‘Super Sunday’ rush at bars and restaurants in Kolkata after business-hour extension – Times of India

KOLKATA: Bars and restaurants in the city had a “super Sunday” on October 10, the first day of relaxation in timings announced by the state government earlier this week.
Most of the restaurants registered good figures and many of them witnessed the best sales on a Sunday in almost two years since the onset of the pandemic.

In some cases, it was even better than pre-pandemic times in 2019. A slash in the fees by 50% from excise for extension of bar timing also added to the joy of restaurant owners. Incidentally, as per the government order, bars and restaurants will enjoy relaxed timing from October 10 to 20. For an extension of timing, bars will have to get permission from excise department.
The president of Hotel and Restaurants Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) Sudesh Poddar pointed out that Sunday (October 10) had created a record for his business. Poddar, who owns Songhai and Manthan, said that this Sunday was the best in the last two years. “It was also better than most of the pre-Covid Sundays. My restaurants did record higher sales,” he added.
The owner of Peter Cat and Mocambo Nitin Kothari agreed with Poddar and said that the first day of relaxation went down well with their business. “The additional one hour made a lot of difference. We are looking forward to the next seven-eight days and have applied for bar extension,” he added. Kothari has applied for the extended timing for seven days. Charles Mantosh, who owns Floriana and Waldorf, is of the same opinion. “This Sunday was even better than any pre-Covid Sunday. We are also happy because the excise fees for additional timing have been slashed.”
Anjan Chatterjee, chairman of Speciality Restaurants, which has brands like Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta, Cafe Mezzuna, Haka, Flame & Grill, is expecting record sales in the next one week. “Sunday was super following the time extension and I am grateful to the Bengal government for the support we have got from them. Being a pan-India player, I can say the kind of support we are getting here is good,” he said.
TS Walia, former national president of FHRAI and director of Xrong Place and Walson, said that the business was rocking in all his properties. Debaditya Chaudhury, managing director of Chowman, Oudh 1590 & Chapter 2, said, “On Sunday, which was Panchami, our sale was high due to the late night relaxation for restaurants. People started coming to our restaurants since lunch time and we hardly had any break hours for our employees. The crowd was tremendous till midnight.” Director of Aminia, Kabir Azhar, said that they had to deploy bouncers in some of their outlets. “Our Hatibagan restaurant was open till 3.30am on Sunday as there was so much crowd,” he added.