Apart from destruction of property during the agitation in Bengaluru on Monday, several restaurant chains across the city have also faced losses as they had to shut down owing to the violence that broke out.
The Cauvery issue sprang up at a time when Bengaluru is celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi, Bakrid and Onam, a season many business outlets thrive on.
Several restaurants that serve Kerala cuisine that usually see many customers during the period of Onam festivities, claim that the crowd has thinned down considerably since September 10.
“Onam started on September 9. As we were closed till evening, we lost out on business. On Saturday and Sunday, we saw a fairly good turnover. People even made bookings for Monday. Many of those preparations were not picked up. One lady, who had asked for 20 Sadhya parcels, even asked us to give it to some orphanage as she was afraid to come out,” said Jose, owner of Kumarakom restaurant in HSR Layout area.
“I could understand her fear because even I witnessed a TN registration car parked outside my house being vandalised,” he said.
Jose said that for every day that the restaurant does not operate, they incur a loss of over Rs 6 lakh.
“We have only one restaurant in Bengaluru. The seven branches that we have in Chennai are functioning perfectly well. On a normal day we serve at least 1000 meals. On September 9 and on Monday we hardly received 10% of the expected number,” Jose said.
While Kerala restaurants have their own worries about getting customers during the season, Adyar Ananda Bhavan franchisees in Bengaluru are even scared to open the shutters after Monday’s episode.
Mohan, general manager of the Adyar Ananda Bhavan, said that the restaurants have been kept closed for three days in less than a week.
“We were closed on September 9. We haven’t opened the shutters after the attack on Tamil-owned establishments on Monday. We would incur a turnover loss of over Rs 60 lakh each day. So we will be losing close to Rs 1.8 crore totally. Apart from that, our stores near Satellite bus stand and on Airport Road were also vandalised. We have lost over Rs 20 lakh worth of property because of the violence,” he said.
Mohammed, manager of Hotel Fanoos, a famous fast food joint in the city, pegs the restaurant’s losses at Rs 30,000 per day.
“We were closed on Bandh day. We were forced to close on Monday and we are closed on Bakrid. Since ours is a smaller food outlet compared to others, each day’s business counts,” said Mohammed.