Challenging times
DEEPAK Raj and his family have been running their own restaurant in Korovou Town and in the six years of operation they have seen a drastic decline in consumers coming in to the town.
According to him business was going well until COVID-19 struck.
“Everybody in Korovou Town is facing difficulties because of the lack of customers in town and also people were very wisely spending so yes we are also affected,” he said.
“COVID-19 had massively affected the businesses operations.
“In this town you could see people all around all the time but now since carriers don’t come to town, buses don’t come that often so people don’t come to town like before.
“And also people are wisely spending so it’s easier for them to buy a chicken and cook it at home for the whole family rather than spending on a serve here in the restaurant.
“A lot of things have changed but we are still going on slowly.”
The business started its operations on March 6, 2015 and according to Mr Raj they were located just next to the Korovou Market at the Ram Jattan building during this time.
In October 2018 however he claimed the top portion of the building which was rented by another business had caught fire and their kitchen which was situated below it was destroyed.
Mr Raj said in December they had vacated because of electrical problems and for two months they stayed at home.
He said in February 2019 they relocated and built their own little space in town which they slowly extended with a tent, tables and chairs.
He said they had invested about $10,000 with the water and electricity installation and new tables and chairs.
“We are still going strong and we are ready to move back to the Ram Jattan building as soon as it's renovated by the end of this year,” he said.
Mr Raj said they had lost everything in the fire from the stove to the oven to their stock.
The damage was estimated to be about $8000 to $9000 and since they had no insurance they had incurred a huge loss.
Competition however was also tough in Korovou Town as restaurants had to compete for a limited consumer market.
“We have five restaurants in Korovou Town and the main thing is we mostly cook Indian dishes,” he said.
“Everybody is trying something new to get the customers we are also doing something.”
Dominion Restaurant has Chinese dishes, chilli chicken, fried chicken and the usual fish and chips.
“This restaurant is a fully family-run restaurant, my mother cooks and my brother is a chef and he also cooks and mostly they come and sell here. My dad is also here.
“Before COVID we used to open around 7 am but now due to lack of customers we open around 9:30am and we close around 6pm to 7 pm.”
He said the price of chicken and lamb was too high.
“Looking at the customers they are spending little now so we can't sell at higher price now as before.
“Our serves were $8 or $9 but now it's coming to $5, $6 and $7.
“On the other hand when we go to buy in the supermarkets the price of the chicken and lamb has increased.
“If we could get a little help on that if the prices could go a little bit down everybody can enjoy their meals and it would be a big help in the operational side,” he said.