Just a few days ago, his restaurant was teeming with customers who wanted to try some south Indian delicacies for dinner. But over the last three days, Richard Daniel has been staring at empty tables in his eatery at Akota in the evenings. The government’s decision to impose night curfew has put the restaurateurs in quandary.
“Soon after the night curfew was imposed, people stopped walking into my restaurant for dinner. The business has plummeted sharply and we don’t even know till how long the night curfew will continue. The uncertainty is affecting the food business,” said Richard, who owns a restaurant in Akota.
As the night curfew begins at 9 pm, restaurant owners have to down their shutters by 8.30 pm every day. “The eatery business faced heavy losses during the lockdown. Many restaurants and cafes even closed down. We had barely begun recovering from the losses and the business was just picking up. Now, this night curfew has dealt yet another blow,” said Nitin Nanavaty, president of Vadodara Food Entrepreneurs.
“Our restaurant had begun seeing good footfall over the last couple of months. But in the last three days, the business is less than 30%. The night curfew has again affected our industry,” said Piyush Shah, managing director of Grand Mercure Surya Palace, which also runs a popular restaurant.
