The world has its shutters down but you may just find your neighbourhood sweet shop open. At the chief minister’s orders sweet shops can now operate from noon to 4pm despite the lockdown but shop owners are as worried as they are happy with the development.

Firstly, very few shops have managed to open. Their biggest challenge is staff. Banchharam’s in FC Block was one of the two branches the sweet shop chain opened on April 1, the day after the government order was passed.

“Most of our kitchen staff left for their villages at the start of the lockdown. Three or four of them missed the bus and stayed back at our Kasba factory,” says Bhaskar Sinha, who is in charge of the branch. “It is now up to them to make what they know and as many as they can.”

The store’s phone has been ringing non-stop and half of them are going unattended as the staff have their hands full. “Everyone wants to know if we are open and what we are making. Many are scared to leave their houses and are using delivery apps for orders,” added Sinha.

From noon to 2pm, the shop is getting queues of five to seven customers outside, being asked to stand at safe distance from one another. Their sit-and-eat section is closed.

Stores like Gupta Brothers near the BF Block swimming pool have made boxes on the floor with red tape to enforce social distancing. Their staff are wearing gloves, masks and head caps.

Rosogolla missing

Such is the staff shortage at CA Market’s Kalpataru that the shop is unable to prepare the most famous of Bengali sweets — rosogolla. “Customers are asking for rosogolla, jilipi, mishti doi, singara but we only have two kitchen staff at hand and they can only make sandesh,” says Prasenjit Sil.

Bhikharam Chandmal Mithai and Namkeens, next to City Centre, is making laddoo, kesar peda, kalakand etc. “We are having to disappoint customers asking for chhana items like sandesh, rosogolla and ras malai,” says director Mahesh Sureka.

At Gupta Brothers people are asking for favourites like Club Kachori. “But we aren’t able to make them now. We are lucky to be able to supply Kanpuri Laddoos, one of our most popular items that people are looking for,” says director Priyansh Gupta. They are making rosogolla, kalakand, sonpapdi etc.

Keeping elderly residents who cannot cook in mind, Banchharam is serving khichdi along with luchi-chholar dal and paratha.

Terrible timing

The afternoon slot was perhaps chosen to prevent crowding but shops say it is the worst possible timing for business. “Sales are so low in the afternoon that before the lockdown we used to shut shop from 2 to 4 and head home for lunch,” says Sil. “We are making maybe five trays of sweets a day and only three are selling off.”

Sureka of Bhikharam agrees. “Twelve to four is one’s resting time. People are heading to the markets for essentials early in the morning and locking themselves indoors by noon. Who will head out a second time for sweets notwithstanding the heat and stay-home orders?” he wonders.

A staff member at CA Market’s Kalpataru picks out sandesh from a tray Brinda Sarkar

Supply chain challenge

Even if they had full staff strength, Sil of Kalpataru says they could not have prepared many more sweets during the lockdown. “The supply of commercial gas and ingredients like milk and sugar have all gone for a toss. Milk is usually sold to us on credit but the suppliers are now demanding cash payment. Where will cash come from if barely five or six customers are appearing a day?” he asks.

The weekly off day at CA Market is Thursday but the medicine shop and this sweet shop would usually remain open due to steady demand. “That was before the lockdown. Now there is no difference between Thursday and Sunday. Sales are low throughout the week,” Sil laments. “The only reason we are not shutting down is because even Rs 500 revenue is better than zero.”

BJ Market’s sweet shop Narayan’s also fears hiccups in milk supply. “Supplies from Bongaon and Howrah are disrupted and we are relying on local milk from places like Hatiara. But if the lockdown continues nearby vendors will not be able to meet demand,” says Subir Saha, who is walking 20 minutes from his Baguiati home to reach the shop every day.

“We are procuring less milk because of reduced production. But even this milk would have gone waste if confectioners were not allowed to reopen,” says Subhajit Ghosh of Banchharam.

A New Town sweet shop in Action Area 1 failed to reopen at all. “It wasn’t possible. Our factory has about 30 staff where social distancing cannot be practised. Plus no one is discussing sweets amidst the tension now so we didn’t try to open up,” says the owner of the franchise. “Losses are mounting, Poila Baisakh is around the corner but we have no choice this year.”

Mishti Hub, the showcase outlet in Eco Park selling sweets from some of the best-known names in town, hasn’t opened either.

Residents have mixed opinions about the opening of the sweet shops Brinda Sarkar

Customer speak

Residents have mixed opinions about the opening of the sweet shops. Rajesh Paul of FC Block visited Banchharam’s the second time in a week last Saturday. “The first time I returned without buying anything as the staff said the sweets are made by hand and not machines. I was scared of infection but I’m back today to buy curd for Shitala puja at home,” said Paul. “Plus my wife has asked for rosogollas. I’m not sure if there is a risk in having sweets but I couldn’t help myself.”

Sharmila Mallik is a doctor who had driven down from Murshidabad to look up her mother-in-law in Kankurgachhi when she stopped at Banchharam’s. “I crossed many sweet shops on the way — names big and small — but they were all shut,” said the lady who joined a queue behind four people on Saturday.

Then again some maybe worried about the quality of sweets available now. On March 29, VIP Sweets in AH Block was caught selling what customers alleged was rotten curd from behind half-down shutters. They complained to councillor Anita Mondal, who arrived with the police. “Upon checking their documents we learnt that the shop did not even have a valid licence to do business,” Mondal later told The Telegraph Salt Lake.

No time for dessert

There are detractors too. “Are sweets so important that shops have to sell them during an emergency? If the government doesn’t want to waste milk let them also open tea shops as even they use milk. Potatoes are rotting in the fields as farmers are not allowed to harvest them and here we are eating sweets?” reflects Jyoti Bansal, a resident of EC Block.

Bansal celebrated Navratri last week and offered home-made halwa to the gods. “But once the sweet shops opened my domestic helps wanted to go buy them instead. I didn’t let them. I’m making my staff undergo thorough ablutions after returning with vegetables in the morning and I can’t let them go again after a few hours to buy sweets.”

Additional reporting by Debasmita Bhattacharjee