Saving The Restaurant Industry

Saving The Restaurant Industry

June 28, 2020 witnessed a virtual news conference between Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association (BROA) members and media personnel, depicting the dire situation of the ‘ailing’ industry, while making an earnest request to the Prime Minister to step in and help pull it through the despair. BROA members specifically suggests a five-point charter of demands, including cash assistance to the world , provision of sentimental loans and a chance to pay utility bills in instalments, amongst others. Overall, the essentials at the meeting implied that the ailing sector was near its final breath, and required immediate intervention. To assess the truth, Star Lifestyle spoke to the ‘directly affected’ and aimed toward asserting their stories of struggle.

PLIGHT OF THE RESTAURATEURS

Golam Rabbani, a middle-aged businessman, enjoyed serving the various different faces that won’t to visit his restaurant on a day to day. He established Hotel Shah Kamalia almost 30 years ago, when the Biswa Road Highway in Bogura was still within the making. Even a couple of months ago, Hotel Shah Kamalia wont to be one among the foremost popular highway restaurants, where truck and bus drivers regularly took an opportunity , enjoying a fast meal, along side their passengers and conductors. But today, the pandemic seems to possess uprooted the familiar, and caused the scenario to be hauntingly different. The once popular food-joint not echoes with sounds of wailing children, yelling of orders made by rowdy men, clinking of glasses and highest spirited chit-chats of vacationers. The restaurant mostly lies empty during the day, due to limitations to mass transport movement.

Rabbani, already during a major fix, had to get off the bulk of his workers to chop costs. Forlorn, he shared his tribulations, saying, "I see no shake the pandemic. If it continues any more, I might haven't any other way but to shut the restaurant completely. I cannot keep it up with the mounting expenses. Soon, i will be able to be drowning in debt and liabilities!"

Asif Mahmud Prodhan, another restaurateur for 20 years, vows that he doesn't know what he would are, if not the owner of Bonoful Hotel and Restaurant!

Prodhan, also referred to as Tomal to some, owns a 'basic-meal' food-joint (bhaat er dokan) in Gobindaganj, Gaibandha. His locality comprises of 23 such hotels and restaurants in total, of which, the bulk remains closed for an indefinite time-period thanks to the lockdown. "I opened my food-joint, only to assist my employees survive and make it through the pandemic — to form sure that they didn't breathe their last, simply out of hunger," said the restaurateur.

According to Prodhan, most of the hotels and restaurants within the village of Gobindaganj remained shut, to sever costs. "The rate of customer visits has fallen from a mighty 1000 each day to a meagre 150, a huge reduction, especially as compared to the sky-rocketing overheads and daily expenses. Plus, our food cost is comparatively low, so we structure for the expenses with volume, but this is often not the case," said the entrepreneur.

Inquired about government stimulus packages and the way it might be beneficial, he clarifies, "Soft loans are necessary to collect capital. But to assist the workers, an immediate initiative from the govt is required, just like the dispersion of the proclaimed Tk 2500, especially before the Qurbani Eid." (An already declared incentive by GOB to assist out members of destitute families, consistent with major newspapers of Bangladesh)

Prodhan also shared with us a stimulating fact about waiters (restaurant attendants) generally —they enjoyed a more 'make-shift' daily earner employment status than a permanent one, due to the prevalent culture, unlike the clothes sector employees, who were mostly permanent in their employment status, further complicating the method of receiving benefits from the local representatives of GOB.

WHEN THE REACH OF THE RESTAURANT SECTOR is far WIDER THAN EXPECTED

Sohel Mia, an independent trader, selling poultry meat to hotels and restaurant within the capital, has been living on borrowed money for the past three months. Once a successful entrepreneur, he wont to sell around 600-1000 broiler chickens to a couple of upscale restaurants within the Dhanmondi-Jigatola area, including popular names like Baburchi, Mezban, and Biye Bari Restaurant. The business was such Mia won’t to be overloaded with supply requests, and once his own stock went out of reserve, he won’t to procure more from external vendors and keep the supply-side stable. Today, he compares the top of his business days to the slump of recent times and quivers at the thought. "Even at the start of this year, every single restaurant I wont to supply to, wont to procure a minimum of 150 chickens each day, now this has reduced to 25 chickens every four to 5 days — that too ordered, only by one single restaurant.

"The business has slumped such a lot that it's hard to take care of the worker costs or maybe the rent of my poultry farm and processing unit in Dhaka Uddan, Mohammadpur. If this continues any more, I will be able to need to return to my village and pack up my business completely. My savings have diminished, and at the instant, I’m living on borrowed money, and that I can't survive this manner for long," stated Sohel Mia. When asked by this correspondent whether he was ready to obtain any funds from the govt , he replied, "Government representatives in our area provides basic food and necessities to the ultra-poor, of which I’m unable to be a neighborhood of, because I don't fall under the category, as I run a business of my very own , employing a minimum of 3-4 people to figure under me. I’m at a crossroad here! The sole solution left on behalf of me is to travel back to my village and cease business at the instant. At least, back in my hometown, I won't need to buy rent or worry about food."

