I support the decision to reopen restaurants in the city for dine-in. Let’s accept that restaurants are not just a luxury. Not at least in a city like Pune where a large section of working people, including both men and women, relies upon restaurants in their routine life. Also, many restaurants in the city have already started serving food discreetly, in an unhygienic way. Customers are eating on the street side. Dining halls are closed, but they have made temporary seating arrangements outside. People are sitting in the side garden or narrow lanes nearby, consuming food items purchased as a ‘parcel’. If allowed, the restaurants can sanitize their dining area and officially serve their customers in a more hygienic and safer way. It can probably save many restaurants from closing down permanently, many hotel employees from losing their jobs, and many owners from going bankrupt. Even after reopening, the small-time restaurants are going to face several challenges on the hygiene part. The increased sanitation expenses might eat up their profits or make them lose customers over increased food prices. I think we as customers should also look at the restaurant business more empathetically and support them in these difficult times.
- Mandar Shinde
Sunday Hindustan Times
October 04, 2020
