NRAI requests Support from Retail Real Estate Owners

The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has reached out to shopping centre and other retail real estate owners to seek relief for loss of business caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. A large part of the food service industry managed to somehow survive the first phase of the lockdown and sailed through due to the collective efforts of all stakeholders and similar measures are once again required to prevent a fresh round of business mortalities and job losses in the sector, NRAI said.

“The association has written individually to all prominent mall owners and an open letter to other landlords suggesting certain immediate measures to prevent instant death of businesses, which leave behind a trail of unfulfilled dreams, job losses and lastly, massive unwanted litigation,” it said.

“We surely have a grim battle at hand and the most potent and effective way to fight this is to redefine our mutual relationship and business model,” NRAI President Anurag Katriar said.

NRAI has suggested a complete waiver of rentals and CAM charges till such a period that the market is shut for unrestricted dine-in business. It has also recommended revenue share agreements for the period when restricted operations are permitted. CAM charges during this period to be maintained at 50 per cent of the agreed rate, it added.

“I reckon that for the survival of the F&B industry through this second wave, revenue share is a very fair model that will ensure that malls don’t lose out if we see an unexpected early surge in business volumes,” Katriar said.