Dine-in restaurants in Delhi worried over fresh Covid restrictions

“In view of the increase in positive cases, it was decided to shut down restaurants and bars and allow only ‘takeaway’ facility. “It was also decided to allow operation of only one weekly market per day per zone,” Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal announced in a tweet on Monday evening.

Last Friday, restaurants in Delhi were allowed to provide dine-in services till 9 pm only on weekdays. The DDMA imposed curfew in the city over the weekend and closed malls and restaurants on Saturday and Sunday.

Restaurant operators fear that after Delhi, other states may also consider imposing more restrictions on food and drink. He said the closure of dine-in services after a quarter of good business would result in a big loss to the business in the fourth quarter.

“The Omicron variant is not dangerous, but the reality is that the number of cases is increasing. The government will have to take steps, but they must strike a fine balance so as to allow the most vulnerable industries, such as food and beverages, to survive. Delivery, regardless of the type of restaurant format, does not make up for more than 30-40% of the total business,” said Anjan Chatterjee, hotelier and founder of publicly traded specialty restaurants, which runs chains like Oh !Calcutta and Mainland China.

Restaurateurs said they are already adhering to various rules put in place and are seeing up to 50% reduction in dine-in revenue due to the seating restrictions. The restaurant has also had to comply with business hours restrictions, with daily night and weekend curfews beginning in late December at the time of New Year’s festivities.

Ajit Shah, co-founder of White Panda Hospitality, said such announcements are causing working capital crunch as rent has to be paid irrespective of the disruption. “Policies are not conducive to continuing business. Political rallies are still going on and local governments have to realize that we generate too much revenue. They also need to support us.”

Zoravar Kalra, founder of Massive Restaurants, which runs chains such as Farzy Cafe and Masala Library and delivery-chain Louie’s Burgers, said he hopes these restrictions can be lifted quickly if hospitalizations and morbidity do not increase. Because they are very debilitating. An already troubled industry. “If they continue, they will lead to a permanent shutdown and a huge increase in unemployment in the region,” he said.

Dine-in restaurants are panicking, but for companies whose primary focus is on home delivery, it’s likely to have a good run. The delivery business is expected to grow exponentially, said Mansher Duggal, co-founder of Delhi-based Enoki Hospitality, which runs 10 cloud kitchens serving Asian and North Indian cuisines. His business, he said, saw a growth of around 40% over the previous lockdown in April-May 2021. However, restaurants should be allowed to continue operating at 50% capacity with strict regulations, allowing only fully vaccinated guests, as the rules were followed. US and UK, Duggal said. He said more restrictions on restaurants would send an industry that is still in complete disarray.

The size of the restaurant industry shrank by more than 50% 4,23,624 crore in FY 2020 2,00,762 crore in FY2011, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) said.

The association said that Delhi NCR is the ‘restaurant capital’ of India, with the largest number of restaurants in the country. There are about 95,187 eateries in Delhi which include both organized and unorganized players. Of this, 32,777 are organized (with FSSAI number and GST).

Association president Kabir Suri said, “While the unorganized will also bear the brunt of these new guidelines, the real brunt will be with the organized class as they have a whole chain/employee, government taxes, suppliers etc. to deal with.” Organized players in the city generate revenue Since dine-out frequency in Delhi is the highest at 31,132 crore as compared to the national average. Delhi eats about six times a month, compared to the national average of 4.5 times a month. Suri said that takeaway and delivery are only a small part of this whole pie.

He said, “We are also very concerned about the fate of over 3 lakh people employed in restaurants in Delhi. We do not want them to suffer, but unfortunately, we do not have enough resources to support them in the long run. Huh.”