Sixty-four-year old Navtej Singh Maini gets continuous calls for bookings at his authentic Punjabi restaurant situated in Chennai’s East Coast Road. The ‘Bhangra’, which is located inside Mayajaal, an entertainment complex, was once a restaurant which was always packed. But things have gone downhill ever since the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
The five-year-old restaurant is popular among Chennaites for its authentic Punjabi delicacy. Maini made it a point to ensure that their needs for running the restaurant were met with. With a smile, Navjot says the first few months were manageable but things got tough later on.
He sold his property to get money needed for running the restaurant, which is running into losses.
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“It has been a tough one-and-a-half years and there is no way to keep on pumping money. I have reached a stage where I do not have any more money. I had some fallback which I could use. But most restaurateurs don’t have that. How do we pay the rent? How do we pay the staff? How do we pay the suppliers? Unless the restaurant works, we have no money. We are just hoping that things will come back to normal,” Maini said.
Members of the hospitality industry said that 15-20 per cent of Chennai restaurants have shut down permanently during the second wave. The numbers are much more alarming statewide.
Sathya Bhatt, a communication expert, and Parul Bhatt, an award winning chef and cook book author, visited Bhangra restaurant to have an experience of dining-in after a year and a half.
“It feels great. Whatever food you order from the same hotel, by the time it comes to our home, the main essence goes off. At a hotel, you feel good when someone else looks after you and gives you care. That is the hotel experience. The hotels are also open after a long gap and they will give the best service as they don’t want to lose their customers,” Parul said.
Echoing a similar opinion, Satya said, “We could not go out due to Covid in the last one-and-a-half-years. When the government lifted the restrictions, we decided to go out and explore. Most hotels are concerned about keeping their hotels in the best shape and this gives us confidence. We have taken the shots and good food is available. Nothing is equal and better than a dining-in experience.”
On July 5, the Tamil Nadu government granted permission for hotels to open with 50 per cent capacity. But many hotels have been unable to open due to the excessive losses faced in the last one-and-a-half-years.
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For Babu, who started a catering business in 2008, it was a dream come true when he opened his own restaurant on the outskirts of Chennai. But now, Babu has shut his restaurant and has no plans to open unless he gets some funding. In 2017, he invested Rs 60 lakhs to open his restaurant but his plan was hit first by the implementation of GST and Covid later.
“A GST of 28 percent was levied on hotel goods. But when we just started to manage, we were hit by the coronavirus pandemic,” Babu said.
Babu pays a monthly EMI of Rs 38,000 on his housing loan. He was also paying Rs 28,000 as rent through the Startup India scheme for his restaurant. He had around 18 staff before lockdown. But during the first wave, he had to reduce his staff strength by 50 percent.
“The online delievery did not even bring 10 percent revenue for the restaurant. It was only sufficient to pay the salary of the workers. I had to sell one of my houses because of the increasing debt on the loans,” Babu further said.
Babu has reduced his shop size by half and is pinning on hopes that he will make some revenue in the coming days as normalcy returns slowly.
Another concern for Babu is that he has used up all his life savings, and has to start from scratch to ensure good education for his son and to have a better livelihood. His biggest fear now is the impending third wave.
Meanwhile, Maini has slowly resumed operations at his three branches in Chennai and online sales were the only possible way for his restaurant to stay afloat.
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“Despite online orders which I get, it won’t even meet the 25 per cent of the normal sales we had when we were operating. All I need now is enough work to pay my staff, rent and electricity bill. The option for home delivery has gone up to 30 to 35 per cent and this does not give any consolation or solution to me. Unless people come to the restaurant, we cannot make a profit,” he said.
Maini opened his restaurant with a due of three to four months of GST arrears.
“Today, the online orders which I get are just enough to keep my staff on their feet. Electricity bills have gone up. We have not got any relief from the government. It will be better if the government intervenes,” he further said.
On June 19, the Chennai Hotels Association wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin requesting to waive shop rents, GST penalties, EMI on bank loans and private finance, water and electricity bill charges, sewerage charges, municipal and property taxes and late payment charges for hotels and restaurants for the entire lockdown period. They have also requested that hoteliers and restaurant owners should be allowed to pay the electricity bills in instalments instead of collecting penalties for delayed payments to avoid disconnection.
The association had also written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, requesting waivers on GST penalties, EMI on bank loans and easing of the GST revocation process and restructuring loans.
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Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/story/tamil-nadu-unlock-hotels-restaurants-chennai-financial-assistance-1825239-2021-07-08
