If you found your favourite neighborhood restaurant closed for a long time, it’s possible, it has shut down altogether. Many Hyderabadi restaurants such as Hay and Oh Calcutta! in Begumpet, Telangana Ruchulu in Rasoolpura, Kulcha Culture in Sindhi Colony and Smart Alec Deli at Madhapur have shut shop, thanks to Covid-19 losses. However, here’s how a few smaller and smarter ones have been able to keep their head above the water
HYDERABAD: As you drive across Secunderabad towards Jubilee Hills on an average monsoon evening, the familiar crowds are missing. The gaudy neon lights announcing the name of the restaurant are missing. And for all you know, the restaurant that would be your pitstop on the way back home for a takeaway dinner or a hangout spot with friends has shut down permanently. And yes, Covid-19 is the villain!
Many restaurants which are just two or three years old and were hoping to break even and make some profits this year had to face the sad reality of a curfew and a lockdown, affecting their business terribly. “It breaks my heart to see places I used to visit weekly have closed down. Especially small ventures that started on a shoestring budget but made a name for themselves and had a good customer base,” says Mohammed Zubair Ali, one of Hyderabad’s top food bloggers and social media influencers of (hyderabad.food.diaries on Instagram).
Vaibhav Mittal, a vegetarian food blogger of foodtrails_hyderabad on Instagram said that Zaika-e-Hyderabad too has shut down three months ago. This busy eatery next to TV9 office was a popular hangout for biryani lovers in Road no 3, Banjara Hills. “It’s unbelievable that such places have closed down. Most restaurant owners found that their Masterchefs and waiters have left after the lockdown was announced. Then the crowds dwindled and it did not make much sense for them to run their business on such low margins.”
Not a recognised industry
Sampath Tummala, the Joint Secretary of Telangana State Hotels Association (TSHA) says, “TSHA has appealed for subsidies and deferments to the government. Unfortunately, the food and beverage sector is not recognised as an industry. So we had to search for benefits from the stimulus package in general. Hyderabad is a tourism destination known for its food. Isn’t it the duty of the governments – state and central – to offer a restart package for the F&B sector? Tourism is the highest tax-payer after construction,” says Sampath who also owns Spicy Venue restaurant in Jubilee Hills. Hay and Oh Calcutta! in Begumpet have shut down too and an employee from the hotel said that only Mainland
China in Madhapur is open right now.
Telangana Ruchulu, opposite Passport Office, Rasoolpura, which has been running for 18 years, also has succumbed to Covid-19. Rajesh Gogikar, who used to run Telangana Ruchulu, says that for the last two months, he has been idle at home, sustaining with savings he has. The rentals are high and returns have dwindled. Everything looked uncertain and I felt it was better to lessen my risk by giving it up. It was a dream that I nurtured for 18 years,” he says.The lucky ones are those restaurants that kept their costs low and had planned for cloud kitchens etc and tied up with food delivery apps before Covid-19 hit us.
Keeping it down
Says Rahul Korrapati, Co-Founder – Tasty Bowl, a hub and spoke model restaurant, “We cook at our central kitchen at Film Nagar and distribute it to eight locations from Himayath Nagar to Kokapet. As soon as the lockdown was announced, we closed all the branches (spokes) and concentrated on our central kitchen. We just focused on needs, not wants. The needs are kitchen rent and staff salaries which are basically fixed costs. The decision to close all the branches at the early stage of lockdown helped to survive.”
Does he think having ‘a cloud kitchen and delivery model’ instead of the in-person restaurant helped him in these times? How badly did his business get affected? “For a cloud kitchen to be successful, the fixed costs have to be low and output should be high. The orders came down by almost 70%. Also, our orders depend on the location.”
“So the outlet close to a housing locality with gated communities had fewer orders as families preferred to cook at home. But am outlet near bachelor accommodation and IT employees fetched us many orders. But overall, all of us got affected in one way or the other. I personally think this effect will last for six months. As a restaurant community, we are doing our best to survive,” he explains. Well, looks like the foodies of Hyderabad need to get together to chant ‘Go Corona Go” to be able to enjoy from the favourite neighbourhood eateries.
kalanidhi@newindianexpress.com
@mkalanidhi