MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS

HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS

Except perhaps in a very small village, a tea-shop or a similar establishment has made its appearance in almost all parts of the district. Its general get-up is determined by the purse of the clientele, local or otherwise, in its purview. Thus, we have a number of tea-shops in the district which fall into numerous categories. There are the tea-shops that serve nothing else but tea. Others are engaged in selling hot and cold beverages with eatables, and in a few cases, they also serve meals mostly on the rice-plate system. These can be classified as rural and urban, as both of them exhibit characteristics alien but peculiarly their own. The former, apart from their small size, are usually ill-equipped and, in general, present a shabby appearance. They keep a limited quantum of eatables whose durability is assured, prepare fresh items hardly once a day, concentrate more on serving tea and sell it cheap. The latter are usually found to be better equipped and make a presentable appearance. They keep a large variety of eatables, dry and fresh both alike, and in contrast to the former, appear to be heavily busy and business-like. A tea-shop, in its smallest type, found commonly in rural areas of the district, assumes the form more or less of a tea shop, where villagers halt for a sip of tea with milk or without, with sugar or gur, as the case may be. Two or three benches constitute its furniture, a few utensils and a little crude crockery make its equipment and the saleable articles consist of tea and a few items like bread, cheap biscuits, etc. But what is more striking in such a shop is the centrifugality of jobs in one man who acts as a proprietor, cashier, accountant, manager, cook, and as service-boy as well. Further-more, it is so placed that it is pretty difficult to disclose its identity as a hotel. Thus, we have in the district, a large variety of hotels scattered all over from a fairly good restaurant at Panvel to a small tea shop in extreme rural parts of the district.

A survey was conducted in order to obtain an idea about accessories, tools and equipment, position of labour, etc., in the occupation. At the time of our survey, the number of establishments of the type stood at 7 in Alibag and at 5 in Mahad, as under:—

Our sample survey was restricted to a few establishments at Pen, Panvel, Mahad, Alibag, Karjat and Uran in the district and, the results were based thereon, so as to give a correct picture of the occupation and throw sufficient light on various aspects thereof.

The occupation appears to have provided employment to 50 persons in 1891 which multiplied itself about forty times in 1951, as can be seen from the following table:— [The figures include employment provided by Boardings and Lodgings.]

*The figures of occupational distribution of population are not obtainable in the Censuses of 1901 and 1941.

†This figure does not cover the district fully. It is exclusive of employment in the janjira State, the same being not obtainable in the Census of 1921.

At the time of our survey, the number of hotels and restaurants stood at 19 in Alibag and at 20 in Mahad. The following table shows the distribution of establishments of these places, in 1959:—

The survey was confined to Panvel, Pen, Mahad and Alibag towns and half a dozen establishments in each town were selected for the purpose. The results obtained thereof can be estimated to render a realistic picture of the general character of this occupation, or in other words, of the position of accessories, labour, tools and equipment and net income among other things.

Accessories.

Accessories consist of rice, wheat, gram flour (besan), semolina (rava), ghee—almost invariably the vanaspati, ground-nut oil, condiments and spices, vegetables, onion, potato, tea powder, sugar and milk among others. The extent of consumption of these articles increases naturally with the growth in the size of establish-ment and the smallest type of a rural hotel in the district is said to consume accessories worth a thousand rupees per annum, whilst the expenditure of a big establishment on the same item for a similar period can be said to mount up to thirty times as much.

Tools and Equipment.

As furniture, the use of benches appears to be very common in  a rural hotel and, that of chairs and tables, in an urban hotel. Wherever possible, decorative mirrors are hung or fitted. But in most cases, the furniture used is only of an ordinary type and lacks proper maintenance. Utensils to prepare, store and serve the stuff fresh and dry and a small crockery are all rarely enough to meet the need. The amount locked up in tools and equipment varies from a few hundred rupees, in small hotels, to often more than four thousand rupees in big hotels, though the latter are few and far between in the district.

Capital.

