At least 40 per cent of all dine-out restaurants in India may not reopen at all after the pandemic ends, according to a report by online food delivery giant Zomato.
The Zomato report said nearly 10 per cent of all dine-out restaurants across the country have closed down while 30 per cent are at risk of not opening at all, even if the pandemic situation improves at a later stage.
It said only 17 per cent of restaurants were functional and out of the remaining 83 per cent, 10 per cent had shut down and 30 per cent face the risk of going out of business.
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“Out of the 83 per cent restaurants that are not open for business, 10 per cent restaurants have already shut down permanently. An additional 30 per cent restaurants might not reopen at all. The remaining 43 per cent, which are closed right now, are likely to open as the situation becomes better,” stated the report.
It may be noted that the hospitality sector, which includes dine-out restaurants, has been one of the worst affected due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown.
As per the report, Indians had ordered approximately 20 crore times since the beginning of the lockdown on May 25 and 7 crore of these were fulfilled by Zomato.
The report highlighted that the coronavirus pandemic deeply hit eateries that were focused on offering a dining experience to customers. A large number of such restaurants have now added delivery options in order to keep their businesses alive.
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Zomato said in its report that 70 per cent of the restaurants are currently accepting deliveries; almost five per cent of these started accepting deliveries only after the coronavirus outbreak.
While the company is confident that online deliveries will pick up further in the next two to three months, restaurants solely focused on dining experience may not find themselves in a stable position even after the pandemic ends.
It is worth mentioning that even in cities where Covid restrictions have been eased, only 17 per cent of the restaurants are open. And to make matters worse, those restaurants are witnessing a far lesser footfall compared to pre-Covid levels.
The report added that the maximum number of restaurants are open in Kolkata at 29 per cent, while only nine per cent of restaurants are open in Chennai. All of the rest are in between the range of 12 and 20 per cent.
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