Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

RESTAURANT­S, BARS PIN HOPE ON IPL TO BRING SOME CHEER!

Cricket lovers are seeing this as an opportunit­y for an outing with family & friends

- Deep Saxena, S Farah Rizvi deep.saxena@htlive.com, farah.rizvi@htlive.com

The commenceme­nt of Indian Premium League (IPL), not only brought cheers to cricket fans but added a dash of excitement among restaurant­s, bars and clubs in the city. Reeling under corona virus fear, cricket lovers and partyholic­s are taking this as an opportunit­y for a safe outing.

With restaurant­s now allowed to operate till 11pm and with no weekend lockdown, some food joints and bars are providing IPL offers at their outlets while others are waiting and watching for the season to set in to announce their offers.

Club Momentz has placed a big screen on the pool side and is offering discounts on food items and beverages. “IPL viewing on big screen is our biggest attraction. Since opening day of the tournament we have started getting 10-15 table bookings. Our offers on food, drinks, cocktails and mocktail is working well. Besides, we launched ‘sign-your-bottle’ wherein the customer can own a bottle and use it during their next visits,” says Jugal Sachdeva.

Food aggregator­s are also using this opportunit­y on their apps. By using ‘Cricket’ code people can order dishes on Zomato and ‘Howzzat!’ on Swiggy to get discounts on selected restaurant­s.

At Royal Sky they have already started getting a good footfall during the matches, said the young restaurate­ur Jatin Ahuja. “As we are slowly recovering from the pandemic crisis, we are very upbeat about IPL this year. Like last

year, we have come up with a screen display along with a range of 24x7offers for our clientele like 1-on-1, a free drink and more,” he said.

For software profession­al Abul Hasan it’s a win win situation as a customer, “I love cricket especially 20-20 format. As a ritual I do a watch a match or two at my favourite restaurant on big screen with my friends so this year too we are all game for it. Also offers at the outlets are a bonus for us.”

For the ongoing IPL season, The Beer Café Biggie is offering a 20% discount on their food and beverages, informed its operation manager Rishikesh Mishra.

RK Jaiswal, owner of Klub Bigg Boss and Suravi Restaurant said, “We are offering buy two and get one on food and drinks. It’s too

As a ritual I do a watch a match or two at my favourite restaurant on big screen with my friends... Also offers at the outlets are a bonus for us

ABUL HASAN,

software profession­al

early to say how it’s shaping up but we hope as the season progresses people may start visiting more. Covid fear is restrictin­g people and if cases go down, I am sure it will pick up,” he said.

Traditiona­l clubs are a disappoint­ed lot as they have restricted operation till 9 pm. “Though the bars are allowed to open till 11 pm we have not been allowed to open restaurant beyond 9 pm. So, it’s not feasible to have IPL screening on big screen as it starts at 7.30 pm,” shared Ashok Agarwal, secretary Oudh Gymkhana Club.

 ?? SOURCED ?? Many restaurant­s, clubs and bars are offering big screen viewing for cricket lovers and are giving good discounts too.
SOURCED Many restaurant­s, clubs and bars are offering big screen viewing for cricket lovers and are giving good discounts too.
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