GUWAHATI: The National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) advised to shut down operation of restaurants from March 18 to 31 to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic. Despite the advisory, restaurant business in the city is not much affected so far.
Speaking to G Plus on the issue, many restaurant owners have informed that there is a 30 to 35 percent decline in the headcount of customers on weekdays. Having said that one of the owners informed, “The weekend crowd is usually significantly high, whereas, there is often a slowdown in weekday business. Last week we didn’t see any change in the crowd but we are expecting a substantially low turnout over the coming weekend.”
Vinay Chamaria, owner of Piazza said, “We have limited services to only our regular customers and for those who have made two to three days’ prior reservation. But walk-in customers are not being catered to, in order to protect our regular people.”
Talking about the NRAI advisory he further said, “Food is an essential commodity. So it is not relevant that restaurants should be shut down.”
However, many other restaurant proprietors have said that they are prepared to shut down operations if the municipality notifies on the same.
It has to be mentioned that most restaurants have taken preventive measures by providing sanitizers for customers and staffs, masks for every staff and immediate leave for those infected even with common flu or other regular health issues.