Chandigarh, March 24 -- Even as the restaurants and cafes of the city have been able to brave the restrictions on commercial sale of LPG cylinders, the eateries are starting to feel the effects. Many eateries have now turned to alternative fuel methods like using electric ovens, induction cookers, tandoors and even wood to fuel their stoves as the supply of commercial LPG cylinders had been restricted by the central government to 20% of the average monthly sales. Nikhil Mittal, executive director and chef of Nik Bakers in the city, says that they've had to incur losses worth crores to deal with the shortage. "We were using LPG cylinders earlier but have had to get an electric oven installed at each of our outlets now. The oven can cost upwards of Rs.8 lakh, and the electricity needed to run it has also increased our electricity bill by 25%." He added that these are overhead charges, and will have to be borne by the businesses. He added that they are hopeful that normalcy resumes soon. In Sector 8, eateries have now turned to alternative cooking methods. As per Saval Singh, manager of Goldie's Roost, they have now switched to cooking with coal. The coal smoke could be seen at the outlet. At Lava, manager Balram Singh said they have now started cooking with an induction cooker. However, they maintain that the running costs have gone up while people still miss the taste of LPG cooking. Meanwhile, some eateries already using alternative cooking methods have fared better. Rohit Kumar, proprietor of Ovenfresh, said they had shifted to electric ovens a while back so the LPG shortage hasn't affected them much. Wood-fired pizza joints like Cafe Sicily and tandoor-based outlets like Dum Noorani in Sector 7 have also not had much impact as majority of their items are cooked through alternative means. Some outlets like Swagath in Sector 26 have piped natural gas (PNG) connections and are working as per normal. However, the same Swagath outlet in Elante doesn't have this connection and is facing issues, they say. Even as the situation is still mostly under control, there is still uncertainty over how the situation will progress in the coming days. Ankit Gupta, president of Chandigarh Hospitality Association, said, "Although supply has marginally trickled back in, the measures restaurateurs are currently resorting to are not their first preference. They are merely stopgap arrangements. How much longer establishments can sustain these makeshift solutions has become a source of widespread anxiety within the industry." According to Manish Goel, one of the partners at Social, Sector 7, the restaurant has for now resorted to alternatives like tandoor and induction. However, if the supply situation deteriorates further, they will have to cut down on their menu offerings. Goel, who is also a partner at Sagar Ratna, said the restaurant had to cut items from its North Indian menu for a couple of days before a limited supply came in on Sunday. According to Goel, the inconsistency has kept eateries particularly those without a PNG connection constantly on edge. Even clubs like Chandigarh Golf Club and Chandigarh Press Club are facing issues. At Chandigarh Press Club, the cooking is now being done by using a diesel "bhattha"(stove). CGC authorities said the LPG shortage has forced them to restrict their menu and shift to non-gas based cooking methods. Officials, however, added that a complete switchover to induction is not a viable long-term solution, given the high power consumption and the high electricity load. A senior functionary associated with one of the major hotels of the city also added that they have stopped catering to small parties, below 50 people as the LPG usage in such events is not viable....