Are People Ready To Dine Out In Restaurants During Unlock 1?

During the first phase of relaxing the lockdown or Unlock 1, restaurants have been allowed to open for customers. But restaurant owners now face low footfall and shortage of staff.

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New Delhi: Ever since the Central government eased the nationwide lockdown on June 8, 2020, malls, restaurants, and places of worship have opened for the public. While earlier the three-phase of lockdown restaurants were allowed to open for takeaways and home deliveries, now customers are also welcome into the restaurants. While many have opened with all necessary precautions some are still preferring to do take-ways and home deliveries due to the shortage of staff. According to the new guideline issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, restaurants are allowed only 50% of seating capacity. In the popular hotspot for eating out Pandara Road market in Delhi, restaurants are facing slow business even after the government allowed restaurants to open. "Dinner time used to be peak business hour but curfew begins at 9 PM. Most restaurants are shut as expenses are high and business isn't great," said Aman, a restaurant owner in the report. The once hip and happening areas which were brimming with restaurant-goers still look desolate as people especially in areas with a high concentration of COVID 19 cases are apprehensive of venturing out.  In a report by PTI Tamil Nadu Hotels Association president M Venkata Subbu said that since the first day," only 25 percent of the about 20,000 restaurants and in rest of the state, 75 percent of approximately 30,000 hotels opened." He also added that this is due to factors like labour shortage and fear about the spread of coronavirus among both owners and the general public, especially in Chennai. According to an ANI report, non-vegetarian restaurant owners in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad are also facing difficulties despite the relaxation in lockdown. Apart from low customer turnout they also face a shortage of staff as labourers have gone back to their native states. “Our business is down by 90%. There is also a shortage of staff as labourers have gone to their native places,” said Rehan a restaurant owner in Moradabad in a report by ANI. According to him, this is also affecting their menu as workers who specialised in certain dishes are no longer working. A similar situation is faced by restaurant owners in Kerala "We are facing trouble at this time. Very few customers are coming after the shops reopened and we are not earning much. Our material getting wasted," said Shashidharan, a restaurant owner in Kottayam, Kerala to ANI who also added that proper precautions such as social distancing was being maintained at the restaurant. The decline in customers and rising COVID-19 cases is putting a lot of pressure on restaurateurs and while some may be able survive with takeaways and home deliveries, many small restaurants don’t see things picking up anytime soon.