Hotel owners, who are in tears over rise in prices of onion, may go for hike in prices of dishes
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Chennai: The steep rise in the price of onion hit hard A. Neelakantan when he walked into a restaurant at Vepery here. He ordered an onion dosa, but the waiter politely told him that he can’t have it. “Sorry sir, owner has ordered not to make onion oothappam or dosa.” Rising onion and dhal prices is forcing hotel owners to drop onion-centred main dishes from the menu. City hotel owners told DC that it has been a tough few weeks for them with respect to profitability.
“In the last one month alone, onion price has risen on three occasions. Although, the government is now importing onions and it has helped stabilise the price, it is still affecting our business,” said A. Ramadas Rao of New Prakash Bhavan on NSC Bose Road.
Secretary of Tamil Nadu Hotels Association R. Srinivasan said while it was usual for a phase of price rise to affect the industry every year, he felt it is the smaller establishments and roadside eateries that take a major beating during this ‘temporary phase’.
“While bigger hotels can bear the rise in input costs, smaller hotels will not be able to. The problem is that unlike jewellery market, hotel industry cannot fix price based on raw material costs,” said Srinivasan, who runs Vasan Tiffin Home in Madurai.
Though patrons in the industry maintain that despite price rise, quality of the food is never to be compromised, a few of them contend that expenses at some point have to be managed. “Since large onions are costlier, we have to use small onions (shallots) in preparing ‘sambar’. But, of course, processing small onions is a headache for our workers,” said R. Narayanan, who runs Hotel Anandha at Teynampet.
Onions, hoteliers said, was essential in preparing almost everything. Yet, hotels have not revised menu prices. That is because hoteliers are hopeful that the situation will improve in a month. “But we will be studying the situation. If in a fortnight or so, there is no change, then we will have little choice but to revise prices,” said R. Raj Kumar, who runs Hotel Arya Bhavan at Parry’s corner.
“Because the losses are substantial. The hotel industry has to bite its teeth through volatile times, but at a point when the profit-loss margin becomes too wide, we have to do what is best for business. If roadside eateries that sold a ‘vada’ for Rs 5 are now selling the eatable at Rs 8, then the slightly bigger establishments like us will have to follow suit soon,” he said.
Price rise affects college hostels too, monthly budget goes up by 20 per cent
As prices of onion and other essential commodities have increased considerably in the recent past, managements of private colleges, which run hostels and canteens, say their monthly budget has gone up by about 20 per cent. It would be difficult for them to run the facility at the same cost in the long run, if prices don’t reduce soon.
Administrator of a top private engineering college here, who preferred anonymity, said prices of several essential commodities, including vegetables and diesel, had gone up significantly in the recent past, which increased the financial burden for managements.
“We collect hostel and mess fees at the start of every academic year, based on the rates prevalent at that period, but if prices of vegetables and other materials go up, we cannot charge them extra during the course of year, as hotels do. Our monthly spending on food has gone up by about 20 per cent in the recent past,” he said.
Some institutions in the state provide food in hostels and canteens by employing their own employees and a few others outsource it to private caterers. Sastra university Dean (planning and development) S. Vaidhyasubramaniam said catering in hostels works on annual contract basis with fixed one-day charges and the huge price rise and fall would be a self-adjusting mode.
“The caterers handle such spikes through savings elsewhere and also consult student committees on menu changes accordingly if required,” he said. Asked what the caterers would do if the prices continue to rise, he said they would either change the menu to an onion-less one or may revise the price of food with students’ consent.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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