In Chennai, customers stayed away from visiting the restaurants after re-opening
Posted on: 09/Jun/2020 10:33:01 AM
Many restaurants in Chennai re-opened yesterday, 8th June 2020 after more than 70 days. Information is take- away services were given preference over dine-in in the restaurants. As per the owners association it was clear that just 10 % eateries functioned with dine-in services. The footfall was very poor in many restaurants as the customers stayed away mostly.
Lack of enough manpower and various other reasons have led to non-opening of about 60% of the eateries in Chennai. Point is restaurant chains opened just select branches and dine-in services contributed to just 5% sales. Sales in many restaurants have reduced by 80% ever since the restaurants were shut down due to lockdown to contain Coronavirus infection.
In and around Chennai city, as many as 40 branches of Adyar Anandha Bhavan was opened and this was according to Mr. K.T. Srinivasa Raja, MD, Adyar Anandha Bhavan. He spoke about how he had expected 200 to 300 visitors for the dine-in services on Monday and how just 50% to 60% of walk-ins for dine-in services were received.
On Monday, 10 percent of additional restaurants were re-opened for dine-in services and this was according to Mr. Ravi, president of The Chennai Hotels Association. He added that this had pushed the number of restaurants functioning in Chennai to 40 percent. It must be taken into account that the eateries are now in dilemma whether to close down their units in Chennai due to poor footfall.
A Chennai resident came with his friend to Pondy Bazaar based eatery and he expressed his thoughts. He threw light on how he has been sourcing for food from outside in the lockdown period and how he wanted to eat out. It is shocking to mention that there were some restaurants that did not follow the government norms. Air-conditioned facilities were operated and customers sat closely without maintaining social distancing etc.