Capital in the establishments is either fixed or working, the former being invested in tools and equipment, in the main part, and the latter, in raw materials and other expenditure of a recur-ring nature with the exception of wages. As tools and equipment are those of an ordinary quality and probably aim at keeping the things going, the amount locked up in the industry as fixed capital is found to be fairly limited. Likewise, a rare occurrence of costly and delicious dishes and a predominance of cheap and common items in the menus are among the factors that lead to bring for the establishments a restricted turnover and hence a limited working capital. The statistics collected in the sample survey of a few establishments also corroborate a similar conclusion, as can be seen from the following figures:—

Fixed and Working Capital of Hotels and Restaurants (1960)

Labour

The employment of the establishment consists of usually one, but in some cases, more than one cook and servants such as attendants or waiters whose duty it is to serve orders, both indoor and outdoor, of customers, and a few boys employed to clean tables, wash utensils and crockery, clean furniture, flooring, etc., or for any other work, as the case may be. The number of persons in each category is naturally determined by the size of an establish-ment. Thus, in some cases, a person or two are found to attend to multifarious jobs necessary for the conduct of the establish-ment. This peculiar feature of the industry has earlier been referred to as centrifugality of jobs. It is not uncommon to find that a proprietor with the members of his family conducts the whole unit, small as it is, and the entire picture can be depicted as a "Co-operative operation" of the family. Usually, the principle of division of labour is allowed to function in its own way, as the entire work is split and distributed among the various members of the establishment; but all the same, it does not form itself into a water-tight compartment and allows for a bit of laxity in the assignment of work, as and when the emergency demands it. Labour in the industry can be classified as skilled and un-skilled. Probably, a cook represents the former, and all others, the latter category. Naturally, a cook is paid more than all other labourers. The following figures indicate the wages paid to employees of hotels and restaurants: —

Monthly Wages Paid in Hotels and Restaurants

(In rupees)

Besides the emoluments given above, the labourers are given meals, snacks and tea twice a day. Although it is true that members of the establishment have to put in daily not more than eight hours net, of actual work, they are found to be busy, some-how or other, from early morning till late at night. Thus, the terms of payment offered to labour in the industry appear to be far from satisfactory. No surprise, therefore, that the labour halts in one establishment for pretty short time only. The migratory character of labour is further aggravated by the neighbourhood of Bombay. All the same, it is important to note that no dearth of labour supply is felt in this pursuit owing to the existence of a large number of the under-employed and the un-employed in the ambit of these establishments.

Turnover.

With a limited class of clientele depending, in the main part, on Unremunerative agricultural pursuits, the scope of menus is bound to restrict itself to a few items of snacks with hot and cold beverages. A small number of establishments located at motor-stands or at important places in the district have a brisk turnover, in some cases, exceeding a hundred rupees per day. But in general,the business appears to be rather shy, as can be seen from the daily turnover of a few establishments in the district, in 1960:—

Daily turnover of Hotels and Restaurants.

Income and Expenditure.

According to the findings of the sample survey, the net income  of the establishment ranges from Rs. 100 to Rs. 1,000 per month. Generally, the net margin in the industry works out to about forty per cent of the amount spent on raw materials and varies with the nature of the season. Thus, in the festivals or at the time of local fairs, the business becomes brisk and more prospective; but in the rainy season, it turns dull and yields returns hardly enough to keep the things going. During the harvest time, the business of rural hotels reaches its peak and earns to the proprietors a good income; but the same is warded off as soon as the boom period ends and the period of general depression for farmers resumes its way.

Accessories, wages and rent constitute the important items of expenditure. Of these, raw materials alone can be said to consume at least half of the total expenditure. In contrast to urban hotels, rural hotels in the district spend, on establishment charges, a small portion of total disbursements. Most establishments are found in rented premises and rent of these varied from Rs. 15 to Rs. 180 per month, depending on space, decency and ventilation but more particularly on the location of the place. The establishments covered by the survey paid on wages from Rs. 40 to Rs. 250 per month, as employment therein seemed to consist of from three to fifteen heads.

Thus, hotels and restaurants in the district seem to carry on profitably and economically but not efficiently. The pace of growth of these establishments during the past few years is a self-explanatory evidence to prove that the industry is profitable. But where unseemliness prevails more as a rule than an exception, modern methods of business are hardly employed and where business outlook (a point which cannot be ignored) is almost absent, the industry must be considered as ill-managed. It appears, however, that with a gradual elevation in the economic status of farmers and free movement of passenger traffic as a result of up-to-date transport and communications in the offing, one can expect that the industry will make a head way in the course of years to come.

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