Star hotels, restaurants hail proposal to fix food portion

The owners of the city's star category hotels and restaurants on Sunday hailed Union Minister of Consumer Affairs Ramvilas Paswan's suggestion to fix the quantity of food items served so that they were not wasted.

In this light they advised customers to carry with them the left-overs, if any. A spokesman for Park Plaza hotel said: "We guide guests at the time of taking orders on the size of the items to be consumed in order to avoid wastage." He says it needs to be noted that on 70 percent occasions the orders are placed keeping in mind the fact that the food items are consumed by more than one guest.

"While the PM's vision is futuristic, we hoteliers need to think, strategise and innovate further to stop wastage of food. May be in future we need to sell food by weight and charge penalty on wastage," the spokesman said. Popular upscale food joint The Bikers Cafe India Director, Sanjay Yadav, also hailed the decision as a positive one, saying that limiting food quantity would definitely check wastage which in turn would make food available to the deprived sections. The owner of prime dining restaurants 'Oudh 1590', 'Chapter 2' and 'Chowman', Siladitya Choudhury said:

"We support the cause and we already ask our guests to take away left-over food. Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan earlier had asked restaurants and hotels to consider specifying the portion of food items to customers so that they order the right amount. The minister had said the hospitality industry would be asked whether it can do it "voluntarily" or needed the government to put in place legal provisions for it.

Paswan's remarks came nearly a fortnight after PM Narendra Modi expressed concern over large-scale wastage of food in the country in his ''Mann Ki Baat.''