Goan street food joints and local eateries back in business

With Goa unlocking steadily,

street food

carts, food trucks and smaller food joints which were shut for a few months have finally opened. However, a lot of them are only doing takeaways and discouraging people to hang around and eat. Implementation of safety measures like sanitisers, compulsory masks and so on is being looked into to avoid any unpleasant incidents.
Takeaways only
The popular local joint Texeira’s in Ribander opened a couple of months ago, but have only been allowing takeaway for their crowd favourites like cutlet pao, choris pao, chicken cafreal and more. They usually have a few tables inside their small establishment, but due to COVID-19, they aren’t taking any chances. “We have blocked the door with a table, so people can’t come in. I have also put a board with some safety measures to follow,” says Bernad Teixeira.
Popular food joints at Alankar food street in Mapusa have also been doing only takeaways to avoid crowd. The seating has been removed, and people are asked to wear a mask. Santano Fernandes from Red Chilli’s food truck and Santano’s Fast Food in Verna, says, “We have only takeaway as of now, but we allow people to eat if customers are less.”
Customers have dropped to half
Establishments have also seen a dip in the number of customers. Lazar Noronha, owner of Noronha’s food truck in Anjuna, reopened on September 5. “Our menu is the same, but clients have dropped by 30-40%. 80% of the people opt for takeaway,” says Lazar.
Bernard says that people have been pre-ordering by calling beforehand to avoid wait. “The number of customers have been reduced to half,” he says. Nazareth adds that he too has been seeing a drop of around 50% in his customers post COVID-19.