According to Asela Sampath of the All Island Canteen Owners’ Association (AICOA), 30% of hotels, canteens, and 50% of school canteens have closed as a result of rising prices for basic goods and for chicken and eggs in the local market.
He told the media that due to a lack of bread, flour, eggs, meat, and fish, about 10,000 of the country’s 30,000 hotels are completely shut down.
According to him, there are about 3,000 canteens in government buildings and 4,600 canteens in schools throughout the nation.
Due to the lack of bread flour, eggs, meat, and fish, catering services for events (such as wedding homes and funeral homes) have completely ceased.
Due to a lack of ingredients, more than 60,000 people have stopped making food items like cakes, puddings, and watalappan at home using bread flour and eggs. The sale of street food has also ended.
Due to their inability to pay their rent and the salaries of their employees, the majority of the hotels, restaurants, stalls, canteens, and street food carts were closed. The chairman of the association continued, “Even though the food was prepared, we could not sell it for a higher price.