AHMEDABAD: With the Gujarati urban youth travelling widely, an influx of migrant population working in multinational companies and branded hotels coming to the city, the consumption of non-vegetarian food in the city has gone up.
It is conservatively estimated that the sale of at least 100 tonnes of meat is reported in Ahmedabad every single day, say suppliers.
“Based on rough sale estimates, one can say that at least 100 tonnes of chicken, 40 tonnes of mutton and seafood is supplied across Ahmedabad every day. Amdavadis also consume an estimated 15 lakh eggs daily,” said Mohammad Farooq, one of the largest suppliers of meat and poultry in the city.
“Hotels and restaurants are the largest consumers of meat followed by sale over retail counters. On an average, a given hotel places an order for at least 100-150 kg meat daily. A huge volume of order also comes from street joints and independent caterers who cater at events and weddings,” he added.
Even as the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation began cracking the whip to remove street vendors selling non-vegetarian food on main roads, industry experts say that consumption by local residents has increased over time. “A large volume of meat is consumed across restaurants and the number of such eateries have grown in the city over time,” said hotel and restaurant industry players.
“Over the past 8-9 years, at least 500 restaurants selling non-vegetarian food have started in Ahmedabad. With app-based food delivery aggregators, even cloud kitchens preparing and serving non-vegetarian food have come up. These food ventures are doing brisk business driven by Amdavadis as well as migrant population that consume non-vegetarian food. Youths from the city, who travel a lot, are also increasingly open to trying non-vegetarian food and eventually become regular consumers,” said Rohit Khanna, co-founder, Food Entrepreneurs’ Alliance (FEA) – Ahmedabad.
“Prices are usually up in the winter. Now, in a couple of days, prices have reduced due to the civic body announcement,” said Mohammad Ali, a chicken and meat trader.
Prices decline, procurements hit
A day after the civic body announced that non-vegetarian food joints on main roads would be removed, the prices of chicken and meat took a major hit. Estimates by meat traders in Ahmedabad suggest that procurements have been marginally affected due to which prices fell. Chicken price fell from Rs 200 a kg to Rs 160 a kg, whereas meat prices dropped from Rs 640 a kg to Rs 620 a kg, according to estimates by traders.Meat procurement took a hit from street-side joints, according to traders.
“We have reduced procurement of birds for the time being, anticipating a slight slump in demand. Overall consumption of chicken in Ahmedabad is good with a lot of hotels and gourmet retail stores,” said Sultan Darbar, an Ahmedabad-based supplier of meat to organised retail stores, hotels and restaurants.
