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    Riyaaz Amlani welcomes move to keep Mumbai restaurants open 24x7, says will improve work-life balance

    Synopsis

    Impresario Handmade Restaurants boss believes this move will add to the vibrancy of the city.

    Riyaaz Amlani thinks Mumbai​ ​need to have a more vibrant nightlife​.
    Riyaaz Amlani thinks Mumbai needs to have a more vibrant nightlife.
    Mumbai is often considered a city that never sleeps and come January 27, there are even more reasons to stay up. The long pending proposal to keep all restaurants, malls, multiplexes, shopping plazas, etc. open 23 hrs was given the go ahead by Environment & Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray. Establishments falling within 'gated communities', non-residential zones with security, CCTVs, parking areas, etc, can remain open round-the-clock from January 27.

    Riyaaz Amlani, CEO & MD – Impresario Handmade Restaurants, says that this is a welcome change and that it will only add to the vibrancy of the city and will even give people the chance to have a better work life balance.

    He says, “As restaurateurs, we feel that in a city like Mumbai we are not able to service the consumer’s demands adequately because by the time you get home from work it is already 10 pm, and by the time you dress up and step out its already 11-11:30 pm. Most places shut by 12 am, so there’s not enough time for leisure post a hectic workday or even on a weekend. That’s one issue. Secondly, the vibrancy of any world class city is usually defined by its thriving nightlife. And with Mumbai being the financial capital of the country, and possibly one of the most forward from a contemporary culture perspective, we need to have a more vibrant nightlife.”

    A r​ooftop restaurant at Kamala Mills Compound in Lower Parel, Mumbai. (​Representative Image)
    A rooftop restaurant at Kamala Mills Compound in Lower Parel, Mumbai. (Representative Image)

    Money matters
    According to Amlani, Mumbai sees over 5 lakh visitors a year and a lot of them end up staying here only one night. “Correspondingly, we have 5 lakh employees in the hospitality sector. So there’s a direct connection between the amount of people coming in and the jobs that can be created in this sector. Now if you can get these visitors to stay one more night in the city, you suddenly have 10 lakh visitors. This can significantly impact employment numbers. And if you have a 24/7 employment landscape, you can employ more people in different shifts,” he explains.

    During his time as President of NRAI, Amlani says that when he met Aditya Thackeray, he already understood why this was important and how beneficial nightlife was for the city. “He very famously said, “I don’t understand how something that is legal in the day becomes illegal by night.”


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