Solace for food truck owners as crowds return to Night Bazaar

Opened with a lot fanfare in February this yr, the Night Bazaar on Old Jail Road shortly grew to become the go-to vacation spot for foodies within the metropolis who craved for a fast chew late at evening.

Visitors had been spoilt for alternative on the Night Bazaar’s Food Arena, the place over 80 food vehicles provided a variety of delicious food. Owners of the food vehicles had been additionally upbeat about their investments as enterprise was good. There was additionally discuss of permitting the Night Bazaar to keep open for an prolonged time frame.

However, issues took an sudden flip barely a month later as the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

All food vehicles noticed their enterprise come to a grinding halt, and struggled to tide via the pandemic. While a handful of food vehicles progressively reopened simply over a month in the past, the others reopened just lately, hoping to recoup a few of their losses.

‘Good to be back’

“It is good to be back in business. The last few months have been very difficult as we had no source of income. After the relaxations allowed by authorities, some food trucks and stalls have reopened and we are witnessing a steady trickle of visitors. We are doing good business now and are hopeful of recovering from our losses,” stated A. Raja, who runs a stall on the Food Arena.

However, the distributors say that they’re lacking out on the late-night film crowd. “A bulk of our customers are people who go for late-night movies. Many of them drop by here to catch a bite after the movie after 11 p.m. Unfortunately, with no blockbuster movies being released recently, the movie crowd is missing in action,” stated Ravi Kumar, a employee at a quick food stall.

Many distributors rue that the police are allowing them to keep open solely until 10 p.m.. Earlier, they had been being allowed to keep open until 2 a.m. Some usually come after 11 p.m. or 12 a.m. due to midnight cravings or to have a good time a birthday celebration, which isn’t doable now due to restrictions in wake of the pandemic.

Pending proposals

There was additionally a proposal to convert the Night Bazaar right into a full-fledged Night Food & Crafts Bazaar, giving area to craft makers. As of now, the proposal remains to be pending for authorisation from greater officers, GVMC officers stated.