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Restaurants in Kashmir struggling to survive amid Covid lockdown: Hoteliers’ body
Restaurant and café owners in Kashmir valley are facing huge hardships to survive amid lockdown in the Covid-19 pandemic with even online orders and takeaways businesses also getting affected now
Restaurant and café owners in Kashmir valley are facing huge hardships to survive amid lockdown in the Covid-19 pandemic with even online orders and takeaways businesses also getting affected now, an association of the owners said on Sunday.
Sheikh Feroz, president, Kashmir Restaurants & Cafes Association, in a statement said that they have already urged all the association members to follow strict Covid-19 SOPs as directed by the district administrations from time to time.
He said that amid a surge in Covid cases in Kashmir, the people associated with the restaurant business are in distress fearing an upsurge in cases will dent their businesses badly.
“In winter months the business usually remains down, but we had high expectations from the coming months which now will be spoiled by the spread of Covid, “ he said.
He further said that the business and footfall of customers has nosedived and the online orders and takeaways business has also been affected.
“Everyone has been affected in one or another way. Although all the members of our association follow all the SOPs as directed by district administrations from time to time and during the past few years it was already challenging and now business was back to normal but this new wave has crippled the business in a huge way,” he said.
Owing to the surge in cases this month, the administration in J&K has posed restrictions on non-essential activities from Friday afternoon to Monday morning every week.
Sheikh Feroz further said, “In the past few years, like other businesses, restaurants and cafés switched to online delivery systems but as the Covid affected the dine-in, it has also impacted the online delivery and takeaways.”
“Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic all the business activities came to standstill and it is our moral duty to keep the safety of clients and ourselves in this turbulent time on top priority,” he said.
He said that during the last two lockdown of Covid-19 pandemic in India and abroad, The restaurant and café business reeled under this challenge particularly because a large number of them are small to medium scale businesses with limited capacity to sustain through long periods of slow business.
“Last year we met the deputy commissioner, Srinagar, and explained how the restaurant industry in Kashmir is struggling with losses in Covid-19 lockdown. Till now, the owners of the restaurants were somehow managing to pay the salaries and other exigencies, but now it is becoming extremely difficult for them to continue making the payments without the businesses running,” the president said.
