Small eateries bear the brunt of soaring tomato prices in Vijayawada

While restaurants, big and small, have been affected by the price hike, it is the small businesses and roadside eateries that have borne the brunt

People wait in a long queue to buy tomatoes at a subsidised rate of ₹50 per kg at a Rythu Bazaar in Vijayawada. | Photo Credit: K.V.S Giri

Restaurants and roadside eateries are among the sections worst affected by the soaring price of tomatoes in the past few days.

“Tomatoes, onions, garlic and ginger form the base of every dish. We cannot avoid them, we can only cut down the quantity in a way that it does not significantly affect the taste,” says Vijayawada Hotel Owners Association president P.V. Ramana.  

While restaurants, big and small, have been affected by the price hike, it is the small businesses and roadside eateries that have borne the brunt.  

Sri Sathya Sai mess near Ayyappa Nagar charges ₹60 for full meals. “While the big restaurants charge at least ₹200 for every side dish or curry, we charge only ₹30. How can we buy tomatoes by shelling out ₹120? We have significantly cut down the quantity, even if that means the quality getting compromised. We have no other go,” says Sankaram, who works at the mess. 

Budget restaurants like Good Morning Fast Foods have struck out some side dishes that have tomato puree as the base from the menu. 

“Prices of all vegetables have rocketed. Ginger is ₹260 per kg. Chillis are also costly. However, we do not want to charge extra for a dish as we hope this is only a temporary phenomenon,” says a chef from Ragada Waale, a ‘chaat’ centre that serves around 500 customers.

“Every year, we suffer for two-three months when rates of onions or tomatoes or ginger shoot up. We do not get tomatoes at subsidised rates from rythu bazar,” says M. Madhu of Southern Spice. 

“At the same time, we cannot charge extra from the customers. Earlier, we used to require 10 boxes, 20 kg each, of tomatoes every day. I am ordering only seven now,” he adds. Around 2,000 customers visit its four branches in the city every day.  

The business was hit by the exorbitant rates of chicken at first, then tomatoes and now chilli. “We intend to recover the losses by increasing the price of every dish by 5-10% next year,” says Mr. Madhu, who is paying ₹140 for a kg of tomatoes.