CAN 'DINE-IN' BE a Choice to REVIVE THE INDUSTRY DURING THE PANDEMIC?

Ashfaq Rahman Asif, owner of several upscale restaurants in Dhaka city, including Tarka, Tehari Avenue, and 138 East etc., and a member of the Bangladesh Restaurants Owners Association spoke about the issues of not opening the 'dine-in' services for restaurants.

"The culture of online purchase has not fully taken hold in Bangladesh yet! Yes, we do agree that online food-delivery service providers are becoming double the order, but it's negligible considering the past sales of the restaurants. An easy example might be, if online sales were 5 percent of total sales in previous times, now it's become 10. But the remainder of the 90 percent has been swiped off the board! And that is significant. We will not just believe the ten percent and expect to travel on forever!

"To recover the essential costs, we'd like to start 'dine-in' facilities again. For this to happen effortlessly, we are already underway with plans on making a video for all our members within the restaurant owners association regarding maintaining safe distances and other precautionary measures, and share it on our independent social media profiles for the masses to ascertain. The video are going to be all about maintaining a secure kitchen and attaining safe servicing methods etc. This video will hopefully encourage customers to trust us again and begin visiting in small numbers," stated the business tycoon.

Syed Mohammad Andalib, Publicity Secretary, Central Committee BROA, was helpful in stating that a part of the onus lay on the customers' also. "It's unfair to demand complete precautionary measures from the restaurants only. One-sided demands never work during any crisis, including an epidemic. The purchasers have a responsibility also to stay themselves protected.

"And only we work together can we fight against this virulent disease and are available out as winners. Customers got to be responsible enough to wear masks consistently to stop community spread of the virus. they need to maintain a bare minimum distance of 3ft altogether public spaces. When responsibilities are shared, rules and regulations become easier to follow and maintained," said the publicity secretary.

CUSTOMER'S PERSPECTIVE

Tanzeela Amin, Head of Activity at DPS STS School, won’t to frequent Baburchi Restaurant when things were normal in Dhaka, claiming it to be one among her favourites. Today, three months into the lockdown, she is uninterested in being locked up inside her apartment, ordering food online and meeting friends on virtual platforms.

"Frankly speaking, there's nothing much to try to in Dhaka apart from getting to the various restaurants that it offers. i do not know what I'd neutralize a COVID-19 Free World if there weren't any restaurants left open! So, I'd definitely be the select few to undertake out 'dine-in' services to assist sustain the industry if need be. But I do have my set of conditions as well; these restaurants must be ready to convince me about their safety measures, and make sure that their venues are contamination free. i will be able to help them as long as they're able to ensure my wellbeing," stated Amin.

WHEN NEITHER 'ONLINE SALES' NOR 'DINE-IN' IS AN OPTION

Restaurants by Golam Rabbani and Asif Mahmud Prodhan represent the bulk of the eateries in Bangladesh. Neither the owners of such restaurants, nor their clients are so far 'at ease' with the concept of online sales. In fact, with a coffee bandwidth capacity, lack of smart phone sales, or maybe the affordability to take care of one; online sales still remain a 'futuristic' prospect in our developing nation.

To put it simply, there are not any alternatives to dine-in facilities for such restaurants, spread all across the state .

But is It Really So?

Lokman Hossain, owner of three restaurants near Fakirapool Box Culvert, already opened with 'dine-in' facilities since mid-Ramadan, and is yet to witness an end to his business struggles. He began his trial with 'dine-in' on one among his restaurants, namely Hotel new phase of the moon and Restaurant, while keeping the opposite two closed for the whole duration of the lockdown. Hossain did this to research whether he could a minimum of break-even while financing the required expenses with 'dine-in' services.

However, the skinny outlay of consumers diminished his hopes and dreams of ever having the ability to run a successful business again. "I haven't considered making profits, only enough to hide my basic costs and pay my employees their salaries. The prospect of bouncing back with dine-in didn't materialize because people generally are unwilling to urge out of their house, especially with their diminishing disposable incomes and therefore the ominous chance of getting infected with the virulent disease," admitted Hossain.

In such a case, the sole help Hossain expects is that the assistance provided by the GOB. "If the govt considers our sector as a neighborhood of the Ministry of Industries (Shilpya Montronaloy) rather than the Ministry of Commerce (Banijjyo Montronaloy), which it's currently a neighborhood of, then the worth for utilities like gas, water, electricity etc., will automatically be halved or less. And this reduction in costs will act as a lift to assist us survive through the pandemic," disclosed the entrepreneur.

Inquired what else could help him go through the murky waters, he involved an instantaneous collateral free soft loan in order that he could inject some cash back to his business as capital. "There should be a particular directive from the govt that permits genuine businessmen during this sector to acquire a collateral free soft loan. The restaurant sector should even be considered an SME and given immediate support. Otherwise, most folks would cease to exist, during a few months' time, since we are all cash-strapped up to our necks," stated the experienced restaurateur.

Asked whether dine-in was a viable option, Hossain dismissed it, saying, "I have done that already, and it didn't compute on behalf of me. Because a minimum of 40 percent of the people in my area have left Dhaka for his or her own villages, not having the ability to stay up with the escalating expenses of the town.