Menus shrink, footfall drops: LPG crisis sees Bengaluru hotel business drop by 30%

BENGALURU: Nearly a week after LPG shortage hit the food and beverages sector, hotels and restaurants across the city said their business has dropped by about 30%. With commercial LPG supply still inadequate, eateries have cut down menus, stopped serving items such as fried kebabs and snacks, and reduced operating hours.

Meanwhile, paying guest accommodations, hostels, and apartment complexes have also issued advisories warning residents of simpler meals or possible food disruptions.






According to Bengaluru Hotels' Association, on average, hotels and darshinis have suffered 25% to 30% losses. Subramanya Holla, president of the association, told TOI: "LPG shortage has badly hit our operations as we still continue with limited supply. But it makes me surprised and happy to see how our eateries have found alternatives to cook food and ensured that their kitchens keep running. Most of the big hotels and restaurants are using firewood to cook, and others are managing with limited stock."

However, many eateries also said they cannot shift to firewood because of a lack of space.

With many popular dishes temporarily off the menu, eateries on Sunday told TOI that customer footfall has dropped noticeably. "We usually need four LPG cylinders a day for our branch, but now we have cut it down to three. We have no sambar and saagu as they require constant reheating and tend to spoil quickly in the heat. We usually get about 1,000 customers on weekdays and around 1,500 on weekends, but footfall has gone down. This Sunday alone, we saw at least 300 fewer customers. We don't know when we can bring back the full menu as it depends on LPG supply. Our cylinders come from Adugodi for all branches," said the manager of IDC Tiffin Centre in JP Nagar 5th Phase.

Supply prices up

A Donne Biryani joint owner, who has been running three stores since 2020, said: "Today is probably the last day we can manage with LPG as we are almost out of it. Our local supplier has also hiked prices due to high demand, so we are still figuring out what to do. To save gas, we have stopped selling deep-fried items like kebabs over the past four days since they require oil to stay hot constantly. We are now sticking to rice items and curries that can be reheated easily. Because many favourite items are off the menu, customer footfall has dropped and we are seeing nearly 30% losses."

Another darshini owner, from Jayanagar 4th Block, said: "At present, we are charging Rs 10 for extra sambar and curry (saagu) to cope with the high LPG prices, as we cannot increase the price of the dishes. We cannot make fresh sambar repeatedly or keep reheating it continuously to save gas. So, to accommodate everyone and sell it faster, we are doing this."

The manager at a KFC branch told TOI: "Our branch sees more than 300 transactions every day and we need at least four cylinders daily. We usually purchase cylinders on a monthly basis, so for the next week, we are in the safe zone. But looking at the crisis, we are planning whether to adopt measures to save LPG. We will observe the situation for another week, and if the situation does not ease up, we may shift a majority of the menu from fried to grilled items. But because news of the crisis is spreading, footfall is down by 10–20% as some customers are under the impression that nothing is available."

No dose? No kitchen

While almost all eateries and restaurants have trimmed their menus, they continue to keep the dose going despite it requiring a lot of gas to heat the tawa. Just to keep the dose on the menu, hoteliers have stopped other items like North Indian meals, idli, sambar, and a few fried items, including poori, bonda, and pakodas.

Most of the eatery owners TOI spoke to said that dose is one of the major attractions and a very fast-moving dish across all restaurants in Bengaluru; if the dose is stopped, the kitchen is stopped.

The iconic dose spot Vidyarthi Bhavan, which has cut down its menu and announced changes in its dining timings, assured that it would continue to serve its famous masala dose to customers. In a social media post on Sunday, the eatery shifted its evening dining timing from 2.30pm–8pm to 4.30pm–8.30pm.