Chicken restaurants, vendors see sales drop<\/p>\n
Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam<\/p>\n
The kitchen at Windsor Fried Chicken in Batam is not nearly as
\nbusy as it was just weeks ago, and employees like Asrul, 34, now
\noften find themselves with little more to do than try and look
\nbusy.<\/p>\n
"People are afraid to eat chicken," said Asrul by way of
\nexplaining the business slump.<\/p>\n
Erwin Mandailing, the owner of Windsor Fried Chicken, said
\nfried chicken sales had noticeable dropped over the past few
\nweeks since bird flu made the headlines in the country.<\/p>\n
Prior to the bird flu scare, Erwin sold about 250 cooked
\nchickens a day at three Windsor branches in Batam. But business
\nhas dropped by about 50 percent over the last several weeks.<\/p>\n
The three Windsor outlets are now open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
\nwhere before they used to shut at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
"The longer you operate, more it costs. I think it will be
\nthree months before the situation returns to normal," Erwin said.<\/p>\n
Novi, a chicken vendor at Toss 3000 market in Batam used to
\nsupply about 1,000 chickens a day to 20 Padang restaurants in the
\ncity.<\/p>\n
"But the orders have been decreasing since the issue of the
\nbird flu virus emerged here. I guarantee that our chickens are
\nnot infected with the virus," said Novi, who has been in business
\nfor three years.<\/p>\n
Since the issue of bird flu made national headlines, he has
\nbeen selling about 700 chickens a day. Novi gets his chickens
\nfrom Tanjung Balai Asahan in North Sumatra and from local
\nfarmers. He sells his chicken to the restaurants for between Rp
\n18,000 and Rp 22,000 a bird.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/chicken-restaurants-vendors-see-sales-drop-1447899208",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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