Takeaways, deliveries keep restaurants going

Though a weekend lockdown was announced in Goa from Thursday night to Monday morning, restaurants are allowed to operate at 50% capacity from 6am to 9pm for dine-in, and kitchens are allowed to stay open for home delivery and takeaway at any time. While there was confusion amongst restaurateurs initially on how they would operate during the lockdown, some decided to continue to follow the directives and stay open throughout.
Amey Naik from Peep Kitchen tells us, “We stayed open for dine in on Friday, but there was hardly anyone. Then we decided to shut for dine-in and only keep the kitchen open for takeaways and delivery. We saw around 10 orders on Saturday afternoon. During the last lockdown, delivery orders spiked, since a lot of people were at home. This year, probably, people are worried to order delivery as well due to the spike in cases.”
Restaurants like Casa Bhosle and Amboli Spice stayed shut in Panaji. Restaurants like Ritz Classic which were open for dine-in, just saw a couple of people walk in. “However, we are getting orders online from Swiggy and Zomato,” says Vijay Aroskar, manager. Nagraj Kamat, from Sanyog Veg Restaurant, told us, “We have kept the restaurant open, but only regular customers who are known to us are allowed to dine in. Otherwise, we are only giving out takeaway orders.”