Hyderabad: It’s been a week since unlock 1.0 has been imposed after four subsequent lockdowns due to coronavirus outbreak in India. When the government notification siad that shopping malls, hotels and restaurants function under certain strict WHO guidelines. It received mixed reactions by the hoteliers and companies that had been eagerly waiting to re-open and serve the customers.
While many have been missing the outside food and overall dining experience, the siasat.com reporter visited and interacted with the owners of the popular Irani hotels of Hyderabad to understand whether they will actually start the dining under the unlock 1.0 or not.
Interestingly, 65 per cent of the hotels in the city including Paradise, Café Bahar, Sohail hotel, Imperial hotel, Café Niloufer, Deewan Group of Hotels, Bawarchi and Khaan-e-Khaas told siasat.com that they are not yet ready to start the dining services as 80 per cent of their customers are not stepping out for dining under present circumstances.
Whereas local restaurants to some luxury hotel chains like Grand Hotel, Shahi Dasatarkhwan, and Peshawar have started dining and are putting in efforts to ensure safety for customers. Some are sanitsing the kitchen and dining space every hour.
It has been noticed that several restaurants of the city have increased the prices of dining. Hyderabadi Biryani usually costs Rs 180 to 200. In unlock 1.0, the dish is being served in the dining at Rs. 267 excluding GST and Rs. 220 for takeaway.
When asked about the increase in prices the hotel management told siasat.com that due to the few working staff and increase chicken and mutton prices, kirana items, and the chefs from other states are charging more for working as they remain in the city on the requests of their bosses.
Moreover, the hospitality industry has changed their system of serving food at dining halls.
Mohammed Jaleel, CEO of Grand Hotel and member of Telangana Hotel Owners Association, said, “We are facing lots of difficulties to run the dining halls as we are facing crunch of staff, though we are regularly updating on social media preventive measures being implemented as we are serving the food to our customers in disposal crockery till the end of corona pandemic.”
The owner of Deewan Group of hotels, Shaik Mahboob says, “Earlier we used to prepare around 25 to 30 handis of Biryani both mutton and chicken and now we are preparing only six to eight handis.”
General Manager of Café Bahar, Mohammed Raza said, “At present, not more than a dozen members are working in and the majority of the workers left for their native states, with less number of workers has led us to reduce the dishes from the menu like we have removed Chinese and Mughalayi items as there are no Ustaad (masters) to cook them.”
He also said that the Café Bahar is only serving a few dishes and only take away the dining hall has not been started.
mohammedhussain.reporter@gmail.com