Restaurants in Tiruchi reopened on Monday for dining, after a gap of more than two months following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Most of the restaurants in and around Central Bus Stand in the city resumed dining services. Similarly, restaurants in Srirangam, NSB Road, Thillai Nagar, Palakarai and others also opened their facility for dining.
As per the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) laid down by the State government, the hoteliers had made table arrangements, allowing just 50% of their capacity. Two persons were allowed to dine at a time at tables with a seating capacity of four persons. Similarly, only one person was allowed to eat at a 2-seater table.
Some restaurants only allowed customers inside after they cleaned their hands with sanitisers provided. A few screened the customers with thermal scanners before allowing them into the restaurants.
However most of the restaurants reported a lukewarm response from customers on the first day of resumption of dining services. Hoteliers said that many customers were reluctant to opt for dining mainly due to apprehensions over contracting the novel coronavirus.
“We have taken all safety precautions for our customers and staff members. Only 50% of seats are made available to the customers. We do not allow customers without mask. However, the enthusiasm among the customers to dine at restaurants is missing,” says K.M.S. Hakkim, proprietor of a chain of non-vegetarian restaurants in Tiruchi.
A few fully air-conditioned restaurants did not resume dining service. They continued to offer only parcel services.
“We cannot provide comfort to the customers without using the air conditioning. Moreover, some of the staff members, who went home after the lockdown, have not yet come back. Hence, we are not no hurry to re-open our restaurants on a full scale,” says C. Sathish, manager, Ezham Suvai, Tiruchi
While standard restaurants put safety precautions in place, most small eateries and roadside eateries did not seem to follow the procedures. Some staff members including dosa and parotta masters and servers could be seen working without face masks.
