With commercial LPG supply restricted across India, restaurants are rationing fuel, trimming menus and shortening hours as they prepare for possible shutdowns. Induction cooktops are replacing gas burners, biryani is being slow cooked, and in some kitchens the sigri is back.

America News World | March 11, 2026

Walk into Bangalore Thindis on Infantry Road on any normal morning and you’d be greeted by the sizzle of dosas hitting a hot iron griddle, the hiss of steam from sambar pots, and the low roar of gas flames pushing heat into a dozen pans at once. Today, a handwritten sign taped to the counter tells a different story: “Only coffee and tea.”

Across India, restaurant kitchens are going quiet — and it’s a war playing out thousands of miles away that’s turning off the gas.

The Crisis in a Cylinder

India’s commercial cooking gas — Liquefied Petroleum Gas, or LPG — flows through a supply chain that traces back, in significant part, to West Asia. As the ongoing conflict in the region continues to rattle global energy markets and shipping routes, the ripple effects have landed squarely in the middle of India’s massive food service industry.

The Bangalore Hotels Association didn’t mince words. In a public notice issued this week, the group warned that if commercial gas supply is not restored, hotels will have no choice but to shut their doors entirely.

On March 9, a government notification reclassified restaurants and hotels as "non-essential" services for LPG supply purposes, effectively kicking them to the back of the line. Domestic households now take priority. What followed was swift and severe: suppliers stopped answering phones, cylinders vanished from warehouses, and chefs across the country found themselves staring at near-empty kitchens.

A ₹6.6 Lakh Crore Industry Holding Its Breath

The scale of what’s at stake is enormous. Zorawar Kalra, founder of Massive Restaurants — the hospitality group behind popular brands like Masala Library, Farzi Cafe, and Pa Pa Ya — put it plainly: commercial LPG is not just a convenience. It is the backbone of every Indian restaurant kitchen, from five-star dining rooms to roadside dhabas.

“A single day’s lack of supply will cost the industry and the economy between 1,200 and 1,300 crores,” Kalra said, noting that between 70 and 75 percent of India’s food service ecosystem depends on LPG to function.

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That’s not an abstract number. It’s tens of thousands of jobs, millions of meals, and the daily rhythms of a country where eating out — or grabbing a quick plate of idli before work — is woven into the fabric of everyday life.

Menus Are Shrinking, Hours Are Shortening

In city after city, restaurateurs are doing the math on what they have left and how long they can make it last. In Coimbatore, Annapoorna Hotel — one of the most beloved institutions in Tamil Nadu’s food culture, open for 58 uninterrupted years — has removed rava dosas and parottas from its menu. CEO Jegan S. Damodarasamy says if the situation doesn’t improve within three days, even the iconic ghee masala dosa will disappear from the menu between 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. “This is the first time in 58 years we have not served dosas in the afternoon,” he said quietly.

In Chennai, MadCo speakeasy has cut its hours to dinner only, and dropped high-flame dishes like bone marrow from service. In Hyderabad, dosa stalls that used to keep griddles warm and ready are now running a single stove instead of two. In Mumbai, roughly 20 percent of eateries have already shut. Prices for black-market cylinders have doubled — and now even those have dried up.

Can Induction Cooktops Save the Day?

Many are asking whether electric induction cooktops can simply replace gas burners. The answer, from nearly every chef interviewed, is: not really — at least not quickly or cheaply.

“Induction is not an alternative for a lot of the cooking we do,” said Santhosh Zachariah of MadCo. The high heat of a wok, the open flame of a tandoor, the long steady burn of a biryani pot — none of these translate easily to induction cooking. And beyond the flavor question, the electrical infrastructure upgrades alone would take weeks and significant investment.

What Comes Next

India’s Oil Ministry has set up a panel to address the shortage. Officials in some states say new gas sources are being explored. But on the ground, chefs are dusting off charcoal stoves, rewiring their menus, and in some cases relearning how to cook over sigris — traditional open-fire cooking vessels their grandmothers used.

“We are thinking of going back to the old style of cooking,” said Chennai chef Chindi Varadarajulu, half-surprised at the words as she said them.

For now, India’s restaurants are doing what they’ve always done in hard times: improvising, adapting, and keeping the kitchen going — one cylinder at a time.

Reported for America News World |by-Andrew rose