The number of customers in the restaurants has marked a fall by more than 60 per cent in the capital and other cities outside Dhaka due to the ongoing blockade and hartal causing heavy loss to the eatery owners as well as unemployment problems.
Abdul Latif, Manager, Beco Restaurant in Gulistan said most customers visiting their hotel are mainly from outside Dhaka.
He said his sales have come down to less than 40 per cent as people for different purposes cannot come to Dhaka due to transport problem and safety concern.
He said last month his loss was around Tk 0.25 million and to cope with the present volatile situation he has cut the number of his employees.
The restaurant manager said his per day sales before the blockade was around Tk 120 thousand per day but it is now less than Tk 50 thousand.
The Beco manager said if this situation continues his owner will have to shut down business as sales amount per month is much below than the overhead costs and he fears his owner may cut more jobs.
According to a staff of Abul Hotel at Malibagh in the city, the number of high- end customers has dropped by more than 50 per cent and the present customers are mainly from the garment factories, rikshaw pullers, taxi drivers and some other professionals.
A staff at the Star Kebab said the number of customers in their restaurant has registered a sharp fall due to the ongoing turmoil.
He said students and family members are their main customers.
The number of customers in their restaurant has marked a fall by more than 50 per cent, he said adding as the Star Kebab has a large infrastructure and manpower, the business establishment is passing through a bad time.
Salahuddin, a waiter at Bismillah Hotel and Restaurant in Mohammadpur Shia Masjid Road area said presently the number of their rich food customers is less than the peaceful times and currently they are cooking cheaper menus.
He said earlier, they had to purchase twenty kilograms beefs, five kilograms mutton and sixty chickens per day to meet the customers' demand. But for the last five to six weeks their beef, mutton and chicken customers have fallen by 60 per cent, he lamented
Vice President, Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association, Anowar Hossain Mirdha said customers in Dhaka and the district town hotels have fallen by more than 50 per cent following the current political upheaval.
According to the association leader, more than 60 thousand registered hotels are there in the country and except a few, most of the hotels mainly in Dhaka are facing a hard time now.
He said a good number of their association members has cut their staffs and just running the business without making any profit.
He said customers for breakfast and dinner are almost nil in many hotels and the staffs there are in fear of losing their jobs.
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