Licence suspension: Restaurants stare at business loss ahead of festive season
Times of India | 9 September 2026A sudden closure can affect staff, suppliers, advance bookings and perishable stock, besides causing reputational damage at a time when establishments are preparing for the festive rush, a period restaurants depend on for a substantial share of their annual revenue.
One restaurant has decided to challenge the suspension of its licence. Others on the civic body’s list expressed bewilderment, with some saying they received no communication from the KMC about closure. Some shut following KMC instructions, while others continued even as they waited for a clarity on their licence status.
Nizam’s restaurant in New Market shut on Tuesday evening though the owner said they would conduct a separate test by a third-party agency. “We were told on Tuesday evening that the potatoes in our chicken biryani contained a specific food colour that exceeded the permissible limit. They instructed us to close the restaurant for now. We have challenged their finding,” said Nizam’s chairperson Samar Nag. “We will conduct separate testing through a third-party agency and submit the report to the corporation. Meanwhile, we are treating the news conference as an official communication and keeping the restaurant closed.”
Sudip Mullick, director of the 141-year-old Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick, said he was surprised to see the brand’s name on the civic body’s list for establishments with suspended licences but later discovered that the name was of a facility on B L Saha Road that had no links with their company that had 18 outlets in the city. “The KMC team visited our Salt Lake City Centre unit six days ago and gave a clean chit. There has never been any quality problem,” said Mullick.
Anxiety was evident at Arsalan, the Nagerbazar outlet of which is also on the KMC list. Syed Mozammal Haque of Arsalan said the management did not receive any closure communication. “We have 12 outlets. The civic team visited several of them and checked the food. We did not know they found anything amiss. The Nagerbazar unit is operational. We are yet to hear from the KMC,” said Haque on Tuesday evening.
At Shimla Biryani, however, the action led to immediate closure. “Food inspectors had visited our Topsia outlet a few days ago. On Saturday, we received a message that our licence was suspended. We immediately closed the outlet,” said manager Nafees Ahmed.
Kareem’s on Mirza Ghalib Street has also remained shut since Sunday though its manager said the closure was for “maintenance” and that the restaurant did not receive any communication about licence suspension.
Big Boss in Tangra, where food inspectors visited last Wednesday, shut after its licence was suspended on Saturday. “We suspended operations on Saturday after receiving instructions from the KMC food department,” said Big Boss partner Edwin Hsieh.
(With inputs by Subhro Niyogi & Dipawali Mitra)
