LPG crunch: Hotels suspend buffets

T'puram: As shortage of commercial LPG cylinders worsened because of US/Israel-Iran war, many hotels, including star hotels, suspended their lunch and dinner buffets while drastically cutting down on the breakfast buffet menu.

Of the seven prominent four-star hotels in the city, only two were offering lunch buffet on Tuesday. Some of the hotels have suspended the buffet and are offering only a la carte, while a few are deciding on buffet on a day-to-day basis. But most of them are not offering dinner buffet.


A staff member at a star hotel said that it's better to call and check before arriving for food because buffet is not always possible because of the current LPG shortage. The hotels started by cutting down the items in the buffet before suspending the buffet system completely. The menu at the restaurants and bar has also been trimmed.

"We are able to offer items that can be made using an electric stove. The order also takes longer to deliver because the kitchen is not functioning in a full-fledged manner," said a staff member of a bar in a hotel in Statue.

Sources said hotel managements are walking a tightrope and hope that the situation will be back to normal in a month. Lunch and dinner buffet used to be popular among groups from public sector and private offices, while families used to prefer them on weekends.

Kerala Hotel and Restaurants Association patron G Sudheesh Kumar said that a limited menu is being offered for guests who stay and hotels have stopped accepting party orders.