In Chennai, just 9% of the restaurants are opened and it is one of worst affected cities
Posted on: 21/Aug/2020 9:59:20 AM
A survey has revealed now that nearly 10% of the restaurants have been closed down permanently in the metros due to Coronavirus induced lockdown restrictions plus due to the residents fear of eating out.
For various reasons ranging from labour shortage to poor patronage, as much as 83percent of the 15,000 surveyed dine-ins restaurants spread across Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Hyderabad etc have been shut down. It is important to note that the finding was part of the Status of Restaurant Industry in India mid Covid-19 report released by Zomato, a popular food aggregator.
From 1st of August, the restaurants were surveyed. It has been brought to light that Chennai city has been one of the worst affected cities and it has just 9% of all dine-ins restaurants opened for business. Information is 29% of dine-ins restaurants have been opened in Kolkata and it is the highest.
The report highlighted that out of 83% restaurants that are not opened for business 10% have shut down permanently and another 30% might not reopen at all. When the situation becomes better, the rest 44% of restaurants would reopen again. The fear of getting infected with Covid-19 has prevented many from dining-in now.
It must be taken into account that the decreased business was also due to non-opening of the restaurants due to the non-availability of staff. Guest workers play a major role in these restaurants.
Currently, the food delivery is clocking 75% to 80% of gross merchandise value of pre-Covid levels but the business of dine-ins has reduced. The dine-ins have been functioning at 8% to 10% of gross merchandise value or GMV from pre-Covid levels.
It has been pointed out that about 50% of 8000 eateries in Chennai and its suburban places have been shut down for business due to workers unavailability factor.
