CHENNAI: Empty parking lots at restaurants, eateries with closed shutters and smaller food joints with close to zero footfall — this was what we witnessed in the city on Friday and Saturday, even before the Janata Curfew on Sunday. As the coronavirus scare continues to cripple multiple industries and markets, the food business in the city has taken a huge hit.
With offices announcing work from home to its employees; governmentimposing curfews and samaritans self-distancing themselves and becoming mindful of what they consume, eateries in the city are reeling under a slowdown. Ahmed who runs a biryani shop in Nungambakkam is used to seeing people flock his store for his aromatic biriyani variants.
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But after the coronavirus scare, his eatery has been seeing fewer customers. He told CE that his sales have dropped by more than half. “There are PGs and colleges in this area. They were my major customers. Students staying at these PGs and going to college would come here often. Some are regulars. Now that everyone has gone to their respective hometowns because of the scare, I don’t have anyone to visit the shop. Earlier, my income per day used to be at least Rs15,000. Now I hardly earn Rs 2,000. I have almost nil orders on Swiggy and Zomato too,” said Ahmed. Raja, another vendor who sells fresh juices and popcorn at Tambaram Sanatorium pointed to the closedown of public transportation and reduced frequencies as a reason for all the slowdown.
Empty sugarcane crates dotted his shop and a visibly upset Raja, said, “This used to be full. I had customers flowing in all day. There are IT companies nearby and people commuting by the local train would buy sugarcane juice or lemon juice. They would also buy some popcorn. But now, nobody is using public transports. I’ve had only one or two people from the morning.” Lakshmi, a tender coconut vendor in Ambattur has a similar story.
Since the shutdown in TN, she has limited the number of coconuts she buys. “I used to buy around hundred and more than half used to get sold by the end of the day. Now I am sitting with around just 20 coconuts, praying at least some are sold,” she said. With people wary of buying outside food and those sold on the street-side, Lakshmi has started tapping the benefits of tender coconut as her selling point. “I try telling them that coconut water is safe. But people do not want to risk it,” she said. With the city under lockdown, the livelihoods of such vendors seem uncertain and one without a solution.
Low demand
Since most of the dishes on his menu are meatbased, Ahmed shared that people were hesitant to buy it. “Because of the low demand, I have been buying lesser quantities of meat for the shop,” he rued