- Abhijit Gupta noted workers from West Bengal and northeast India work later hours than locals in Bengaluru
- Local Kannadigas work hard but avoid late-night shifts common in Gupta’s restaurants
- Gupta linked local work patterns to Bengaluru’s darshini culture with shorter restaurant hours
Abhijit Gupta, the Bengaluru-based co-founder of popular chains like The Pizza Bakery and Paris Panini, recently shared his perspective on the city's labour market. In a conversation with YouTuber Ayush Wadhwa, Gupta noted that while he employs many hardworking local Kannadigas, he finds that workers from West Bengal and northeast India were more likely to stay beyond the normal working hours. He attributed this to their willingness to work late-night shifts, suggesting that workers from the eastern states often show a slightly more flexible work ethic when it comes to demanding hours.
“The local labour workforce in Karnataka don't like doing these restaurant hours, because these are late nights," explained Gupta, adding: “We have a lot of Kannadigas, local guys who work insane hours. Super hard-working guys. But it's far harder to find a local guy who is willing to close up and leave the restaurant at 1 am as it is to find someone from West Bengal."
"Because the West Bengal guys or the Northeastern guys come here and they are coming with the mindset of, I am going to stand and work late because I'm coming with the intention to work in F&B."
Gupta also attributed the difference in working style to the prevalent darshini culture in Bengaluru. The restaurateur pointed out that darshinis operate for only a few hours a day, unlike the restaurants he runs which are generally open for 14 hours a day.
“Darshini culture is very different. They open in the morning for three, four hours. They're opening in the evening for three, four hours. It's a very comfortable, relaxed day. Not like Pizza Bakery or Smash Guys or any of our microbreweries these days or the larger industry that's open from 11 in the morning till 1 am,” Gupta highlighted.
Check The Viral Clip Here:
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Social Media Reactions
As of the last update, the video had garnered over 73,000 views and mixed responses from social media users. A section lauded the hard work of the workers from the eastern part of the country, while others pointed out that employees often exploited them.
"West Bengal, Assam, and Nepalis are the best. Locally, it's hard to find someone who's actually hardworking and satisfying and also, the huge difference is in salary," said one user, while another added: "Locals have family waiting for them and people from other states think, what will I do going to the room, better to stay at the workplace. This is normal in every city."
A third commented: "Better pay, better growth, better work life balance, these things you don't associate with the F&B industry, also down south workforce is much more skilful, this comparison is apples to oranges, as bitter as it sounds, it's the reality."
A fourth said: "I'm hoping when he is saying 14-15 hours of work means they are getting extra hour wages and good leaves to actually spend time for the people they are working hard for."
