While foodies have been crying hoarse for the right to eat beef post the ban in Maharashtra, restaurant owners say that the demand for beef items has gone down despite they being available on the menu.
Most restaurant owners in Pune say that orders have gone down by 15 per cent to 25 per cent as people are ‘wary’ that cara beef (water buffalo) meat will be served, which is feared to be of inferior quality.
Observing that sales have dropped considerably, Shapoor Irani of Burgers in Camp said it is probably more psychological as until recently people didn’t even ask him what beef (buffalo or bull) went into the burger.
“I believe people are not coming to have beef assuming it will not be available on the menu or they feel it is of inferior quality. I really do not know what is the reason because neither has quality suffered nor are we facing a shortage. However, sales have gone down by at least 20 per cent for the beef burgers, which were a favourite here,” said Irani.
At Radio Hotel in Camp, which has over 20 beef items on the menu, partner Yasser confirmed a drop in sales. “Firstly, we have just begun to feel a minor shortage even though it is manageable right now. Our restaurant runs heavily on beef items but recently customers have dropped or ask for other items as they don’t like the taste of cara beef. They say it’s too hard and it is also darker than the beef we served earlier. Customers who are accustomed to the taste are opting not to have it instead,” he said.
Restaurant owners say most customers are assuming that cara beef is not tasty or is of inferior quality which is leading to a drop in sales. “Actually, even earlier we used to get cara beef and there was no drop in sales. However, the market sentiment has built up so much that now customers ask what beef is being served and are skeptical of buffalo meat,” said Milind Sovani of April Rain.
Kabir Ahuja of Arthur’s Theme says that they are considering knocking off a few items if the drop in demand continues. “People have already decided in their head that cara beef isn’t good and the moment they hear that we are serving that, they dont want to order it. So if this continues, we will have to do a rethinking on the menu,” he said.
Though, as of now, beef prices have remained largely unaffected, restaurant owners are worried about a possible change in prices as well. “Obviously, if a shortage builds up after the existing stock is over, continued…
