Home delivery service by restaurants, sweet shops in Ludhiana gets off to a slow start

On the first day, owners of many restaurants faced problems in arranging supplies such as dairy items, while others only aimed at cleaning their shops to get it ready for business

Forty eight days after restaurants and other food joints closed in the city due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown on March 22, home delivery of cooked food got off to a slow start on Saturday.

A restaurant open for home delivery of food at Aarti Chowk in Ludhiana, on Saturday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Relieved over the nod given by the district administration, the restauranteurs are, however, expecting a positive response from residents from Monday.

On the first day, while owners of many restaurants faced problems in arranging supplies such as dairy items, others only aimed at cleaning their stores and get it ready for business. Some restaurant owners said they would now be able to retain the labour that was moving back to their home states.

‘10% RESPONSE ON FIRST DAY’

“Only 10% response was witnessed on the first day of operations on Saturday as the public was confused over how and through which mode the deliveries would be made. We are taking all necessary precautions to ensure hygienic is maintained in delivery of food,” said Bhupinder Basant, owner of Basant Restaurants located near Fountain Chowk and Feroze Gandhi Market.

Owner of Indian Summers, Sahil Kansal, said they were already following the standard operating procedure for the home delivery of cooked food. “We put the system in place on Saturday as our restaurant was closed for long. I will be able to comment about the customers’ response only after commencing the services,” he said.

Meanwhile, sweet shops (halwai shops) also witnessed a similar response on the first day. “Something is better than nothing. Shopkeepers are relieved as their shops have reopened and the labour has been put to work,” said Narinderpal Singh Pappu, president of halwai association, Punjab.

On Friday, the administration had allowed restaurants, eateries, juice, ice cream and sweet shops to open from 7am to 7pm, but only for home delivery. Earlier in second week of April too, restaurants were permitted to deliver food, but the orders were rolled back on April 16 after a pizza delivery boy in New Delhi was found positive for the virus, leaving as many as 72 families quarantined.

‘GRANT PERMISSION ONLY TO FSSAI CERTIFICATE HOLDERS’

Meanwhile, president of Hotels and Restaurants’ Association, Amarvir Singh, said the administration should allow only those restaurants to deliver cooked food who have got Food Safety and Standards Authority of India certificates.