Meat off city menu for next nine days

Chennai

The announcement was met with confusion as locals were unsure if home delivery services from meat providers would continue or not. Local meat stores working with food delivery applications later clarified that they will remain shut until further notice.

Residents, who were unable to access food delivery apps, opined that they are left with little option. “We will have to manage without meat for the rest of the shutdown.

We were not told of this closure of slaughterhouses beforehand, else we would have stored some for the new phase of the lockdown,” said Alamelu, a resident of Shenoy Nagar.

Local restaurants and vendors explained that customers have shied away from non-vegetarian dishes during the shutdown due to fears of hygiene and storage. Thus, many are adapting towards curating vegetarian menus to sustain for a longer period.
 
However, restaurants such as the Crimson Chakra source 80 per cent of their revenue from non-vegetarian dishes, said owner Nikhil Moduri. With wholesale options out of the picture, Moduri said they will use the existing stock for the duration of the shutdown, which will last anywhere between five to seven days.

“We have some stock, which we are freezing and using, but that will not last. Since our staff is high-trained, we will have to take a maximum yield from the stock we have.

What angers me about this situation is that we were given no warning beforehand. For all talk of supporting local businesses, we are facing issues from all sides, including the officials,” said Moduri.