Dhaka restaurants count Tk8cr in losses daily

Kalam Mia works as a waiter at Merul Badda restaurant in the capital which has remained shut down since 18 July when anti-quota protesters began their indefinite "Complete Shutdown".

Due to the citywide unrest and the curfew beginning on Friday midnight, Kalam got stuck inside Mojaddedi Hotel and Restaurant as he did not dare go home for fear of any untoward incidents.

Like Mojaddedi, thousands of restaurants in Dhaka and elsewhere of the country have been out of business for the last few days.

According to the Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association, there are around 60,000 restaurants employing around 30 lakh people across the country.

Among them, Dhaka has around 8,000 restaurants which have approximately 1.5 lakh workers.

Khandaker Ruhul Amin, immediate-past president of the association, told The Business Standard, "We have been affected the most by the movement and curfew as Dhaka's restaurants are located along roads."

"And due to the closure, each restaurant incurs a loss of Tk10,000 daily on average," he said. It means, restaurants in Dhaka alone counted a total of Tk8 crore per day. 

Khandaker Ruhul Amin said, "Many of our workers got stranded inside restaurants. We could not send them home because of transport closure. We have to arrange their meals every day."

He further said it will be very difficult for them to pay wages to the workers for this month. 

Stating the prices of essentials have gone up considerably, he said now they have to adjust food prices to overcome their losses. But, restaurants cannot increase prices as per their wish.

"It is uncertain when we will be able to resume our business," he said, expressing his disappointment.

Talking to this daily, Kalam Mia, the Merul Badda waiter, said, "We don't have work for the last six days. We are staying inside the restaurant for the sake of our safety. Every day, our restaurant owner give an amount with which we buy foods. We are seven workers staying here."

"I receive Tk4,000 in the monthly wage as an waiter here. In addition, I get an amount as tips from customers. We hope that we get the wage at the end of the month. Still, it is not sure whether we will be paid the full wage as the restaurant is closed," he added.

However, the situation much worse for the boys who serve water and clean tables because they are paid on daily basis.

"Two boys with similar background are staying with us. They are paid no wage amid the restaurant closure," he said, while sharing the ordeals of the daily wage earners.

Ashfaq Rahman Asif, owner of Tarka Restaurant, said they did not face such a massive losses even during the Covid pandemic. Because, they had the online food delivery service on at that time but it has also been closed now.

"We, hoteliers, have to calculate their profit and loss every day. We have to allocate wages for our workers from the profit daily. So, a large number of restaurants will have struggle to pay the wages of the coming month," he voiced concerns.

Meanwhile, many comparatively smaller restaurants in various neighbourhoods in the capital reopened today.

Md Khokon, proprietor of a small restaurant at Eskaton, told TBS, "We did not open our restaurant on the first day of the curfew. But we opened the following day. Still, we had to incur losses due to a lack of customers. So, we have prepared a lesser amount of food to minimise the losses."

He further said, "We have to take risk while opening restaurant amid curfew. Because, it is not possible for small businesses like ours to pay workers after keeping restaurant closed."