fhraimagazine september 2013

September 2013

magazine Vol 13 Issue 09 Pages 84 `50

A MONTHLY ON HOSPITALITY TRADE

By DDP Publications

Sustainable & Responsible Interiors

Beyond aesthetics

Restaurant Business Risks & Solutions

Supported by

Growth opportunities in

South India

September 2013 Cover Story

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The Brimming South South India is brimming with confidence on the tourism & hospitality map of the country.

The prime reason for this is the fast paced development that has taken place in the last couple of years. A special feature focussing on some critical cities in the four states and union territories to identify their set of challenges and market scope.

44 Cover Story

contents THIS MONTH

President’s Message Secretary’s Message FHRAI Desk News Updates Products & Services Events Movements

28 News you can use

7 9 14 28 70 74 80

FEATURES Guest Column 32 Daily Deals: A profile of price sensitive customers The availability of Internet-driven flash deals or daily deals has created a phenomenon for the hospitality industry Chef Talk 34 Infusing Creative Flavours Chef Pradip Rozario, owner of KK’s Fusion had the courage to take a new route and still came out successfully with panache

34 Chef Talk: Pradip Rozario

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40 F&B: Bhojohori Manna, Kolkata

F&B 40 Passion Dining The phrase ‘Bhojohori Manna’ instantly connects with Bengalis, but now, it has also become a loved brand for home styled cooked food

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president’s message

Dear fellow members,

F

HRAI is looking forward with anticipation to the privilege of welcoming a galaxy of eminent dignitaries, stalwarts of the Indian hospitality industry, global thought leaders and inspirational entrepreneurs to the vibrant city of Kochi for our 48th Annual FHRAI Convention.

Our endeavour will be to leverage their shared expertise and incisive insights for a wideranging and agenda-setting discourse on the myriad challenges and exciting opportunities which confront our industry at present, and contemplate strategies to accelerate future growth. This is also an ideal platform for us to articulate our collective concerns and aspirations before senior representatives from the highest echelons of the Central and various State Governments.

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Successive interest rate hikes in recent years have pushed up borrowing costs to prohibitive levels, whereas the global and domestic economic slowdown has created a temporary mismatch in the demandsupply dynamics of the industry, putting a severe strain on cash-flows

Today, Tourism, directly and indirectly, supports the livelihoods of nearly 53 million of our fellow citizens, which is about 9.2 per cent of the total workforce. It is estimated that over the next five years, the sector has the capacity to generate 25 million additional jobs.

In 2012, tourism contributed 6.7 per cent to India’s GDP and earned $18 billion in valuable foreign exchange for the economy. In the fiscal year 2012-13, Hotels & Tourism witnessed an astounding $3.25 billion i.e., over `18,000 crore in Foreign Direct Investment and is now counted among the top 10 sectors attracting highest FDI equity inflows in the country.

Last year, the sector crossed another landmark by recording over one billion Domestic Tourist Visits, with a year-on-year growth of 20 per cent.

As a primary stakeholder in the tourism sector, the hospitality industry can justifiably take immense pride in being an integral part of this veritable economic powerhouse.

At the same time, there are some equally important facets which beckon urgent attention of the industry and our policymakers. We will all readily agree that India is uniquely endowed with a rich reservoir of pristine natural beauty, vivid cultural diversity and a peerless historical and spiritual heritage. It is however, extremely disappointing that in spite of such intrinsic strengths, our country currently ranks 41st in the world in terms of international tourist arrivals with a global market share of only 0.64 per cent. India’s Foreign Tourist Arrivals of 6.5 million pale in comparison to the number of

international tourists visiting smaller countries such as Egypt, Turkey or even our South-East Asian neighbours like Thailand and Malaysia. It also unfavourably compares with the number of outbound tourists from India, which in 2012 stood at 15 million.

In this context, as FHRAI President, along with our Executive Committee Members and Regional Associations, I have focussed on assiduously highlighting certain structural bottlenecks which are constraining the tourism sector from achieving its full growth potential and also advocating practical solutions and policy alternatives to address these impediments and strengthen the industry’s overall global competitiveness.

It is widely recognised that a principal roadblock in the hotel industry’s efforts to rapidly augment our inventory of classified hotel rooms is the high cost of capital.

Exorbitant land prices, particularly in metro cities, and a steady escalation in input costs have significantly stretched project outlays while on the other hand, the long drawn process of securing the requisite regulatory clearances and approvals has often led to inordinate delays in project execution and commissioning.

Successive interest rate hikes in recent years have pushed up borrowing costs to prohibitive levels, whereas the global and domestic economic slowdown has created a temporary mismatch in the demand-supply dynamics of the industry, putting a severe strain on cashflows. These factors can potentially undermine the financial viability of many new and underconstruction projects and cloud the investment horizon for the sector as a whole.

In such a scenario, in order to safeguard long-term investment in the sector from cyclical economic downturns, a key priority for FHRAI has been to vigorously pursue the demand for ‘infrastructure’ status for hotels.

