Supply hitch forces restaurants to go veg

LUCKNOW: The shortage of chicken and mutton was evident as restaurants opened for home delivery through app-based services on Thursday. The search for non-vegetarian dishes resulted in the message ‘out of stock’ at most places.


Danish, the manager of a

prominent city chain

of fine dining restaurants, said, “Our team has been trying to get meat, but in vain. Neither fresh nor frozen meat was available on Thursday. There was high demand for non-veg dishes, but we could deliver

vegetarian items

only. We are considering raising the

concern

with the administration.”

Rahul Khanna, founder of a multi-restaurant chain, said that supply of meat had stopped and there was no clarity when it would resume.

“Even frozen meat is sparsely available now. It is an irony that no licensed meat seller or slaughterhouse exists in Lucknow, which is a city of meat lovers,” he said, adding that in the post-Covid scenario, he hoped that the administration would prioritize meat sales in hygienic conditions.

On Thursday, his restaurants, too, delivered vegetarian dishes with very few exceptions of chicken items despite high demand.

Mohsin Khan, manager of a national café chain in Kapoorthala, said that their restaurant would open for delivery, but no fresh meat was available. “We have procured packaged frozen meat, but for certain dishes fresh meat is a must. If the situation does not improve, we will have to restrict our menu to vegetarian items,” he said.

General secretary of Uttar Pradesh Hotel and Restaurants Association Garish Oberoi also mentioned that shortage of meat in parts of UP was a bigger concern compared to other states. “Supply of meat is an added challenge for us. We hope normalcy will return by next month,” said Oberoi.