Restaurateurs’ challenges: Struggle for e-passes, orders

Restaurateurs are facing several hurdles including a struggle to get e-passes for staff, and a drop in orders due to apprehension among customers

Just when the restaurant industry was starting to regain ground lost in 2020, the second wave of Covid-19 has brought in a new set of challenges. Restaurateurs are facing several hurdles including a struggle to get e-passes for staff, and a drop in orders due to apprehension among customers.

Restaurateurs are facing challenges amid the second wave of Covid-19 (Photo: Vipin Kumar/HT)

“The major challenges are availability of passes for staff movement to deliver and come to work,” says Amit Bagga, co-founder of Daryaganj. Echoing similar sentiments, Kazem Samandari, founder L’Opera, shares, “Is the second wave going to be a short-term phenomenon, what type of restrictions will be enforced, what will be the mood of the population, etc? These are some questions everyone is asking.”

On the delivery front, the eateries have been receiving a mixed response from customers. ““Our home deliveries, which were 15% of sales till last month, are slightly lower, but we expect them to increase now,” says Bagga.

Same is the situation for burger delivery joint, Burgerama as co-founder Kabir Bose opines that the entire restaurant industry has been through a hard year and the second wave has delivered another huge blow to the recovery, and adds that there has been a small drop down in the sales.

Restaurateurs have also noticed a change in order preferences. Mayur Gupta, chef and founder, Curry and Co, says, “Orders for main course dishes have gone down, but chaats and rolls are still doing well.”

And, as Samandari observes, “In these times...you will concentrate on absolute essentials... We do understand this and will accompany our customers during these challenging times.”