The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has written to all prominent mall owners, and an open letter to other landlords, suggesting immediate measures to be taken in order to prevent ‘instant death’ of businesses.
The restaurant owners said that if rentals are not waived, it will leave behind a trail of unfulfilled dreams, job losses and unwanted litigation as the sector continues to fight a grim battle for its survival.
The association said that a large part of the industry managed to survive the first phase of lockdown and sailed through due to collective efforts of all stakeholders, and similar efforts are once again required to prevent fresh round of business mortalities and job losses in the sector.
The NRAI had demanded complete waiver of rentals till such period that the business is shut for unrestricted dine-in business, no minimum guaranteed rents for six months post that and instead work on a pure ‘revenue share’ model among other suggestions.
NRAI president Anurag Katriar said, “While both waves of pandemic dealt a crippling blow to us, there is a big difference this time. While resource crunch was at the core of our problems during phase one and forced significant mortalities, the second wave may actually hurt us more in the long term due to low and subdued consumer sentiments, he said.
He added that with high fixed overheads, expected restrictions on operating hours, revised social distancing norms and reduced capacity utilisation, any drop in consumer sentiments can be catastrophic for the sector and stressed on the importance of moving to a revenue share model with landlords.
