Restaurants have suffered loss of hundreds of crores in Lucknow

LUCKNOW: The restaurant industry, which has recorded a slump after estimated hundreds of crores of rupees loss in the lockdown, resumed partial operations on Thursday to a moderate response.
With business restricted to home delivery and not enough manpower, owners could cater to only a few customers. Only half of the total organized restaurants in the city opened.
Businessman Sandeep Ahuja, who runs a major restaurant in Hazratganj, said that the response was decent on the first day with 30-35 customers ordering in.
“Our industry has suffered a great loss, but we are hoping that we will revive it soon,” he said.
However, city-based entrepreneur Rahul Khanna, who runs 10 outlets of his restaurant chain, said that due to low customer response, his restaurant might shut operations after a week.
“From sanitisation of our outlets to the sanitisation of our kitchen, medical checks of our staff members and maintaining proper hygiene, we have done it all. Our staff is not here, only 10% of our local staff is working. Due to the virus, the customer response is slow. People are not comfortable with restaurants and eateries the way they were before. Looking at the current scenario, we are opening our outlets for a week, and depending on the response, we will continue or discontinue our work,” said Khanna.
According to UP Hotel and Restaurants Association, the hospitality industry in the state has suffered losses of hundreds of crores in the past two months and doesn’t see a road to revival before 2021.
General secretary of the association Garish Oberoi said, “Businesses are struggling to find a way to pay their employees and rent. Most landlords demand a fixed monthly rent, which along with manpower, consumes 40-50% of restaurant revenues. Another challenge the industry is facing is that deliveries will only add up to a small percentage of the usual profit the eating outlets make. Big food chains have their SOPs in place but small eating joints will have to make countless amends. The hotel, restaurant and tourism industry was the first to be hit by the pandemic and will be the last to revive,” he added.