Food in a Tinderbox
Gurugram-based restaurateur Zorawar Kalra, Founder and MD of Massive Restaurants, is surprised. In the five tranches of the economic stimulus package released by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the ₹4-lakh crore restaurant industry didn’t even find a mention. Kalra claims that the industry is the second-largest employment generator in the country after agriculture, and feels that it should have been given some stimulus. Yet, he remains hopeful, primarily because he thinks that the industry is important, and will not be ignored by the government.
“In London, where I am operating an outlet, the government has paid 80 per cent staff salaries. In Canada, the government and landowners are paying 75 per cent of real estate rentals. The government has addressed the concerns of the agriculture sector well, and as a result, I still believe that something is around the corner,” he says.
7.3 million The number of people employed in the Indian F&B industry
The stimulus, whenever it is announced, would not have come a day too soon. Rahul Singh, Founder and CEO of seven-year-old alco-beverage chain, The Beer Café, has the numbers on his fingertips; how much he is losing every day and losses the industry will have to incur in the current financial year. Singh had learnt the business hard way, after failing
