Larries eat into Surat restaurants' sales

Surat is famous for its food. It is probably the only city where even if all businesses incur losses, the food business will almost definitely reap in profits.

This is a reason for the growing number of 'larries' in the city.

Larries are small carts normally used as stalls to sell food items. The rush at most of these food stalls is such that one has to wait for long to get food.

The larry culture has hurt the local hotel industry.

"The larry culture is badly effecting us. Over fifty hotels and restaurants have closed down in Surat in the last two years. Many more are almost on the verge of closure. Lack of business, mainly due to the increasing number of food larries, has led to the closure of 90 per cent of the hotels," said Arun Shetty, president of the Surat Hotel and Restaurant Association (SHARA).

"The larry culture was always there in Surat, but this trend has witnessed a boom in the last five or six years. At present, there are over 10,000 larries that sell Chinese, Punjabi, south Indian, vegetarian, non-vegetarian, and all sorts of food items," he said.

Poor hygiene at larries is also a matter of great concern, added SHARA member Chetan Relia.

"The food sold at larries is not hygienic. The food is cooked somewhere else and brought to the larry, where it is heated and reheated depending on the demand. Because of this, the food not only looses its nutritional value but is become harmful to health. Poor quality utensils, washed with unclean water, are used to cook and serve food. This, combined with the low-quality food stuff and synthetic flavours used, makes food served at larries potentially hazardous," he explained.

The recent changes in the sales tax structure is also hurting the hotel industry, said Relia.

"Earlier, we were exempted from paying sales tax on bills up to Rs 75 per person. Now hotels & restaurants with an annual turnover of over Rs 10 lakh have to pay sales tax," Relia said.

Though larries also come under the sales tax umbrella, most of these evade the tax. "There are over 10,000 larries in the city, most of which have a turnover in excess of Rs 10 lakh. However, it is practically not possible for the government to collect tax from these," Relia added.

SHARA has called for restricting larries to hawking zones. The body's honorary secretary Haresh Patel, said: "We are not against larries. But, in interest of public health, the authorities should ensure that larries are not allowed beyond the hawking zones. This would facilitate monitoring of these larries and help beautify the city."

"Food is costlier at hotels because we make huge investments to provide healthy food in a good environment. I can guarantee that the quality of raw material used for preparing food in hotels is much better than that used at larries. People should realise the danger posed by larry food and avoid eating at such places," said Patel.