Kolkata: The target of missiles or bombs are all 4,000 km away in the ongoing war in West Asia, but its reverberation is being felt here in Park Street, Purna Das Road, Kasba Connector and even in Salt Lake’s First Avenue. Outlets at these restaurant hubs and elsewhere in Kolkata and across the country have reported an 8-10% drop in dining-out frequency. Even average billing is down 6-8%.A survey conducted by National Restaurant Association of India, that has over 5 lakh restaurants under its umbrella, has yielded startling data. “Consumer behaviour has definitely been impacted. Restaurants are recording lower visit frequency, lower discretionary spending and reduced repeat dining,” said NRAI president Sagar Daryani.Anjan Chatterjee, founder of Speciality Restaurants, that has 120 outlets across the country, acknowledged the dip in footfall and billing. “Though the numbers aren’t drastic yet, there is pressure on consumers’ pockets. We expect a further impact when diesel and petrol prices go up,” he said.Debaditya Chaudhury of Chowman, which has 57 restaurants across the country, said that restaurant billing in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai is down 5-7%. “Many delivery platforms as well as restaurants have removed offers to save costs. That has contributed to the dip in sales and revenue,” he said.The LPG crisis triggered by the war in Iran and its neighbourhood in the Gulf has forced nearly one in 10 restaurants to temporarily shut down. The situation in Kolkata is better as availability of commercial LPG in Bengal is not as bad as in states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.Almost all restaurants in Kolkata have shifted 60-70% of the cooking to alternative fuels like electric or even coal- and wood-fired chullahs. While restaurants have adopted induction and infrared cookers in a big way, those selling biryani and pice hotels have turned to chullahs.“Despite best efforts, the industry is battling inconsistent service, menu cuts, delays and reduced hours,” Daryani added.More than three out of five restaurants have truncated menus or reduced operating hours. Many small restaurants that have not been able to go electric have had to shut down as inflated LPG prices in the black market have made business unviable. “In Kolkata, commercial LPG cylinders are still being sold at Rs 3,200-4,000,” said a restaurant owner.“The overall industry throughput is down 15-20%. There is at least a 15% slowdown impact, with average daily loss across the country pegged at Rs 2,650 crore. In the month of March, the loss would work out to be Rs 79,000 crore,” said Daryani. Incidentally, the daily turnover of the food and beverage industry in India is Rs 17,700 crore and the annual turnover is a whopping Rs 6.46 lakh crore.What is also worrying is the impact on food and beverage staff. The survey indicates that 5-7 lakh jobs among the 85 lakh employed by the industry may be at stake if the conflict remains unresolved.
