A steep rise in input costs has left hundreds of eateries across Ongole city grappling with the question of whether or not to raise prices of their food items.
While raising the fare would help them stay afloat, they are jittery over the possibility of losing their customers to their rivals in Ongole’s highly competitive street food scene.
Vibrant food culture
The city is known for its street food culture, with eateries and fast food stalls staying open late into the night, patronised regularly by thousands of loyal customers.
However, the owners of the food joints are now finding it difficult to stay afloat given the ever-increasing prices of not only fuel but essential commodities also, such as edible oil and pulses.
With the price of cooking gas has skyrocketed to ₹1.150 per cylinder, the eatery owners say they are forced to take a relook at their pricing strategy. “We want to hike our prices but dread doing so in order to lose out on our customers. Hence, our profit margins are getting squeezed. We don’t know how we can continue like this,” says Narasimha Rao, the owner of a fast food joint near the Nellore bus stand centre.
While big restaurants who bask in the luxury of having a well-to-do clientele do not need to think twice before hiking their prices, it is the small eateries who have to wrestle with this dilemma. “Caterers who serve mostly those from the lower economic strata cannot afford to hike prices,” laments Ramji, a ‘pav bhaji’ seller whose push-cart near the Panchayat Raj office is visited by a steady stream of customers every evening.
The main selling proposition of these small-time eateries is that they cook their dishes — be it North Indian, South Indian or Chinese cuisine — right in front of the customers.
‘We can neither fully pass on the hike in prices of all essential commodities to the customer, nor can we continue selling our food at the old prices,” rues K. Venkateswara Rao, an eatery owner in the busy Bapuji Market Complex.
Customers too are changing their food habits in view of the rising prices. “We would visit fast food centres and relish the mouth-watering dishes served there almost on a daily basis. Now, we have reduced the number of visits to our favourite food joint to only once or maybe twice a week and are instead cooking at home,” says Vineeth, a student.
