India's Food Industry Looks For Options As Tomato Prices Continue To Rise

The Indian food industry is feeling the pinch of the increase in prices of tomatoes and other vegetables. While burger giant McDonalds made an official announcement about taking tomatoes off its menu, the smaller eateries and restaurants across India are trying to look for options to “manage with the crisis and not let the customer suffer.”

As the city of joy Kolkata saw tomatoes going beyond Rs 150, restaurant owners started shifting to tomato purees for most of the dishes, instead of fresh tomatoes. Asif Ahmed, owner of Sanjha Chulha in Kolkata said that they are hoping that prices come down soon. “Almost every curry that you see in Indian or Mughlai cuisine has tomato as a base, so it is difficult for us to let go of tomatoes totally, even if they cost dearer,” said Ahmed. 

The restaurant has started shuffling between using readymade purees for the curries and raw tomatoes for salads. “The consumers are already suffering with increasing prices of vegetables and when they come to us, they don’t want to get pinched further. Hence we cannot opt to increase the prices of our dishes,” he added. 

The southern city of Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh too is bearing the heat of ‘expensive tomatoes’. M Madhu, owner of Southern Spice said that the smaller eateries suffer the worst as they cannot look at alternatives for tomatoes or onions in their dishes. “Tomatoes are an integral part of the cuisine we serve and we cannot comprise with the quality at all. Every year, we suffer for two-three months whenever the rates of onions or tomatoes shoot up,” said Madhu. He added that while earlier they ordered 200 kgs of tomatoes everyday, the quantity has now come down to half. “We avoid using tomatoes in garnishing now and use it only whenever the recipe cannot be changed,” he said. In Vijayawada, tomatoes are currently retailing at Rs 140 per kg.  

In Mumbai, most cafe owners however decided to tweak their recipes a bit to manage with the increase in prices of tomatoes.  Vikrant Dawda, Owner of La Crosta in Vashi said, “As a cafe owner, we are facing the challenge of rising vegetable prices, especially tomatoes. To tackle this, we have optimised our recipes to use tomatoes efficiently without compromising on flavour. We remain committed to maintaining the quality of our offerings while navigating these challenging times." 

Shreyas Kudalkar, Owner of Kings Restaurant in Raigad district Maharashtra too follows the same route. “The recent increase in prices for basic ingredients like tomatoes, ginger and chilli has brought to our attention the fine line we walk in order to deliver outstanding dining experiences. These price changes provide a significant obstacle even as we work to produce dishes that delight the palate. We don't let this dissuade us though since great culinary inventiveness thrives in the face of difficulty. We modify our menus, looking for creative substitutes and carefully striking a balance between quality and affordability.” 

In Tamil Nadu too, the scenario is the same. The tamil cuisine extensively uses tomatoes, specially for Rasam, which is a staple in most south Indian restaurants. Prabhu, Owner of Erode Amman Mess in Chennai, which serves Rasam in its best selling Thali said, “Given the extensive use of tomatoes in our cuisine we have taken a hit of 5-7% from our margins. Small establishments, operating on narrow margins have been compelled to raise menu prices to offset the increase. But mid-sized to large restaurants have managed to withstand the impact and will play the waiting game. The surge in tomato prices are a temporary problem, but they are time and again a reminder of the challenges our industry faces and we are striving to avoid passing the burden onto customers.” 

Vaibhav, a small cafe owner in Delhi’s Rohini area said that it is the smaller cafes which are the worst hit. “We have to take tomatoes off the garnishing and filling and now are using only purees for the sauces and curries. Ours is a small outlet and we cater majorly to a younger crowd with a menu like burgers, pastas and more. We cannot increase the price since we will lose our customer, but have to let go of raw tomatoes for the time being.”  

Small cafe owners in Lucknow say that they prefer to take the heat on themselves rather than increase prices. "It's not just tomatoes, but even chillies and capsicum have become costlier now and these are the main ingredients of many of our dishes," said Darpan, owner of Gravy Groovy in Lucknow. He said that while they are still trying to manage with tomatoes in gravies, tomatoes from garnishes and dressings have been removed. "We have to bear the losses ourselves as we cannot lose customers. So small comprises are done."

However, for the bigger players who shifted to the home growing trend, the problem isn’t a major one. Gurmeet Singh, Senior General Manager Brigade Hospitality Bengaluru said, “We have implemented effective strategies like bulk purchasing and organic farming at our clubs to maintain price and supply stability. Additionally, we have adopted a prudent approach to our business operations by enhancing efficiency, minimising wastage, and optimising portion sizes. By doing so, we ensure that the impact of rising raw ingredient prices is not transferred to our customers.”

As per Debaditya Chaudhury, Managing Director of Chowman, Oudh 1590 & Chapter 2, in the phase of skyrocketing tomato prices, it's a challenge for restaurants to find innovative ways to manage this delicate scenario. He added, "Especially in Chinese cuisine, tomatoes are of grave significance in our culinary creations, but as a democratised fine dining, we must adapt and evolve. We have strategically tried to explore alternative ingredients, experiment with new flavours, and leverage our relationships with local vendors to find sustainable solutions. And as a service industry, we commit to delivering exceptional yet unwavering dining experiences."