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The following article is from India New England [2].

Owners of several local South Asian restaurants say business is getting hit hard by the rising costs of fuel and food - so much that at least one 20-year restaurateur says he advises entrepreneurs to stay out of the food-service industry.

"Definitely, we're obviously not insulated from what is happening in the market," said Shekhar Naik, owner of the Ambassador of India Restaurant chain in Connecticut, when asked if his business is feeling the nation's economic woes.

Naik, who owns restaurants in downtown Hartford, Glastonbury and West Hartford, said that business is at its lowest point since he opened his first Ambassador of India Restaurant in 1995.

"This seems to be an especially more difficult time," he said, both because costs are up and because fewer people are dining out.

Non-Indian customers, which traditionally made up about 75 percent of his clientele, are dining out far less than before, Naik said. Indians, however, still eat out regularly, he said.

Still, the downturn has postponed his plans of opening a new restaurant on Temple Street in New Haven. For the past seven months he's paid rent on the space, but he has hesitated to open the restaurant because of economic uncertainty.

The Bombay Mahal Restaurant in Lowell, Mass., is also feeling the pinch.

"Business is very, very, very down," said Aku Nagpuria, a former chemist who has owned the restaurant for the past 20 years. Nagpuria said that over the past year he's seen business cut in half.

"People are scared to spend the money," he said, adding that at the same time, expenses have increased by 30 percent. The costs of rice, meat, flour, lentils and oils are causing the biggest burden, he said.

"This is the worst time in the last 20 years. [I'm] not happy," he said. "It's very difficult to make two ends [meet]. I advise everybody not to get into the restaurant business."

New restaurants are also suffering. Sudhir Shah, the owner of Ahimsa, an 18-month-old organic and vegetarian restaurant in Connecticut, said his costs have gone up dramatically. His organic food suppliers recently began charging a $35 fee per trip because of rising fuel costs, and beer and wine delivery prices have gone up, too.

But, he said, because he buys only organic produce, he often buys from local farms that require shorter transport distance, keeping those costs down.
His New Haven restaurant, which serves Indian, Malaysian, Thai, Mexican and Italian food, attracts a niche market with its dishes of vegan, organic and healthy food, which, he said, keep his customer base steadily flowing in.

"We have a captive audience," he said.

At other restaurants, however, customers are fewer and ordering less.

It's a trend that Bipin Thapa, a waiter at Kabob and Curry in Providence, R.I., has been witnessing first-hand.

"The business has been very slow lately," said Thapa, who has worked for two years at the restaurant.

He said he's seeing fewer people dining out, and those who do, tend to pass on appetizers and other extras.

"They pretty much limit it to just the right amount of foods," he said. "They just skip some of the items."

But there are some lucky establishments that say they aren't feeling all the pain of the suffering economy.

The owner of Minerva in Norwood, Mass., said business is so strong that he's opening a new restaurant in Natick [Mass.] this month and is planning a third for Burlington [Mass.].

He attributes the steady business to over-worked customers who don't have time to cook at home.

"Some people are working too many jobs so they tend to get takeout. They're depending more on restaurant food," said Prakash Reddy, co-owner of Minerva, which opened last year.

Still, he said, expenses are going up, especially for staples such as rice, which has nearly tripled in cost.

"Almost all the Indian restaurants are feeling the pinch," he said. "We can't serve less rice ... we may have to increase the price."

Source: INDIAnewEngland.com [3]

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