THANE: Many popular restaurants and bars across the city are witnessing plumetting profits during the ongoing month of Shravan.With most Thaneites observing a month-long fast and thus abstaining from meat, sea-food and alcohol, the profits of restaurants and lounges, which are known for these items, have dropped by over 50 per cent. Brijesh Sharma, owner of Naupada-based Shelter restaurant, said, “Our restaurant is known for non-vegetarian dishes and our business is very hectic all through the year. During Shravan, however, this business drops to about 50 per cent. This year, our profits have plummeted further by around 60 per cent because of the traffic congestion and road diversions.”“Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays are the worst and our restaurant is almost empty on these days as those who do not keep their fast throughout the month at least keep it on these days. In this first week itself our profit went down to almost 50 per cent,” added the manager of a popular Chinese eatery in the city. With their customer strength shrinking during this season, these eateries and resto-bars have been granting vacations to their employees and refraining from filling vacancies to avoid additional cost.“As the rest of our year is busy, we cannot grant much leave to our employees. So we ask them to take their long vacations ranging from 15 days to a month during this season. We do not require as much manpower this season,” added Sharma. Sawant , manager of a restaurant in Upvan, added, “Even though three of our employees quit recently, we are not looking for any replacement as there is no need for additional employees for the next few weeks. We will start recruiting after the month of Shravan.”Businesses of pure vegetarian eateries have, on the contrary, witnessed an inverse growth in their demand.“As citizens stay away from meats and sea-food during Shravan, we witness a lot more families frequenting our pure vegetarian restaurant. Despite the ongoing Jain fasting season, our profits have grown by about 10 to 15 per cent this Shravan,” said Bhavin Thakkar, owner of Utsav restaurant.

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