gurgaon more often than not plans to eat and drink out in the city materialise at a microbrewery corporate or personal hanging out with friends or meeting a date these standalone distillerycumbars seem like an inevitable setting because they are ubiquitous gurgaon has one microbrewery for every six bars an unusually high ratio for any cityeven though competition has increased none has seemed a misfit here the massive corporate presence in the city and a buzzing nightlife meant customers for bespoke brews wasnt a problembut the covid19 pandemic and the lockdown that followed has altered this universe business models built on higher footfalls find themselves marooned by social distancing and curfew hours the corporate tide has turned into a trickleas a result many microbrewery owners do not see any business sense in reopening their establishments even after the government permits them to do so explaining why one businessman who did not wish to be named said the smallest of microbreweries occupies a 4000 square feet area translating into a rent of rs 7 lakh 8 lakh a month licence fees total up to rs 25 lakh per annum once maintenance costs staff salaries and other overheads are factored in anyone who wants to reopen a microbrewery will need rs 50 lakh working capital immediately the microbrewery owner saidinderjeet singh banga the gurgaon chapter head of the national restaurant association of india nrai and owner of popular microbrewery prankster said that he feared only 1520 outlets may survive while the remaining may just shut shop he agreed reopening under the current licensing regime would entail a hefty investment and many businessmen simply did not have that kind of money after two straight months of being in lockdownwe need permission to stay open till late home deliver fresh beer and waiver of rentals for at least the lockdown period followed by renegotiations on rentsharing and deferment of licence renewals to be able to reopen banga saidlalit ahlawat of striker adda and soi7 concurred that reopening did not look feasible in the current situation after investing fresh capital trying to get their staff back and following new social distancing protocols which will reduce seating capacity businesses will bleed from the day they reopen ahlawat said he is doubtful about home deliveries rescuing the business even if the government allowed it microbreweries ahlawat said were conceptualised as experiential zones and restarting them to deliver a mere 1520 litres of beer wont make any sense we cannot operate under the same module we are also not confident to shift out and build a new place from scratch as there is no certainty of business for the next six months this is a time for authorities and landlords to step forward to save the industry he saidanother microbrewery owner said many like him had not thought about applying for renewing their licences because they were not sure about the future of their business there are some who will just sell their equipment and shut shop