Pune: Despite repeated warnings and inspections by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), several small food outlets in Pune continue to struggle to maintain basic hygiene, with owners citing staff shortages, a continuous flow of customers and the cost of hiring additional workers as major challenges.
At a small outlet near the Kalewadi Phata Flyover, the manager of Engineer Thali Ani Vade said limited manpower often leaves workers juggling multiple responsibilities, pushing cleaning work to the background during busy hours.
“For a small outlet like ours, the biggest challenge is managing the kitchen with limited staff. The same people have to prepare food, serve customers, clear tables and wash utensils, especially during rush hours. When there are continuous orders, cleaning the kitchen or the surrounding area gets pushed to the next available time. We know hygiene is important and we do clean the place, but with customers coming in continuously, the kitchen becomes dirty again very quickly. The FDA inspections have made us more conscious about it, but maintaining the same level of cleanliness throughout the day is difficult when there are not enough people to handle each job separately. We will be cleaning the whole outlet soon, but need some time,” the manager said.
At a Dosa and Coffee outlet near the same flyover, the head of the outlet said staff shortages directly affect cleaning routines.
“The problem is not that we don’t want to maintain cleanliness. We simply don’t have enough people. If two workers are absent, the entire system gets affected because there is nobody specifically assigned to cleaning. During peak hours, food preparation becomes the priority because customers are waiting. For a small outlet, hiring additional staff also means a major increase in our monthly expenses,” he said.
A small eatery near the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) office said maintaining hygiene is a continuous challenge. “We clean the area, but after a few hours there are food particles, oil, water and waste again. Sometimes owners also become used to seeing the same conditions and stop noticing them. Maintaining the standard every day requires constant monitoring and someone specifically responsible for hygiene,” he said.
The manager of a Chinese-food outlet near the PMC office said, “In a small kitchen, the same workers are handling cooking, serving and cleaning. When there is a rush, cleaning gets delayed and by the time we finish the orders, the kitchen needs to be cleaned again. We cook everything fresh, but the environment here also needs to support us, as our store is on the roadside. There is dust all the time. We serve everything fresh and clean the tables and area three to four times a day.”
Meanwhile, despite repeated attempts, officials from FDA, Pune, did not respond until the time the article went to press.
