Restaurants at risk from rising costs

Rising prices of food items are hammering eateries and dismantling the industry's recovery from the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, restaurant owners have said.
Due to this situation, they said, many hotels and restaurants are on the verge of closing down.
They made the remarks at the 34th central executive council meeting of the Bangladesh Owners Association (BROA) on Saturday. The meeting was attended by restaurant owners from across the country at the Institution of Diploma Engineers (IDEB), Bangladesh in the capital. ‎
To stay afloat, Imran Hasan, general secretary of BROA, urged the government to provide restaurant owners with food items from TCB (Trade Commission of Bangladesh).
Hasan said that the reduction in value added tax (VAT) last year wasn’t implemented properly. “Most owners didn’t get benefit from it, rather, it created unequal competition,” he said.
“We have proposed to reduce VAT to 3 percent for restaurants where common people eat and 5 percent for other restaurants,” he said.
‎Hasan also highlighted the harassment restaurant owners face from mobile courts.
Among others, Broa President Osman Gani was present at the meeting.
-B