Foodies of the city now need to shell out a few bucks more to savour a plate of the enticing Hyderabadi biryani with the hotels effecting an incremental rise in its price over the last couple of months.
Many restaurants serving the most sought after meal across the city have hiked biryani prices by Rs. 10 to Rs. 20 on each plate. Subsequently, the take-aways and online food delivery platforms too have revised their prices.
Hoteliers explain that the increase was inevitable as prices of several ingredients that go in making the ‘Dum ki Biryani’ in variants of fish, mutton and chicken have gone up drastically.
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Ingredients prices up
“Prices of several commodities, including chicken, spices, mutton and vegetables had seen a sharp rise in the last few months. Hoteliers were suffering losses due to it. Hence, most of them were left with no choice but to revise the prices accordingly,” pointed out Mohd Saleem, president Twin Cities Hotel Owners Association.
Mohd Irfan, a hotelier from Tolichowki, said that the price of fine quality Basmati rice has touched Rs. 100 a kg, while chicken is priced around Rs. 130 a kg. “The wages of workers, especially that of chefs assistants and waiters, have been hiked and to make up the increased expense, a price rise was inevitable,” he argues.
Close to 500 budget restaurants in the city offer biryani from afternoons till late in the nights. The places are crowded with students, office goers and families thronging for casual dining and quick service and have an affordable meal – often sharing a plate between two persons. Of late, take-aways have also come up in various parts of the city.
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On an average, a budget restaurant located in a commercial area of the city dispenses between 500 and 600 plates of biryani – chicken or mutton — during any given day. “If the hotels are popular the numbers run into thousands. So by enhancing Rs. 10 per plate, the big restaurants and hotels are managing it while the smaller restaurants have increased the price by Rs. 15 to Rs. 20,” pointed out Syed Qasim, another hotelier from Chandrayangutta.
Also, the prices on menu for dishes, including Chinese cuisine, prepared with chicken meat, has seen a revision in most eateries. A Chinese food outlet owner at Charminar pointed out that the price of chicken has increased by around 50 per cent, compared to last year. “If we do not increase the prices then we cannot honestly do the job. To ensure quality, we had no option but to increase the price,” he adds.