The lifting of night curfew by the Uttar Pradesh government has surely brought cheer to the restaurants, lounges and discs in the state capital. Joints with the late night service licence are dubbing the move as a silver-lining and hoping to cash in on the peak business hours which they were losing due to the curfew.
As the business is set to make a comeback the owners of discs and lounges are the happiest of the lot. “For us, the peak sale is post-midnight till 1 am. As we are back to full capacity following the Covid norms now, we are looking forward to 11-1 am business which we missed on since the last six-seven months. Pre-pandemic we used to have patrons till 2 am,” says Shahbaz Khan, manager operations at Vintage Machine.
They are all set to introduce a new concept of audio–visual experience for Lucknowites for which they are bringing people from Kolkata.
With the relaxation Boombox Lucknow has obtained permission to operate till 1 am. “I am sure once things settle; we will get permission till 2 am. Business community and corporate executives who work till late evenings get free only after 8 to 9 pm. During night curfew, we used to ban the entry by 10 so we can wind-up by allotted time. But now, people will get time to relax for longer time leading to better business. We are keeping our fingers crossed after braving two lockdowns and huge losses,” says its owner Gaurav Singh.
Hotelier Vijay Singh Bhadauria who recently opened food services at Pitambara Lawns in Vikas Nagar adds, “Our launch has been on the right time so with our cloud kitchen, multi-cuisine restaurant and quick-service café we will get extended time to serve. Late evening and night turnout gives us the main business,” he adds.
{{/usCountry}}Hotelier Vijay Singh Bhadauria who recently opened food services at Pitambara Lawns in Vikas Nagar adds, “Our launch has been on the right time so with our cloud kitchen, multi-cuisine restaurant and quick-service café we will get extended time to serve. Late evening and night turnout gives us the main business,” he adds.
{{/usCountry}}Food consultant and Chef Zulfiqar Hussain looks at the extended business hours as a blessing in disguise. “As it is everyone has suffered a lot. The expenses were full-on, but the business time was curtailed so we were losing on the sale. Now, the entire staff at Grill & Chill lounge and Pepperz food joint is excited to be back to full business. Hopefully the festival season and favourable weather will drive it further,” he says.
With Diwali approaching and winter season ahead everyone is upbeat about sale prospect.