Maharashtra’s hotels and restaurants continue to push their demands even as United Spirits Ltd (USL) conceded to some last week.
AHAR, Mumbai’s restaurant association that is leading the negotiations has four demands; refund of the breakage cost, a credit period of 25 days, the introduction of same schemes applicable to the off trade and free delivery to locations outside the city up to 50 kms from the distributor’s warehouse.
USL has said it will consider uniform sales promotion schemes for hotels, restaurants and wine shops, though it has not offered a timeline. On the free deliveries, it has conceded to only 15 kms.
The general boycott by AHAR and wine shops against USL’s Bagpiper Whisky and McDowell’s No. 1 brands was called off on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 when the distiller reinstated the 3% profit margin for retailers.
“We are happy that USL has accepted our demands but there is still some work left. We expect them to accept the other two demands in a few days,” said Chandrahas Shetty, the Mumbai restaurateur who led the effort. Shetty is a former president of AHAR, Mumbai 3,500 strong restaurant association.
