LPG crisis | More hotels in Bengaluru to shut today; online orders to be hit

Small eateries affected most as suppliers prioritise bulk demands

Bengaluru: Restaurants in Bengaluru are beginning to shut shop starting today, with darshinis facing the biggest blow amidst the ongoing LPG crisis. Multiple darshinis have halted operations across the city.

It is the small and medium-scale darshinis that have been affected the most, said Madhukar M Shetty, director of Swati Group and vice president of the Karnataka State Hotels Association.

“We are keeping tabs on both big and small darshinis. As on Thursday afternoon, over 30 per cent have temporarily shut operations. The small-scale hotels can’t afford to keep stocks. What they earn today is what they invest in the business tomorrow. They usually utilise one commercial cylinder for two days. But now, when they’re trying to book, they are being ignored by the gas suppliers as the suppliers are prioritise bulk orders,” he added.

Each day the eateries remain closed, they end up losing between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000, shared restaurant owners. Due to high demand in areas like Majestic, restaurants in the neighbourhood are facing more trouble getting their hands on commercial cylinders.

Kadamba Hotel with 17 branches across the city shut shop at its Majestic branch on March 11 for the same reason.

As a last resort, some eateries like Bangalore Thindies are only serving tea and coffee.

“Today, we helped one hotel reopen in Majestic. We are urging restaurants not to shut shop, but instead operate on limited menus. We plan to help seven to eight restaurants. We are hopeful that we receive a consignment of gas cylinders on Friday,” PC Rao, president of Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association, told DH.

Additionally, a few other restaurants continue to pay a hefty price.

Hunan, a Pan-Asian, with two dine-in restaurants and a cloud kitchen, is likely to run out of its available LPG cylinders on Thursday, shared Pema Takchung, director of the chain. Chicken Country in Gandhi Nagar also ran out of LPG on Wednesday.

Restaurants are looking for innovative solutions to beat the crisis. While Hallimane is investing in electric dosa tawas, Big Fat Roll is investing in electric fryers. Additionally, the roll company is also reaching out to its customers through social media for help in accessing commercial gas cylinders.

The company shared a social media post stating, “Help us cook, we’ll feed you. Bring a commercial gas cylinder to your nearest outlet and get 25 big fat rolls in return”.

Priority for dine-in

As of March 12, at least 100 restaurants in the city have completely run out of LPG cylinders, shared Ananth Narayan, Bengaluru Chapter Head, National Restaurant Association of India.

“Those who are surviving on limited LPG are prioritising dine-in, rather than online orders. Many restaurants stopped accepting online orders on Thursday,” he said. As per an industry insider, restaurants serving Indian and Chinese food were the first to stop taking online orders on platforms like Swiggy and Zomato, resulting in a dip in daily orders. Swiggy and Zomato did not respond to DH’s queries.