Top restaurants in Kolkata have asserted that there has been no decline in footfall in view of a carcass racket unearthed by the police earlier this week, even as foodies showed scepticism in ordering meat-based dishes.
People here have resorted to fish, prawn and even vegetarian items amid a chaos over carcass meat sales, Sudesh Poddar, President, Hotel and Restaurants' Association of Eastern India (HRAEI), said.
"Roughly, there has been a 60 per cent fall in order of meat items across our member restaurants this week. But we cannot say that the profit margin has gone down as people have replaced chicken and mutton items on their plates with fish and prawn delicacies," he said.
Poddar, who also owns Manthan Songhai restaurant in the central part of the city, said the customers have also been asking about the meat quality and the supply source before ordering.
Earlier this week, police busted a racket involved in selling carcass meat from dump yards. They seized nearly 20 tonnes of rotten meat, meant to be supplied to restaurants in and around the city, from a cold storage in central Kolkata.
The incident has, however, made restaurant owners more cautious about the quality of raw supplies delivered to them.
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Nitin Kothari, owner of the city's two iconic restaurants-- Mocambo and Peter Cat--admitted that the chefs and other employees have become alert since the scam surfaced.
"We have adopter stricter measures to check the quality of raw materials that come into our kitchens," he said.
He, however, seemed confident that such scams "won't affect the sale of items" at his restaurants as his patrons had faith in the quality of food served to them.
"Our restaurants had been serving quality food for years. We do not make compromises to lure more customers. Our meat supply comes from Metro Cash & Carry."