Late Anil Saha has been doing business with a food hotel named Saha & Sons in Sadar Bazar of Tarash for almost fifty years. After his passing away, his son Ashish Kumar Saha took over his father's hotel business. In addition, their 5-member family runs on the income of this hotel.
Nevertheless, in recent times the food hotel business has seen a decline. In January of this year, the business of about five hundred small and medium food hotels in Chalan Beel region has started to rise due to the increase in the unusual price of various products for making hotel food including rice, flour, edible oil, fuel. And now many businesses are forced to run a small and strategic hotel business without being able to raise large capital. So that their dividend amount is getting smaller.
It is known that there are more than 500 small and medium food hotels in different market and townships of Tarash, Raiganj, Ullapara, Shahjadpur, Pabna Bhangura, Chatmohar, Faridpur, Natore Singra, Gurdaspur and Atrai upazila of Naogaon district in Chalan Beel. And, in all these hotels, around 3000 hotel workers are engaged in various types of work including cooks, hotel boys. And the hotel owners who deal with the food of Chalan Beel in the hotels were saying that apart from managing the family and employing a large number of hotel workers, their livelihood is depending on the hotel business, said Raju Ahmed, the owner of Shapla Hotel in Rani Hat Bazar, Tarash. But, in recent times due to rise in prices of all kinds of food items and cooking stuffs, livelihoods dependent on hotel business have been lost.
Bhangura upazila hotel owner Abdul Aziz, Mubarak Hossain and several people said that the number of customers in the hotel has decreased and there is a slowdown in the hotel business.
Because compared to the month of January of this year, the prices of all types of food items have increased abnormally in the month of November. For example, in January 2022, a 37 kg bag of flour was Tk 900, the next day it was Tk 1,500, a few days later it was Tk 1,200, after that it was Tk 1,650. 250 stands at Rs. Again in January, super edible oil was Tk 90 per liter, now it is Tk 160, palm oil was Tk 80 to Tk 88 per liter in January. It is now being sold at Tk 135 a litre. Sugar was sold at Tk 75 to Tk 80 per kg in January, but it is being sold at Tk 108 per kg this month. Nazir Shail rice was sold at Tk 55 to Tk 56 per kg last January but now that rice is selling at Tk 70 per kg. Anchor dal was selling at Tk 35 per kg in January, now it is selling at Tk 65 in November. Besides, pulses is being sold at Tk 100 per kg this month for Tk 80 per kg. Again, in the month of January, each pitch of eggs was sold at 6 taka, now it is being sold at 10 to 12 taka per pitch.
Besides, food hotel fuel cost has also increased. Last January, firewood was sold at Tk 120 per mound, but currently it is being sold at Tk 200 mound. In January, each pitch of cooking gas cylinder was Tk 850, it is increasing step by step and is currently selling at Tk 1,350.
Due to this, the price of all the products used in the food hotel has increased and the hotel owners have to increase their capital. Which many small and medium hotel owners cannot afford.
At the consumer level, hotel food prices have increased again. For example, now each peach fried egg is selling for 20 Tk instead of 15 Tk. Rice is being sold at 20 rupees per plate as against 15 TK. Parota is sold at Tk 10 per piece but its weight has decreased to 60 grams instead of 80 grams. Similarly, 30 grams of Singara is now being sold for 5 taka and 60 grams of singara is being sold for 10 taka, said many people including Rabiul, Rahman, Farid who came to eat at Tarash Ma Hotel.
Apart from this, the wages of a hotel worker in January was Tk 300 to Tk 350 depending on the type. At present, the worker has to pay 450 to 500 Tk per day, said Abu Hasem, owner of Chalan Beel Hotel in Gurdaspur Upazila. He also said that the prices of all food preparation products have increased abnormally and the number of customers in most of the hotels in Chalan Beel has also decreased by one third. As a result, the food hotel business is currently in a very bad state.
In this context, the president of Tarash Upazila Hotel Owners Association, Abu Said Talukdar said that they are struggling to run the hotel due to the increase in the price of food products. By doing this, the dividend is reduced by investing more capital. As a result, small and medium hotel business is becoming risky.
