Several restaurants in Kolkata are capping alcohol orders at four 60ml pegs during the puja season after the Hotel and Restaurants’ Association of Eastern India asked its member establishments to adopt the measure to curb drunken behaviour and promote safer journeys home.
The limit allows three large pegs or four small ones, with restaurant staff instructed to screen customers who order alcohol. If a patron insists on a fifth peg, the waiter is expected to call the manager, who can decide whether to permit up to half a peg more but not a full additional serving.
Sudesh Poddar, president of HRAEI and owner of Songhai-Manthan and MS Bar & Lounge, said some restaurants had already introduced the rule with positive results. He said the measure had helped curb unruly and drunken behaviour to a considerable extent, while staff had been told to monitor drinkers and escalate cases to managers.
Specialty Restaurants, which operates outlets including Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta, Cafe Mezzuna and Hoppipola, said it would follow the limit. Anjan Chatterjee, the company’s chairman and managing director, said the group would restrict orders to three large pegs or four small ones and encourage responsible drinking so that patrons could return home safely.
Restaurants are also urging customers not to drive after drinking. Some establishments are arranging drivers and cars through apps for patrons who have consumed alcohol. The safety messaging is being supported by restaurant-level campaigns, including posters and WhatsApp communication against drink driving.
Chapter 2 on Southern Avenue said it had been running a poster and WhatsApp campaign against drink driving for three years. Its owner and co-founder, Shiladitya Chaudhury, said the family restaurant screened customers and avoided serving anyone found to be inebriated. He added that most customers generally stayed within the limit and that instances of patrons insisting on a fifth peg were rare.
The measure is not being implemented uniformly across the city. Several restaurants on Park Street told the Times of India that they had been following the limit unofficially, although they had not received a formal request. Siddharth Kothari of Peter Hu said alcohol orders at the restaurant generally remained at two or three pegs per person, but staff had stopped inebriated people from entering on some occasions.
Restaurant operators also pointed to a practical enforcement challenge: a customer could consume three pegs at one establishment and then move to another. Anirban Sengupta, co-chapter head of the National Restaurants Association of India and owner of WhatsUp Café on Southern Avenue, said screening customers was more important than relying only on a fixed number of pegs.
The current arrangement therefore depends largely on staff judgment, manager intervention and customer cooperation. Restaurants that follow the measure are combining limits on orders with screening, refusal of service to visibly inebriated patrons and arrangements for alternative transport during the puja season.
