Bengaluru, Jun 24 (IANS): Three weeks after re-opening on June 8 when Unlock 1.0 began, the city's iconic Vidyarthi Bhavan restaurant will stop serving customers from June 27, ostensibly due to the scare over rising Covid cases, an official said on Wednesday.
"We have decided to discontinue serving in the restaurant from Saturday (June 27) but continue parcel for takeaways due to rising corona virus cases, which pose a risk to our customers too," Bhavan partner Sridhar Adiga told IANS here.
Though the popular eatery at Gandhi Bazar in the upscale Basavangudi southern suburb has been following the guidelines to maintain physical distancing with plastic partitions between customers, it has not been able to cater to all due to space restrictions and the service taking a longer time.
"As per the state guidelines, we have been able to serve 40-50 customers instead of about 100 at a time to maintain social distancing since we reopened. Hence, waiting time for other customers has doubled, leading to crowding at the entrance, which we are unable to control or prevent," said Adiga.
Known for its delicious South Indian dishes, including butter masala dosa, idli, vada, upma and pongal, the 77-year-old Bhavan is located in a congested market, with shops and roadside kiosks cheek-by-jowl.
"As we do not want customers to spend more time waiting outside for their turn to get inside, we have been encouraging many of them to take parcels to eat at home comfortably. But many, including women and children, insist on eating in the restaurant," said Adiga.
The eatery has also hired guards to regulate the entry of customers to avoid crowding in the dining area and maintain social distancing.
"We have also made wearing a mask, hand gloves and head cap by our staff mandatory to ensure hygiene and comply with the guidelines," said Adiga.
The eatery will also take more orders online to deliver the food at the customers' homes to avoid them crowding the place.
"As we have more regular customers than visitors, we do not want to disappoint them or deny serving their favourite dishes. We will ensure that they will continue to get what they have been patronizing over the years," added Adiga.
The restaurant will monitor the situation and decide when to resume dining-in service after two weeks, as there is no let-up in Covid cases across the city.
Of the 397 Covid cases reported across Karnataka in the last 24 hours, the tech city accounted for 173, taking its tally of positive cases to 1,678 and active to 1,124. The city also accounts for 78 of the 164 deaths in the southern state.