Eateries record highest weekend footfall since Aug
Times of India | 22 September 2024
12 Kolkata: With a fortnight to go for the pujas, the city seems to be gradually getting into a festive mood with footfall crossing 90% across Kolkata’s restaurants over the weekend for the first time since Aug. Saturday witnessed the highest footfall in more than a month and a half with last Saturday being a close second, said restaurateurs.
Most central Kolkata, Park Street and south Kolkata restaurants saw a near full house on Friday and Saturday, bringing smiles back to the faces of those associated with the food and beverages sector.Footfall had dropped by an average of 30% across restaurants between Aug and mid-Sept. Hotel and Restaurant Association of Eastern India president Sudesh Poddar, who owns Songhai, MS Bar & Lounge and Manthan, said this weekend had the highest footfall in more than a month. “We also got a lot of party bookings from different offices on Saturday. We expect Sunday to be good as well,” he added.
Aminia director Kabir Azhar pointed out that the Hatibagan and New Market outlets of Aminia, two favourite areas for puja shoppers, did the biggest business on Saturday, which shows that the puja spirit is catching up. “This weekend was very good,” he added.
At Peter Cat, Mocambo and Peter Hu? on Park Street, attendance remained 100% on both Friday and Saturday evenings as well as during lunch on Saturday. “We expect a good crowd for Sunday lunch as well,” said owner Nitin Kothari.
Occupancy was almost 100% on Saturday evening at Mainland China, Haka, Café Mezuna and Oh! Calcutta — outlets owned by Speciality Restaurants. “Thursday, Friday and Saturday witnessed unexpectedly heavy footfall at all our restaurants,” said owner Anjan Chatterjee.
The owner of Waldorf, Magnolia, Floriana in Park Street, Charles Mantosh agreed. “Friday and Saturday evenings were extraordinary. I feel it will continue now,” he added. The owner of KK’s Fusion, Pradip Rozario, pointed out that the family crowd returned after a long time this weekend.
Debaditya Chaudhury, director of Chowman, Oudh 1590 & Chapter 2, said: “There was a noticeable halt in dine-in and delivery sales in all our restaurant chains recently. But it surged back again immensely for all our outlets.”