BHOPAL: Business at marriage halls and cinema halls was worst hit during the Covid pandemic as the cinemas remained shut for a longer period than other places like shops, restaurants and hotels. And even after they opened up, they were virtually shut for a considerable period of time for lack of bookings.
Cash box at cinema halls has started ringing again, but the situation is not that rosy for the marriage halls. In spite of a long wedding season underway, the bookings are not as good as they had expected.
“Of course, we are getting bookings but not as many as we would get during the marriage season in the pre-Covid days. It’s a general feeling among marriage hall owners. I have talked to many of them, they are all saying this,” said treasurer of Bhopal Marriage Garden Association, Harshit Agrawal. When asked how much the bookings have dropped as compared to pre-Covid days, he said “I can’t quantify that but there has been a considerable drop.”
When asked whether they had increased tariff, Agrawal said, “No, charges have not been raised. We are also not able to figure out exactly why bookings have dropped but I feel the middle class has become more “budget conscious” now. The middle class people are budgeting marriages in their families more meticulously and they are, therefore, preferring hotels rather than marriage gardens,” he said.
Ramji of Ramji Catering Services, when asked about the volume of catering orders he is receiving in the current season when there is no cap on number of guests, said, “It has gone up of course, but people are still opting for short gatherings. I feel they have become used to having a smaller number of guests.”
When asked whether the increasing catering charges could be a reason for this, he said, “Yes, input costs have gone up and therefore food stuff in marriages are costlier, too, but if there are more guests you have, the rate of food per plate comes down. If you have 50 guests and you order food for them with a reasonably good menu, you end up spending Rs 1,000 per plate but if the number of guests are 500, it may come down to 400 or 500. Because all the overhead charges like labour remain the same whether the guests are less or more.”
Manager at a hotel on the condition of anonymity agreed that more marriages are taking place in hotels than marriage gardens. “Maybe it’s a change in habit induced by the pandemic as people have only been going for marriages and other functions in a hotel,” he said.
