The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Where will they get the right space in city?

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Monday, Jun 16, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Where will they get the right space in city?

Staff Reporter

‘With paucity of commercial space, rentals are only going up’

Photo: K. Ananthan

SPACE OUT: High cost of rentals in the city is a concern for restaurants. —

Madan (name changed) is a catering professional. Aspiring to run a restaurant in the city he has been scouting for space for the last two years. “We are not getting the right space in the city,” he says.

A 50-seater restaurant needs at least 2,500 sq. ft only for the seating and cooking purposes. Apart from this, it should have a good vehicle parking space too. Though it varies with the location, rentals in the city for commercial space range from Rs. 35 to Rs. 40 a sq.ft. for ground floor and Rs. 20 to Rs. 25 a sq. ft for first floor. With paucity of commercial space, the rentals are only going up, he points out.

Director of the School of Hotel Management at AJK College of Arts and Science Ajeet Kumar Lal Mohan says though several space management options are available, with spiralling rental and land prices the initial investment to start a restaurant in a prime location is high. A restaurant needs a building with good ventilation and drainage facility, he says. The kitchen should accommodate the pantry, storage area, space for grinding and the gas bunk. Some hotels that have the outlet in prime locations prefer to have the kitchen in another building (satellite kitchen concept).

Coimbatore needs more restaurants. All the outlets are crowded on weekends. However, the problem comes with space availability. Some houses are now converted into restaurants. Apart from this, labour shortage is a major problem faced by the industry, he adds.

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