Budget marriage

Rising vegetable prices force couples to switch popular dishes for economical ones; some even chopped the guest list to stay in budget

Budget marriage

Rising vegetable prices force couples to switch popular dishes for economical ones; some even chopped the guest list to stay in budget

The rising prices of vegetables have claimed an unusual victim in the city -- Wedding menus. Unable to afford lavish wedding buffets, after the consistent price hike in vegetables, couples are now swapping popular dishes for economical options to meet costs, say caterers.
Vegetable prices have gone up by almost 20- 30 per cent in the past month, while prices of raw materials like masalas have almost doubled, say vegetable wholesalers. And the hike has driven down the sale of these commodities.
Caterers say that in order to combat the price hike, clients have now started resorting to desperate measures like cutting down client list or switching expensive dishes for cheaper options.
"You will hardly find a dish like peas-mushroom at weddings these days, though it's a favourite with vegetarians. The price of both these items are really high. So clients ask us to replace these dishes," said S Chaturvedi, owner of Aahar Caterers based in Viman Nagar.
So be prepared for a menu full of potatoes and cauliflower as other vegetables are hard to afford.
"The prices of the entire wedding catering have shot up by more than 30 per cent. And that's why some cost cutting measures have to be adopted," said Sheela Sarpotdar, manager of Sarpotdar caterers at Budhwar Peth.
She added that most unaffordable vegetable dishes include those with green peas, paneer, mushrooms and capsicum as ingredients.
Some clients have not cut down on food variety, but shortened the guest lists.
"At least three to four of my new clients told me that they would have to shorten guest lists as the prices of food and decorations are costing them really high as compared to the budget they had drawn a few months back," said Deepak Malani, proprietor, Deepak Caterers.
Loss of business
Even vegetable wholesalers complain of loss of business as people have cut down on consumption and bulk orders from caterers are not as expected.
"First of all people can't afford to buy vegetables because prices are so high. On top of that, even caterers are resorting to other methods to meet price hike. Like for example, instead of buying peas at Rs 140 per kilo from us, they buy frozen peas at Rs 110 per kg," said Rahul Kondhre, owner, Rameshwar Trading Company.
Besides that caterers say they are losing money behind deals that were cracked a month ago.
"Some customers book months in advance and we can't ask them for more money later. We have committed to a price and have to stick to it, so we are facing losses," said Jaideep Manchanda, owner of Shahji Rajdhani caterers.