BENGALURU: On Day 1, there’s been a tepid response to the government permission to pubs and bars to clear their alcohol stocks between May 9 and May 17.
A majority of the watering holes in the City decided to stay shut because of the overhead costs involved.
The few, who re-opened their places after 46 days of lockdown, were faced with dust and musty smell of closed businesses that were not long ago bustling with typical Bengaluru summer weekend parties, in a pre-coronavirus era.
“There are over 500 pubs and bars in Bengaluru and only 5 per cent of us decided to open today (Saturday) to get some cash flow and start online food delivery. Some of them will open on Monday but most of us have decided not to open for nine days because if we open then our landlords will start demanding rent. There are other major overheads, which we can ill afford to pay for such a short time,” said a pub owner.
But some others like Byg Brewski – the biggest microbrewery in Asia – have decided to make use of this window for financial reasons and brand building. “We have opened Byg Brewski on Sarjapur and Hennur Road because we needed some cash flow but we don’t see much sales happening at either place,” said Pravesh Pandey of Byg Brewski.
“Living with Covid-19 is the new normal and we have used this window of opportunity given to us by the government as bait to increase food takeaway business. Along with alcohol, we are also selling our cocktail remixes, which we are famous for,” he said. Pub owners like Dheeraj Kumar of popular pub – ‘Pablos’ and ‘Knowhere’ – bar and kitchen have decided to stay shut because their USP is draught beer, which is now rotting in kegs.
“Most of our staff have gone home. Our beer is in kegs, which needs to be disposed of now because we cannot sell it and there is an expiry date to it,” said Kumar.
“This is the time for brand building, to connect with our customers and re-confirm that we exist. We need to re-channelize our energies and get the ball rolling. Let the government also get some confidence to restart business,” said Pandey.