Hotel owners in Madurai are getting ready to open restaurants from Monday.

A meeting between hotel owners, tea shop owners and the District Collector T. G. Vinay was held on Saturday to discuss in detail the guidelines issued by the State government. They agreed to ensure that all safety measures were in place and run the restaurants at 50% capacity. The hotel owners, however, were unhappy about shutting shop at 8 p.m.

Tamil Nadu Hotel Owners’ Association district president K.L. Kumar said that most of Madurai city eats dinner only after 8 p.m. “We asked the State government to give us an extension of an hour. We are sure to do slightly better [profit-wise] if shops close at 9 p.m.,” he said.

Mr. Kumar added that the district administration had called for disinfection five times a day which would require closing down the hotel five times during the day. “We cannot spray disinfectants when people are eating. An effective solution must be found,” he said.

K. Ibrahim, the proprietor of Subam Coffee Bar, welcomed the decision to open tea shops. He hoped the business would be on track soon. “It has been difficult to procure thermometer guns though. To admit people, we need to check and record temperature. I wonder how everyone is going to be able to do this effectively,” he said.

Although all proprietors are breathing a sigh of relief post relaxation, most believe that it will take time to build customer confidence again.“We are ready to follow every directive issued by the government but our expectations are pretty low. People are not ready to venture out and eat out again,” said State secretary of the Tamil Nadu Hotel Owners’ Association, R. Srinivasan.

Mr. Kumar said it would take months before people began enjoying themselves at restaurants again. “Dining out is considered to be an enjoyable experience usually. However, due to fear only those who love to eat out will come. Until then, we must wait,” he said and added that 2020 must be considered the year of the coronavirus and restaurateurs must look at sustaining for the next six months.

Members of both the associations said that they were heavily dependent on their loyal customer base to pull them through these times. Mr. Srinivasan said, “It will take a minimum of six months to bounce back. We have to look at paying our electricity bill, rent and salaries while running the hotels only at 50% capacity.”