Messes replaced tomatoes with substitutes to curb rising costs and widen profit margins. Photo: Roopa Kantamneni
Roopa Kantamneni | August 30, 2023
Chennai’s budget-friendly messes, famous for authentic South Indian meals, felt the heat when soaring vegetable prices added to existing financial woes from escalating gas cylinder costs and rising power tariffs.
The surging costs are forcing the messes to cut down on profits. Thanjavur mess, where cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin is an occasional customer, made 30% less profits this year than in 2022.
“Last month our bills were 20% higher than the previous year, from Rs. 75,000 ($906) to Rs. 90,000 ($1088),” said Ramamurthy Rajagopal, the owner of Thanjavur Mess.
Kitchen staples such as onions, tomatoes, and green chilies have become luxury items, with prices skyrocketing. The country’s food inflation rose to 11.5% in July from 4.5% in June.
These messes run on thin margins, since they cannot transfer the burden to their price-sensitive customers, but the rising costs are forcing some of them to raise their meal prices.
“A hike of Rs. 5 ($0.06) or Rs. 10 ($0.12) would make a huge difference to our customers”, said John Britto, owner of the J.K Mess, as he had to increase the meal prices by 10% this year due to inflation.
The messes have varied customers from auto drivers, labourers, hospital employees to relatives of patients, and students who come to Chennai to give their exams.
Some of the messes have started substituting tomato with other ingredients. Thanjavur uses pudina chutney in place of tomato chutney. Bommai mess provides lemon or pudina rice instead of tomato rice. The delicate balance between preserving taste and staying affordable is putting their culinary legacy to the test.
The 71-year-old National Lodge Mess is also set to increase the price of their meal plate to Rs. 150 ($1.81) in September from the current price of Rs. 110 ($1.32). This mess, which continues to serve the traditional home-style meals to more than 1000 customers, had their last price hike just before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Messes’ are concerned about unprecedented increase in vegetable prices. Bommai mess had doubled its cost for 65 kilograms of vegetables from around Rs. 2500 ($30.21) to Rs. 5000 ($60.42). The overall budget for J K Mess has risen by 30% from the previous year and the electricity bill has gone up by 20% due to the hike in electricity tariff. Balaji Mess has also had an increase in daily expenditure from Rs. 8000 ($97) to Rs. 10,000 ($120).
Other messes like Kasivinayaga do not wish to compromise on the quality, and are avoiding using substitutes. They said little about their price increments. A loyal customer, Ravi Kumar, who has been visiting the mess for 15 years said the prices have increased over time. “Meals that priced Rs. 75 ($0.90) – Rs. 100 ($1.20) before Corona, now cost between Rs. 100 ($1.20) – Rs. 120 ($1.45).