DT Next looks at lives across different sectors as city comes out of the other end of a lockdown
Representative Image
Chennai:
REKHA DANDEY
Co-founder of Twisty Tails Restaurant, Nungambakkam
I closed operations a week before the shutdown because business was down. When the nation-wide lockdown was announced, I tried to get the outstation staff to their hometowns. But it took one and a half months.
I was in a state of shock. Twisty Tails is my passion project, and to be unsure of the future was very unsettling. By August, other restaurants opened up for takeaway. But our restaurant is all about the dine-in experience. So we didn’t open until December.
After remaining closed for so many months, we had to completely refurbish and deep clean the entire place. We opened with a smaller menu and lesser staff, and later launched new cat cafe alongside the dog cafe.
Honestly, opening again didn’t give me great joy. I saw it as trying to get back to normalcy after so many months of instability. We went into some losses, but all restaurants had taken a huge hit. That gave me a lot of comfort, because it isn’t a mistake on our part. The situation was unavoidable.
But now with COVID numbers rising again, we might go back into lockdown. The only difference is that I’ll be able to adapt quicker this time. I know what needs to be done to safeguard my employees and my business.
(as told to Rochana Mohan)
Sans events, bookings go down
SHAFEE AHAMED, General Manager of E Hotel, Express Avenue Mall
We were no exception from the other businesses that were hit by the lockdown. We had to close down the hotel immediately after the lockdown. The hotels got an option to gain some business by making it a quarantine facility but the revenue that we could receive out of it was not great. So we did not accept. We had to be extra cautious in deciding so because we have the mall attached to us. We could not open till September and mainly because there were no corporate events. The occupancy reduced to almost about 10-20 per cent when we reopened. We had to do cost cuts and layoff our staff.
‘I had to shut shop, return to hometown’
Abdul Mazid, chaat shop owner
I opened the stall at the Skywalk mall five years ago. The food business was good with college and school students being a regular crowd. I had at least 90-100 customers daily. I am from Karnataka but I started living with my family in Chennai as the business was doing well. But after the lockdown, I had to shut down. It became difficult to pay rent and other bills. I had to vacate the house and I went back to my hometown. I came back in September but there were almost no customers for two months. Only after theatres opened, we started getting some business. It is hard to feed my family with the minimal amount.
Conversations