For consumers, delicious homemade food, which is otherwise expensive in star hotels, is available at affordable prices. A restaurant with multiple branches has moved its kitchen to home, catering for the neighborhood since the pandemic hit its business.
Ranpreet Singh, who has been working at a north Indian eatery with three branches in the city, is taking orders online within three kilometers of his kitchen on Old Mahabalipuram Road. "There is a demand for food prepared in home kitchens," said Singh, who cooks for about 300 people daily.
Unlike star hotels with full-fledged kitchens, home kitchens are for a limited number of people with available ingredients. However, home-cooked food has an advantage as many are still wary of eating out or takeaways.
The temporary shift is to sustain their livelihood after a majority of hotels and restaurants shut due to restrictions on operations to contain the spread of coronavirus. While star hotels are allowed to accommodate only frontline workers including medicos and returnees through the Vande Bharat Mission, restaurants depend on takeaways.
South India Chefs Association (SICA) estimates that about two lakh chefs and cooks comprising those working in star hotels, restaurants, catering services and unorganized eateries such as roadside eateries are residing in and around Chennai.
SICA general secretary Sheetharam Prasaad said 100 to 150 chefs have turned to cloud kitchens.
"It includes chefs holding senior positions in star hotels. Cloud kitchens emerged as an option because Covid-19 cost the jobs of 60% of chefs and kitchen staff, while the rest are struggling with cuts and delayed salaries," he said.
An executive chef, who has set up a cloud kitchen at his residence, said that the skilled culinary workforce has been catering to customers by delivering food at their doorstep.
"The chefs may not advertise their current struggle for survival because it may have an adverse impact on their career prospects when hotels reopen later," he said.
News Source ET Hospitality.
