Operations for a recent concert by Punjabi singer Karan Aujla were thrown into chaos after Red Tag Catering was forced to cancel its services at the last minute. Dharambir Chaudhary, owner of Red Tag Catering, said: “We are not accepting new queries due to this shortage. We even had to cancel services for Karan Aujla’s concert at the last moment.”An event of this scale typically requires around 100 commercial LPG cylinders to run live food stalls and kitchens for thousands of fans. However, with commercial cylinders disappearing from the market and black-market prices soaring to Rs 12,000–15,000 per cylinder, logistics became impossible. The cancellation led to the removal of live stalls for pasta, Chinese snacks and dosas — dishes that require a consistent high flame.Related news: Karan Aujla draws 30,000 fans to Chandigarh for high-energy concertChaudhary said, “We cannot serve thousands of people without fuel, and the government doesn’t allow domestic cylinders for such work.”Menu slimmingThe wider hospitality and catering industry is experiencing a forced “menu slimming” as the severe LPG shortage drives up commercial cylinder prices. From wedding banquets to local tiffin services, caterers are cutting high-flame dishes to stay afloat.“For many of us, high-flame items such as Rumali roti, Tawa roti and omelettes are low-margin foods we simply cannot sustain,” said Gurnoor Singh, owner of Singh’s Kitchen. Similarly, Mahesh Wadhwa of Bharat Caterers added that high-flame Chinese snacks are being removed because the cost of fuel now outweighs the profit.The wedding season, traditionally a time of abundance, has seen dramatic cutbacks. Jagdish Kumar Jaggi of FOOD TAG Catering noted: “We’ve gone from 35 starters down to just five or ten. A commercial cylinder that was Rs 1,650 is now Rs 5,000 on the black market.”Alternative solutionsSome caterers are reverting to wood-fired cooking in their godowns, while diesel heaters, or bhattis, are also out of stock or sold at inflated prices. “A bhatti that usually costs Rs 7,000 is now being sold for Rs 15,000 and above,” said Wadhwa. Induction cooktops, often used by tiffin services and PGs, are inadequate for large-batch cooking, further straining operations.Chaudhary summed up the pressure on the industry: “One only gets married once and they want it to be perfect. Customers are angry, and it’s not their fault, but it isn’t the caterer’s mistake either.”With diesel heaters selling out, menus shrinking from 25 items to fewer than ten, and live concert catering disrupted, the industry appears to be at a breaking point. For now, elaborate banquets and high-flame delicacies are increasingly becoming a luxury rather than the norm.