India is a land of diverse cultures and traditions, and that is reflected in its extensive cuisines too. Many restaurants in India are family-owned, and they all have their own secret recipes that have been passed down through generations. You can find at least ten such restaurants in every city in India, each with their own signature dish which you cannot find anywhere else.
After months of lockdown, restaurants, cafes, and bars in Mumbai are allowed to reopen from Oct 5 with a list of guidelines, of course.
So, what are these guidelines?
- Restaurants, cafes, and bars are only allowed to operate at 50% of their seating capacity.
- Customers should be screened at the entrance for symptoms like high temperature, cough, and cold. And only asymptomatic customers are allowed to enter.
- Customers must follow social distancing and should be wearing masks while waiting for the service.
- Hand sanitizers should be made available.
- The premise should be disinfected on a daily basis.
- The restaurant should keep the records of every customer for 30 days.
- Restaurants are encouraged to use a digital or disposable menu.
- The place should have a separate entry and exit points.
How are restaurant owners adapting to the changes?
According to the All India hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR), out of 15,000 restaurants in Mumbai, only 4,000 are expected to reopen for dine-in due to a shortage in the workforce.
“Many restaurant owners are booking flight tickets for their workers to resume their work immediately. The workforce had gone back to their native places in Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (UP) because of the lockdown restrictions,” says Shivanand Shetty, the president of AHAR, during his interview to Hindustan Times.
Many restaurant owners are planning to get their staff to take the COVID test and conduct training workshops for them to help them get familiar with the new guidelines.
The food industry has always been a successful sector in India. I mean, it should come as no surprise that the people in the land of spices love to eat.
According to Statista, a business data platform, the Food Industry in India had a market value of about $142 billion in 2014. And it also has the highest employment rate, employing over 7.3 million in 2018 – 2019. The pandemic might have stopped the progress temporarily, but it’s only a matter of time before the food industry raises back to its original glory.
