Biryani for LPG: Hosur eatery’s unusual deal during gas shortage

Erode Ammayi Mess, a restaurant based in Hosur, put out a rather curious offer on Instagram earlier this month. ‘Help us cook, we’ll feed you’, read the post, going on to advertise that if people brought a commercial LPG cylinder to the restaurant, they get to have biryani for free for a month. It has been over 15 days since, and the restaurant has had six people bringing in gas cylinders from home.

No, they didn’t do it for the biryani.

A worker from a domestic gas agency unloading LPG cylinders, in Bengaluru
| Photo Credit:
SUDHAKARA JAIN

S Ashok, the purchase manager at the restaurant, says that many of them accepted free biryani for a day or two, but eventually stopped availing the offer. “This shows that they did this out of kindness,” he says. When India hit a commercial LPG shortage earlier this month with several restaurants shortening menus and smaller places even shutting down completely, Erode Ammayi Mess too felt the heat.

“We got together and brainstormed to get through this crisis,” says Ashok, adding that they decided to place faith in their regular customers, many of whom have turned friends over the years. “They were the ones who suggested this idea when we were first faced with LPG shortage,” he says. “They promised to support us, their only request was that we don’t close the restaurant.”

According to the offer, a customer can avail mutton or chicken biryani priced at ₹300 and ₹190 respectively for 15 days by sharing one gas cylinder. “We also give them an empty cylinder that belongs to the same cooking gas brand,” Ashok says. Erode Ammayi Mess is known for its homestyle non-vegetarian food, particularly its seeraga samba biryani. Interestingly, not all of those who offered them LPG cylinders are regular diners.

This is something Ashok fails to understand. “To be honest, we were surprised when people brought their cylinders.” Why did they do it? “I don’t know,” he says. “Perhaps they thought that if they gave it away, it will be of use to a lot of people.” Irrespective of why they did this, one thing is for sure, feels Ashok, adding that we can deal with any crisis the world throws at us. We simply have to be in it together.

Erode Ammayi Mess is located near Grand Cinemas, Hosur.