While the corona virus is affecting the whole world, so far over 1 million people have been affected worldwide. Corona Virus has brought the worst impact on the food industry for as long as the history goes. Majority of the food outlets in the UK were forced to be closed down, some of the major brands such as McDonalds, KFC , Pret a manger, costa coffee, Pizza express, Nando’s and many more had to shut down in the best interest of their customers and for the well-being of their employees . However being a restaurateur myself I strongly believe and appreciate that this decision has been mainly taken by majority of leading food brands in order to protect and ensure the health and safety of their staff which was the probably the best decision and the driving factor behind this critical decision and once the corona virus Crisis will be over , these staff will be required again so it was very important as majority of the staff working at these leading food chains were using public transport to get to their work which was exposing them not only towards the great risk of getting affected from coronavirus during travelling to their work but to the customers as well who were still keen to eat at these outlets.

While the leading food brands can afford to stay close during this pandemic , Asian food industry has been badly disrupted and in some way have been left stranded , Britain has been in love with curry since at least the 1940s and over that time an estimated 12,000 curry houses have mushroomed across the country, even in the smallest villages across the UK , as these Asian food businesses especially restaurant and takeaway industry are mostly privately or family owned and not backed by large corporate groups, The chains of curry restaurants that are out there are family-oriented, family-built so they have to go over this difficult period of time on their own, so while our government, s focus and priority at this stage is towards somehow coming out of this corona virus pandemic , we must not forget that the impact it will bring on the food industry could be crippling for the British economy and the fear to gain the lost confidence of the consumer on the restaurants and takeaways can make thousands of employees of the Asian food industry redundant and when things will be back to normal the Asian food industry could be in even worse situation because of losing their key skilled staff to corona virus epidemic as the Asian food industry was already struggling due to shortage of skilled workers prior to this epidemic and now the corona virus has further dented the Asian restaurants and takeaways. In a statement to national newspaper. The JD Weatherspoon Boss Tim Martin has said that closing pubs, bars and restaurants will not help stop coronavirus. He said: “My instinct is that closure won’t save lives but will cost thousands of jobs and create unsustainable costs for the UK.”

Asian restaurants, catering and takeaway industry has a lot to lose during this pandemic. Curry industry currently employs over 100,000 people and an estimated contribution of £ 4 billion towards the British economy according to the data compiled last year by Lord Karan Bilimoria, the chairman of Cobra Beer and a member of Parliament’s curry committee, which advises on the government policy.

The Coronavirus crisis seems very serious with long term repercussions on the curry industry, so many restaurants were already closing down and many were struggling to survive due to the lack of skilled workers and in some way the UberEATS , Deliveroo and these new apps have also contributed towards disrupting the curry trade, a lot of existing restaurant and takeaway staff in London have joined Uber eats and Deliveroo . including chefs, tandoori chefs, waiters, managers as a lot of these skilled staff been attracted towards value of the freedom of their life rather than sweating themselves in the hot kitchens. and now due to this corona factor the industry will lose further as majority of the superstore chains such as Tesco, Lidl , Sainsbury’s and Asda have already started recruiting all over UK which is good for these employees in the current situation, and I have no doubt that some of the Asian food industry key staff will join them and one must not blame them as they may not have choice due to the fear of long term financial instability but in the long run the affect it may bring on the curry industry might be irrecoverable.

While I appreciate that the government has offered various incentives including business interruption loan scheme and employees retention scheme , but I still believe its not enough and there is lot more which needs to be done to protect the industry, so I would urge the government to take more serious interest towards the Curry industry during the coronavirus crisis to save the future of the Asian restaurants, catering and takeaway industry.