– Anand Krishnan
There is a significant impact on industries such as hotels, restaurants, and people who are dependent on these sectors for their livelihood. From a hotel owner’s perspective, ‘social distancing’ will be the challenging factor and there may be incremental costs associated with redesigning their set up. They must manage their costs while simultaneously 
concentrating on key aspects such as personal hygiene, properly sanitized tables, hygienic food, and a comfortable ambiance that can improve Goodwill and result in increased revenues.
Hospitality is an industry that gives employment to many. This is the high time every chef should think about managing their personal finance. Experts are predicting a huge revenue loss, unemployment, salary cut, and more. The current crisis has affected migrant workers at a huge level. This is an important time to conserve cash to ensure sustenance over the next 6 to 12 months. Spending should be only on essential items and all discretionary spending must be postponed.
There are many chefs who are also business owners. Investments to improve the restaurant’s overall environment to create customer loyalty is a key factor for success. Explore all incentives offered by the Government to quickly restart the business. Continuous monitoring of hygiene factors and expenses related to consistent improvement will ensure a better footfall. People will be willing to pay a premium to visit restaurants if that gives them a sense of security. Any new expansion that requires significant investments that can be done only by heavy borrowing should be completely avoided. Overall, the hospitality as a sector should carefully spend their money on priority aspects- Focusing on employee health and safety, improve restaurant ambiance, positive Customer experience during their first visit back to the restaurant after the lockdown.
(As told to Nithis Kumar. The author is a Registered Investment Advisor (SEBI). He is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer Koshavruddhi Wealth Advisors and is available on anand@koshavruddhi.com. Views expressed are personal )
