11 hours Ago
1 2 Pune: Restaurants are witnessing a sharp decline in footfall owing to sizzling summer temperatures, with some owners reporting a 30-35% drop during the lunch hours, when the heat is at its peak. Vimannagar resident Neeta Ambasta and her husband Ritesh skipped their tradition of dining out on her birthday this summer. She blamed the intense summer heat.
"We go to a restaurant on such occasions. This time, however, we decided to drop the plan because of the heat and traffic. We decided to celebrate at home with home-cooked food and mocktails," she said with Ritesh nodding in agreement.
You Can Also Check: Pune AQI | Weather in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune Narendra Thakur, who runs Narrative in Koregaon Park, said they recorded a 30-40% drop in footfall owing to the intense summer heat. "We have a good number of outdoor seating, but no one wants to sit outside in the heat despite mist fans and air-cooling facilities. We have introduced discount offers for lunch and even a free drink on prior online reservations to encourage more people to dine with us," he said.
Ganesh Shetty, the president of the Pune Restaurateurs and Hoteliers Association, said, "The footfall at most of the restaurants have gone down by 20-22% during the daytime and 10-12% during the evenings because of the intense heat," Shetty told TOI. Many eateries such as Dossai - Flavours of South owned by Prasad Gunbote have launched summer specials and cooling drinks like aamras thaali, kokam sharbat and aam panna to lure customers. Karan Kriplani, owner of Hippie at Heart, said a lot of diners were ordering cooling beverages.
"We have introduced drinks like kanji, cucumber coolers and naturally fermented soda pops," he said. Saili Jahagirdar, owner of Zillionth Bistro, introduced summer drinks like kokum and mango coolers, with plans to launch mango dishes soon. "Delivery share has increased by 10-15% as people are avoiding to step out in the heat," she said.
The manager of a seafood restaurant in Koregaon Park said home deliveries increased by around 20%. "On regular days, we used to do around 50-60 home deliveries via the food apps. Since around a month, it has increased to around 90 to 100 every day," he said.
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