From restro kitchens to the city streets: How the lockdown forced a chef to run a roadside stall

New Delhi: Mixing the ingredients used for preparing a red chutney to be served with momos at his Prakash Fast Food stall in Bhogal Market, 36-year-old Shyam Kumar awaits customers as the sun goes down. Evenings are the only time Kumar manages to serve a few plates of everything from freshly-made noodles to chilli potatoes.

Previously a chef at three restaurants across different cities, Kumar, along with more than a dozen of his co-workers, lost his job at Ching Shihh restaurant at Logix Mall in Noida after the Covid-induced lockdown was imposed.

Most of them have unpaid salaries worth lakhs with the outlet and repeated pleas to the management have gone unanswered.

Kumar, who lives with his three-member family in a single-room flat at Sarai Kale Khan, says, "I have a debt of around Rs 50,000 on my house rent and the landlord has been insisting I pay up but I don't think I will be able to manage," he says. He claims that he rang up the restaurant manager several times asking for assistance but he failed to answer.

Before setting up his roadside eatery, Kumar, in 2005, started working as a first commis chef (junior chef) at Yo China in Chandigarh before joining an outlet in Connaught Place two years ago, where around 20 workers reported to him. Similarly, at his Ching Shihh gig, where he earned Rs 35,000 per month, Kumar dealt with around 25 employees on a daily basis.

However, post-lockdown, Kumar's life has changed drastically. Raw materials required to run his momo stall cost him around Rs 10,000, he says adding that due to the low footfall, half of it usually goes waste. "Since I have not been earning as before, I have made both my kids switch from private to government schools," Kumar laments. "I hardly manage to make more than Rs 800 in a day".

We have even approached various labour rights organisations but to no avail,

he says. Most of the workers didn't even get any appointment letter or ID card when they joined the restaurant. "I have somehow managed to make ends meet but the rest of the workers are struggling to survive," Kumar says.

Kumar says that in order to allay the customer's fear over hygiene, he video graphs himself preparing the items in his home and shows it to them when required.

Meanwhile, SP Singh, Manager at Ching Shihh, while acknowledging the unpaid salaries, blames the restaurant's financial condition after remaining shut since March. "We are gradually trying to gradually pay each of our employees their dues

and will try to expedite

the process," Singh told Millennium Post.