There has been a decline in the earnings of restaurants and cafes after the doctors’ strike in Kolkata.
Kolkata: R. Yes. There has been a huge decline in the food and beverage business in Kolkata amid the ongoing protests over the rape and murder case. Many restaurant owners in Kolkata have claimed that their earnings have declined by 15-20 percent in the last month. He lamented that many people had decided not to eat the fine food to show solidarity with the movement. Restaurant owners say many customers are themselves protesting on the streets, while others are hesitant about eating out during the protests.
‘The number of customers had decreased in the past few days’
However, with the onset of Durga Puja festival, restaurant and cafe owners are hopeful that business will pick up with the return of customers. Sudeep Malik, owner of a café named ‘Bone Fame’, said, ‘Except weekends, the number of customers in the evening on weekdays had dropped for more than a month.’ He said that since the day of Mahalaya, the influx of customers in this 46-seater cafe has increased to 100 percent. It is believed that the number of customers visiting the cafe will increase during the Durga Puja festival.
‘There has been a 5-10 percent decrease in income’
Siddharth Gupta, co-founder of ‘Traffic Gastropub’, said, ‘The movement has affected different parts of the city, but Traffic Gastropub did not feel that kind of impact. However, there has been a decline in the number of customers during late night hours. This is why our total return on investment (ROI) has decreased by about 5-10 percent. However, we are hopeful that the number of customers will increase during Durga Puja days and it has already started.
‘People were hesitant, now the situation is improving’
Swastik Nag, founder of Canteen Pub & Grub, said, ‘Continued in the city. movements has affected the entire mood of different sections of the society. Be it college students, housewives or people roaming around at night, all types of people were more hesitant in going out till a few days ago, although now the situation is improving.