Onion off the plates at houses, hotels in Bengaluru

The soaring price of onions has taken a toll on the onion-rich food items such as Irulli Dosa in hotels here and in surrounding areas.

Presently, the onions are being sold between Rs 80 and Rs 120 per kg depending on the quality.

Shopkeepers are apprehensive the prices may shoot up further while many families have avoided the use of onion in their meals.

Some hoteliers have stopped supplying Irulli Dosa (onion dosa) as the prices have gone up, while some other have reduced the quantity of the vegetable in other food items, president of All Karnataka Pradesh Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association Chandrashekhar Hebbar told PTI.

He, however, was optimistic that the shortage of onion in the market is for a short-term and said the situation would be better after a month or so.

It is usual that whenever there are floods in Maharashtra and parts of northern Karnataka, onion supply is hit because those regions produce the vegetable on a large scale, said Hebbar.

Another hotelier Vasudev Adiga said his hotel chain per se has not reduced the quantity of onion and has decided to bear the extra burden caused by soaring prices.

However, his hotel chain has decided to introduce some innovative items, which require less onions.

We will introduce new items using less costly items. It will bring a new taste to our customers, Adiga said.

In a lighter vein, Adiga said innovators usually take advantage of a situation like this and come up with alternative solutions.

Thats the way innovation happens, Adiga explained.

He too said the current phase of onion shortage is for a short duration, as the government has decided to import the vegetable.