Kolkata: With the weekend set to be a dry one in Kolkata due to elections in neighbouring districts on May 20, revellers made a beeline for bars and restaurants across the city on Friday evening, leading to a sharp spike in footfall. While most restobars on Park Street remained chock-a-block, central and south Kolkata restaurants remained almost full through the evening.Liquor sales shot up by an average of 25%, according to the Hotel and Restaurants’ Association of Eastern India (HRAEI).
Liquor orders shot up sharply on app-delivery services, too, according to off-shops. Restaurants will serve liquor till 5 pm on Saturday when the dry period begins.
Without liquor, food sales are set to drop by 30%-40% across restaurants, said HRAEI president Sudesh Poddar, who owns Songhai, Manthan and MS Bar & Lounge in central Kolkata. “We saw a full occupancy on Friday evening. A good number of tables were booked in advance after we sent WhatsApp messages to our patrons, informing them about the dry period. Since most guests were keen to have a final swig before the dry period, liquor sales soared by 25%,” said Poddar. Almost 50% of an average restobar’s revenue comes from liquor.
Oasis on Park Street saw a sharp spike in occupancy from 7 pm on Friday. “We had some tables booked in advance and then the crowd swelled as the evening progressed,” said owner Pratap Daryanani.
Chapter 2 on Southern Avenue, which launched a Goan food festival on Friday, saw a larger than usual turnout on Friday evening. “Food sales could drop by 20% over weekend. But it’s a short phase,” said co-founder and owner Shiladitya Chaudhury.
Food apps like Swiggy put up an announcement on their page which said: ‘Order now, liquor stores will be closed tomorrow’. “Sales were brisk throughout Friday and app deliveries formed a bulk of total sales,” said Hiranmay Gon, owner of multiple off-shops.