BHUBANESWAR: The LPG crunch has forced hotels and restaurants in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack region to slash their menu and look for alternatives to keep their kitchen running and cope with the short supply. Stressed with the crisis and increasing cost of gas, some restaurants have even hiked the prices of their food.
Many hotels and restaurants in the Twin City said they have stopped cooking gas-intensive items like mutton and have reduced the serving time for items like dosa. “Keeping in view the LPG shortage, we have brought some changes to our operation and stopped preparing tandoor items, while reducing the time to serve dosa and similar dishes that require more cooking gas,” said S Krishnan, managing partner of Shirose restaurant at Sahid Nagar.
“We used to serve dosa throughout the day. However, in view of the short supply of commercial gas, the serving time has been limited to morning and evening,” he said.
Krishnan said against the requirement of seven to eight commercial cylinders a day, they are receiving only two. Sourcing additional cylinders would cost much more, he said.
To cope with the crisis, Shirose and a few more hotels and restaurant have increased the prices of food items marginally in the range of Rs 10 to Rs 20 for a temporary period. “We are forced to increase the rates as price of a commercial cylinder in the black market costs beyond Rs 3,000,” said one of the hotel owners. Mehul Rathor, managing director of Hotel Ashoka in Cuttack said the short supply of commercial gas has forced them to stop receiving orders on online food delivery platforms, while they also stopped preparing gas-intensive food like mutton.
“We require at least one to two commercial cylinders every day. However, in the absence of adequate supply, our priority is now restricted to only in-house gas. The thali meal has also been slashed from the menu temporarily,” he said.
Chitta Pragyan Mohanty, GM of Oberai Bakers and Cafe, Bhubaneswar said the short supply of LPG has started causing them loss of about Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 a day.
“We require at least 15 to 20 commercial cylinders across our three outlets in the city. However, the supply has remained hardly two or three a day. This has affected our operations to a significant extent,” he said.
“As the crisis still persists, we should decide soon on whether to rely on electric appliances or look for other alternatives,” Mohanty said. While the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has temporarily allowed the use of charcoal and firewood, many large restaurants and hotel owners argued that it is of limited help to them as their established kitchen, service and ambience standards make transitioning to these fuels impractical.
