After two years, restaurants and bars were finally able to run smoothly this year during Dashain. The global pandemic had forced restaurants to shut down causing huge losses for the businesses. With things getting back to normal, a difference in sales was also seen this year.

“We were surprised to see our sales increasing this Dashain because business usually goes down during the festival. About 90% of our customers are Nepalese people from Kathmandu and they are either out of the valley or are spending time with their families”,says Shushan Gurung, manager of KC’s Restaurant & Bar. “This year was probably different because people were tired of staying home”, he adds.

Ranak Basnet, owner of Tipsy Bamboo decided to keep the restaurant running during the festival this year. “Compared to last year, Dashain did help sales go up this year”, he says.