BENGALURU: Mayuri Rajaram was relieved to see diners in her restaurants again when she reopened the outlets three weeks ago. Though the 50-75 customers that she saw across Ebony, 13th Floor and ASEAN were a far cry from the pre-Covid numbers (800 diners), a small trickle too was more than welcome after weeks of being shut during the lockdown. The feeling of comfort was, however, short-lived. As the number of Covid-19 cases shot up in Bengaluru, the footfall fell again. With operational costs involving rent, salaries, overheads, and now sanitisation too, piling up, Rajaram was forced to make a tough decision: “We are going to close the restaurants, albeit temporarily. We will be back in business once things are better,” says the director of Aswati Inns.
Rajaram is not the only one thinking along these lines. Last month, the spike in number of coronavirus cases in the city prompted Vidyarthi Bhavan to also stop its dine-in service from June 27 onwards. Across town, restaurateurs and hospitality professionals are facing a similar platter full of worries, and are taking various measures to combat the situation. Some like Nidhi Nahata of JustBe Resto Café are choosing to delay restarting dine-in services, while Chianti is considering staying open only three days a week for dine-in. While a decision is yet to be arrived upon, co-owner Vamsi Mudiam tells CE he is mulling over keeping the restaurant open only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
This will affect revenue, he admits, but adds, “Right now, self-lockdowns are need of the hour.” Yogesh Mokashi, founder of Egg Factory, calls the current spike in cases inevitable. The eatery, which has four outlets across Bengaluru, has stayed shut since the beginning of the lockdown and will continue to do so. Deliveries will not be carried out either, since it makes up only 20 per cent of their sales. Explaining the math, Mokashi shares how during pre-Covid times, 80 per cent of the establishment’s sales volumes covered all their running expenses (including fixed and variable costs).
“But today, if I were to open my restaurant, my sales volume wouldn’t even be able to cover the fixed cost,” he adds. The new curfew norms are leaving behind a bitter after-taste for most in the restaurant scene. An 8pm curfew means they can’t cash in on dinner crowds, which often trickles in 9pm onwards. “It makes sense for us to operate when it is safer to do so. And since 13th Floor is a bar, we also need to be able to serve alcohol without timing restrictions in order to sustain ourselves,” says Rajaram. Mokashi, who feels similarly, adds that dinner makes up at least 30-40 per cent of his sales volumes. “Besides, the charm of eating out is also not the same anymore. With PPE kits, gloves and sanitisers, one just feels like they are at a hospital. I’m going to play it by the ear till the situation improves,” he adds.