Restaurants, coffee shops bear the brunt of lockdown
Night lockdown coupled with truncated business hours due to Ramadan is affecting restaurants and coffee shops. Most blue-collar workers too are in a fix.
Eateries, not open during the day time, used to make brisk business in the evening. But this time around, all such opportunities have dried up with nighttime lockdown being enforced at 9pm.
Shahzad Khan, who runs a coffee shop in Ruwi, said he is facing serious problems because of the lockdown.
“The entire day we cannot open. During Ramadan all activities usually start immediately after iftar. But now, with the closure of business at 9pm we hardly get time for any sales. It is also taxing on our workers. We are struggling to prepare iftars as well as regular food in a short period of time.”
As a solution now they start work very early in the morning, he said.
He added that though there is
MOHAMMAD
a rush in the evening, it is difficult to serve customers because he and his staff too need to break fast and rush to serve simultaneously.
Mohammad, who sells grilled fish in Muttrah, said, “We start our work around 2. It’s mostly takeaways. During previous Ramadans, we used to have people coming after iftar and sit for their dinners with grilled items but now we need to close everything by 8.30pm. It is tough.”
Robiullal Mohammad, a Bangladeshi blue-collar worker, said he is struggling to find a place to eat in the evening.
“After a hard day’s work, I hardly get time to cook,” he said. “With the night movement ban and restaurants being closed, I’m in a dilemma. I’m too tired to cook.”
He added, “In previous years, restaurants used to function till late night. There was no problem finding food even after working and fasting all day. Things are different now. I think they should at least keep the takeaways open.”
His friend Alam is diabetic and normally fasts for just a few days. But this year, he can’t because of difficulty in arranging food.
“I used to fast for around ten days because of health issues, but this year I am not able to do that too in the fear of unavailability of food at night. I do my prayers only; I cook for my friends so that they can eat at night.”
Most such workers either have their friends (even nonMuslims) who cook and keep a plate for them. Often when time permits, they too cook for themselves. Some even buy food in advance.
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“We requested permission to work overnight during the lockdown which was denied,” he informed.
Shakeer Hussain, manager at Grand Hypermarket in Ruwi, said, “We have 50,000 products on our shelves of prices ranging from 50bz to RO250. Replacing the price tags of such a large number of items is the biggest test of VAT implementation.”
The timing of implementation, in the midst of COVID-19 measures when businesses are closing earlier and during Ramadan when work slows down, further added the challenge. "To avoid inconvenience to customers, we put a notice about the new tax and started price tag update process well in advance. We worked overtime to update the price tags,” Hussain informed.
Disruption in supplies
“The last batch of supplies from distributors was on April 14; hopefully they will restart on April 18,” said Hussain. “But we pre-empted the situation and stocked supplies keeping the supply disruption in mind."
Pointing at his half-empty shelves, Iqbal said, “Our suppliers stopped taking orders saying they will restart once VAT is implemented.”
Mubashir A M, field sales manager at Enhance Oman, a brand distribution and retail management solutions provider, described the timing of VAT implementation as ‘perfect’. “We just needed to stop our services for one day on Thursday, April 15, and any case, we do not deliver on Fridays and Saturdays. We will start operations as usual from Sunday, April 18.”
Enhance Oman started preparing for VAT implementation more than two months ago, Mubashir claimed. “The only challenge for us is the confusion of small players who are not yet registered and do not know how to account the added VAT cost.”
Adjustment of extra cost
M Abraham's business in auto spare parts comes under the lowest category, but most of his suppliers are in the RO1mn category which is in the first phase of registration. “While our category will be allowed to register at a later stage, our suppliers are already charging us five per cent VAT. We do not know how to adjust this extra cost we are paying till we get the VAT registration certificate,” Abraham said.
Replying to a query on the registration timeframe of small businesses, Aastha Rangan, director of VAT Services at Crowe Oman, said, “Whether a business offers a service or buys goods from a taxable company, in both scenarios business owners can claim the VAT credit.