(With inputs from Nimesh Khakhariya in Rajkot)