Koshy's is now closed indefinitely

Iconic restaurant puts its operations on hold for the first time in its 70-year history

Koshy’s on St. Mark’s Road has joined restaurants that will remain shut to protect people from the pandemic. Last week, Metrolife had reported how Veena Stores, Ebony, Central Tiffin Room, and two of 10 MTR units had decided to close till a vaccine was found or it was safe to resume dine-in service.

Prem Koshy, owner of the 70-year-old iconic restaurant that shares his family name, said, “We have gone through so much over the years but this is the only time we have decided to voluntarily close down.”

For Koshy’s, located in the posh M G Road shopping area, keeping open makes no sense when workers have to come from different parts of the city.

“Every third or fourth person we know has tested positive or knows someone who has," he told Metrolife. "It’s a risk we don’t want to take anymore.”

However, Koshy’s bakery will remain open and customers can use Dunzo for delivery.

Yellow Submarine on Bannerghatta Road will remain closed as well. Rohit Chaouby, operations manager, told Metrolife they were last open in March, before the first lockdown kicked in.

The restaurant and microbrewery didn’t join other microbrewers who sold their beer in growlers. It was in the process of moving to a new location when the government announced the first lockdown.

“We hadn’t started brewing a new batch so we didn’t have any stocks to be sold. After the 21-day lockdown, when we were given permission to do takeaways, we felt it wasn’t worth the costs,” he says.

Arena Artisanal Brewkitchen in Indiranagar has also announced a voluntary closure. A post on social media said, “Arena will remain shut temporarily. We hope you all stay safe and healthy. As per the notice from the government of Karnataka.”

Open again

Restaurants that threw their doors open on Wednesday, after a week-long lockdown, reported dull to moderate business. Vijay Kumar of Bheema’s, Brigade Road, said, “Our employees depend on us, so we have to somehow make things work. Half of our staff had gone back to their hometowns in March; the ones who stayed back in our building are handling operations now. It’s 50-50 for dine-in and takeaway.

Since April, fast-food restaurant Truffles outlets across the city were open only for deliveries. Co-founder Avinash Bajaj said that they weren’t comfortable with staff interacting with customers and decided to not open for dine-in. “The business, of course, is suffering in a big way for all and we are no different. The primary concern right now for us is to maintain the standards and well-being of our staff,” he said.