Empty tables at a city restaurant. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Jan. 7: Bars and eating joints of the city are feeling the heat of the biting cold. With the mercury column dipping by the day, Patnaites have put a pause on eating out or hitting a bar after a hard day’s work.

Most of the bars and eating joints have been wearing a deserted look for the past few days. Food is going waste in most of the restaurants.

Prem Chand Kumar, the manager of Mithla Rasoi on Exhibition Road, said: “The cold has affected our business big time. The footfall has dropped drastically. Usually we receive 300 customers daily. Now, only 50 to 80 customers, mostly college-goers, are coming. Most of them are ordering steaming cup of tea or coffee.”

Kumar said: “I am toying with the idea of introducing discounts to draw customers. Otherwise, what will happen with the food we are preparing every day?”

With weathermen forecasting cold conditions for the next few days, the owners of eateries are a worried lot. Manjit Kumar, the owner of an eating joint at Rajabazaar, said: “People are preferring not to venture out because of low temperature. I don’t know when people will be back in eating out mood.”

Fountain, an eating joint near Gandhi Maidan where Patna University students chill out, also sported a deserted look today.

The cashier of the joint said: “My business must have gone down by over 70 per cent in the past couple of days as people are preferring to remain indoors because of extreme cold.”

A bar owner on East Boring Canal road said: “Contrary to the belief that people love their drinks in winter, a few are stepping into my bar for the past few days. People are avoiding to gulp liquor in bars because of dense fog, as it becomes difficult to drive home after downing a couple of pegs.”

Shastri Nagar resident Vivek Sinha, a student and a connoisseur of good food, said: “The extreme cold has forced me to remain indoor. I hate being at home because there is nothing to do apart from watching TV. I can’t even meet my friends outside because my parents have asked me strictly not go out in this weather.”

Wait till the sun shines, mate!