People who regularly patronize restaurants in the Calangute-Candolim tourism belt say that the quality of food served has taken a hit ever since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The reason: Non-availability of good chefs following the exodus of non-Goans to their native states over the past few months.
“Everybody from waiters to dishwashers is now doing the cooking in restaurant kitchens. There is no option because the owners don’t know how to cook,” John Lobo, the Calangute-based general secretary of the Shack Owners Welfare Society, said.
“There are a few tourists, but the number is not enough to fill up even five restaurants,” Lobo said.
Most of the hundreds of restaurants in the tourism hub continue to remain closed due to the poor tourist footfalls on one hand and the non-availability of staff on the other. Some restaurants that had reopened have shut down again for fear that they might lose their reputation if their fare is below par. There’s also the Covid-19 situation. “The SOP says that if one staff member tests positive, all the other staff members will have to be quarantined or kept in isolation, which means the restaurant will have to be kept shut,” a restaurant owner said on condition of anonymity. “All our staff are from outside Goa. To call them back in this kind of situation is not possible.”
Those opening for business have consequently fallen back on workers who are still in Goa. “Some of the waiters and dish-washers know a little about cooking as they’ve been watching the chefs, but it’s not the same as before,” a hotelier said.
News Courtesy: ET
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