Weddings get caught in crossfire, bookings pause

Kolkata: Some of the all-time favourite items, like mutton biryani, chicken biryani, mutton kosha, tandoori items, and some other Bengali delicacies, may be out of weddings scheduled for mid-March and mid-April. All the leading caterers in the city are either truncating the menus of upcoming events, or not accepting any new orders for the next 30–45 days. There are still two wedding dates in March that the caterers are hoping to manage by cutting down on few dishes.The owner of Speciality Catering Services of Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta group, Anjan Chatterjee,said that for the next 45 days, it would not take any fresh orders. "We are buying large industrial inductions for the existing orders and would use a mix of LPG and induction at events where we are supplying food," he added. Sushanta Sengupta, the director of 6 Ballygunge Place, also stopped taking new orders for the next 30 days and would only serve existing ones. In existing orders as well, Sengupta noted that it was suggesting a shorter menu that can be done with very little LPG. "Our signature is Bengali dishes, but we may have to restrict them," he added.The owner of Bijoli Grill, Aniruddha Barik, said that it was trying to fulfil existing commitments and avoiding taking new orders. "We are avoiding biryani and tandoori items," he added.Rana Chatterjee of Bhoj Caterers said from Wednesday to Sunday, they have 11 bookings. The caterer has decided not to accept any new clients at least until mid-April, except "regular clients". "We barely have 20 cylinders left with us. According to a rough estimate, we end up using four cylinders to serve 300 people at a usual Bengali wedding. We bought big induction cookers. For each wedding, we will be using six of them. Only rice and meat will be cooked using gas. We are requesting our clients to drop naan and tandoor items," said Chatterjee.Anik Ghosh of Maharaja Caterers said they were in a soup initially about 48 hours ago, when they were to serve around 2,000 guests at three venues a day later. "We checked and found that we had gas cylinders stocked in our district units. We booked a truck and brought them all to the city."Talking to TOI, a groom and a bank employee who stays in Jadavpur, Abhishek Dasgupta, said they had to replace naan at the last moment. Ratan Chakraborty from Barasat, his son who is a media professional, had a wedding reception on Wednesday. He said that his caterer said they may not serve snacks hot. "They said they will instead use hotpots to store the starters," he added.