Protests in Bengaluru over the Cauvery dispute impacted several restaurants in the city with many closed as a precautionary measure and those that did stay open saw fewer walk-ins.
The protest was called by farmers demanding that the state government stop releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Farmers and pro-Kannada groups had called for a city-wide bandh on September 26, which was expected to bring the tech capital to a standstill. However, today's bandh saw several groups withdrawing from the protest and instead joining the statewide bandh that has been called on September 29 on the same issue.
Amit Roy, owner of pubs like Skyye and Watson’s, said that his restaurants saw revenue dip by about 5-10 percent on September 26 compared to business as usual (BAU) days as fewer people walked in.
“Thankfully, the impact was not that bad because it is a Tuesday, which is generally a slow day anyway,” he said.
However, Roy, who is also a part of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) in Bengaluru added, “While today (September 26) was okay, we’re more worried and uncertain about what will happen during the state-wide bandh on Friday. It will be the second bandh in the same week and Friday is a key day business-wise – if that day is affected, then business gets hurt a lot more.”
The constant back and forth on the date of the bandh — if it's September 26 or 29 — has caused more confusion.
Arun Adiga, Managing Partner of Vidyarthi Bhavan, an iconic restaurant in the city, said that he along with the Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association had initially decided to support the bandh and not open the restaurants at all. However, on September 25 evening, they decided to withdraw support and function business as usual (BAU) on September 26.
But the decision late in the day was too short a notice for restaurants.
"After a lot of back and forth, we decided to open for the day. We couldn’t open in the first half because it was too short acnotice – we cannot open and shut like a grocery store. We need 20 hours to prepare for a regular day as rice and lentils need to be soaked for several hours,” Adiga said.
On other days, Vidyarthi Bhavan is open from around 6:30 am to 11:30 am and then, after a short break, again operates from 2:30 pm to 8 pm.
“We’ve lost the business we would typically get in the first half. Even for the second half, we always open around 2:30 pm but today (September 26) we started from 4 pm -- those few hours hurt the business a little,” Adiga added.
Precautionary steps
Similarly, certain restaurants those located mainly beside the high streets decided to shut down for the day as a precautionary measure.
“Each time there is a bandh, our revenues fall by about 10 percent. We have decided to shut for the day – we want to be safe and do not want to function in case there is vandalism of any sort,” a founder, who operates a chain of restaurants said. The company, which operates pan-India was hit by restrictions during the G-20 meet in New Delhi as well.
Food delivery unaffected
Several workers, who live on the outskirts of the city, were unable to travel to Bengaluru for work as inter-city bus operations were affected. These are typically the gig workers, who deliver food and groceries because of which companies like Swiggy and Zomato leveraged other networks, industry experts said.
Shaik Salauddin, National General Secretary of the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT), which represents app-based transport and delivery workers said that companies like Zomato and Swiggy had tied up with third-party logistics providers to make up for the shortfall in demand.
“Food delivery companies have tied up with third-party vendors like Shadowfax to ensure that their business is not impacted today. On normal days, third-party delivery partners would get paid Rs 20-25 per delivery, but today some of them are being paid Rs 10-15 extra to make sure deliveries are on time,” Salauddin said.
A spokesperson for Swiggy confirmed to Moneycontrol that operations were not impacted.
“As an essential service, all Swiggy services, including food delivery and Instamart are operational in Bangalore. The safety of our delivery partners, compliance with all relevant rules and regulations and enabling convenience to consumers remains our top priority as we continue to serve the city. To ensure this, we have provided our partners with clear guidelines to follow, including carrying necessary identification, avoiding overcrowding and following other instructions issued by relevant authorities in the city,” the spokesperson said.
Since apps like Swiggy aggregate several eateries on their platforms, customers could choose from another option if a particular restaurant was shut down, which ensured stability.
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