We believe that being capital intensive projects with large sunk costs and a long gestation and payback period, hotels should be entitled to all the fiscal and monetary incentives which the Government offers to other infrastructure sub-sectors such as airports, seaports, power, roads, etc. Our efforts yielded a major breakthrough when in November 2012, the RBI amended its Infrastructure Lending List to include hotels of three-star and higher category located outside of cities with a population of continued on page 10...

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FEATURES Etcetera 58 Konkan Spices Tara Deshpande Tennebaum explained the finer nuances of Konkani cuisine by penning down a book titled ‘A Sense For Spice’ Design 60 Sustainable & Responsible Interiors While costs are important, quality construction is even more important.

Design should be simple that should be good beyond just aesthetics by being practical to enable easy execution of the design.

58 Etcetera: Konkan Spices

68 Supplier Talk

Strategy 62 The Hidden Risks There are primary seven hidden risks of running a restaurant. But there are solutions as well to address the hidden risks.

Supplier Talk 68 Connecting through excellence Electrolux Professional opened its ‘Demo Kitchen’ in Bengaluru on September 10, 2013, the second in India within a span of two years.

70 Products & Services Chairman Publications Sub-committee Vijai Pande - vijaipandit@yahoo.co.in

Advertising Gunjan Sabikhi - gunjan@ddppl.com Asst. Vice President – Marketing

Editor Deepa Sethi - deepa@ddppl.com

Delhi Prateek Sahay - prateek@ddppl.com Senior Manager – Marketing (+919650911388)

sub-Editor Ramya JS D’Rozario creative Design Ruchi Sinha

FHRAI B-82, 8th Floor, Himalaya House Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001 Tel: 91-11-40780780, Fax: +91-11-40780777 Email: fhrai@vsnl.com FHRAI Magazine is published, edited and printed monthly

by DDP Publication Pvt. Ltd. On behalf of Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India and published from DDP Publications Pvt. Ltd. 72 Todarmal Road New Delhi 110001 Email: fhraimag@ddppl.com Tel : 91-11-23731971 Fax: 91-11-23351503 Printed at Cirrus Graphics Pvt. Ltd. B 62/14, Phase-II, Naraina Industrial Area New Delhi 110028 This issue of FHRAI Magazine contains 80+4 pages cover

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Udit Pandey - udit@ddppl.com Senior Manager – Marketing

Mumbai Harshal Ashar - harshal@ddppl.com Deputy General Manager (+919619499167) FHRAI - Marketing S.P. Joshi Production Manager Anil Kharbanda

Shradha Kapoor - shradha@ddppl.com Senior Executive – Marketing (+919650196525)

Advertisement Designers Vikas Mandotia Nitin Kumar Aarushi Agrawal

All information in the FHRAI Magazine is derived from sources, which we consider reliable and a sincere effort is made to report accurate information. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. The publisher regrets that he cannot accept liability for errors and omissions contained in this publication, however caused. Similarly, opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract and/or in interviews are not necessarily shared by FHRAI Magazine or DDP. However, we wish to advice our readers that one or more recognised authorities may hold different views than those reported. Material used in this publication is intended for information purpose only. Readers are advised to seek specific advice before acting on information contained in this publication which is provided for general use, and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances.

Contents of this publication are copyright.

No part of FHRAI Magazine or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted in

any form without the permission of the publication in writing. The same rule applies when there is a copyright or the article is taken from another publication. An exemption is hereby granted for the extracts used for the purpose of fair review, provided two copies of the same publication are sent to us for our records. Publications reproducing material either in part or in whole, without permission could face legal action.The publisher assumes no responsibility for returning any material solicited or unsolicited nor is he responsible for material lost or damaged.

This publication is not meant to be an endorsement of any specific product or services offered.

The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw, amend or otherwise deal with all advertisements without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian and International Advertisements Code. The publisher will not be liable for any damage or loss caused by delayed publication, error or failure of an advertisement to appear.

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secretary’s message

Tourism emerging in the North Vijai Pande Honorary Secretary FHRAI vijaipandit@yahoo.co.in

Dear Friends, India’s culture is welcoming and giving in nature.

Also, HRANI ended the year with profit due to We treat a guest like God by following ‘Atithi austerity measures adopted, like control on cost Devo Bhava’ to the core and at times, at the cost of of dispatch of magazine and other expenses. The our lives. This phrase could have been a misnomer prestige of each member of HRANI was kept in the present times but after the episode of 26/11 at esteem.

Mumbai attacks, the phrase is now seen in a new light, literally.

Magazines - All members of Many hospitality professionals HRANI from nine states give sacrificed their lives keeping the great respect to HRANI the safety of our guests supreme. For membership card, that I started.

Indian hospitality them, we have pledged that their The number of members will not be destroyed sacrifice will not go in vain. Indian holding the cards itself speaks by terrorism. Then, hospitality will not be destroyed by about its utility. And, I had as a homage to terrorism. Then, as a homage to all the opportunity to shape the all those brave those brave hearts, a condolence hospitality magazine of HRANI, hearts, a condolence meeting by the industry was held which I enjoyed wholeheartedly. meeting by the on December 12, 2008. Impressed industry was held on by the industry’s feelings of Today, I’m looking after the December 12, 2008. brotherhood that I shared with monthly FHRAI Magazine Impressed by the Ratan N. Tata, he sent me a and I’m pleased to share that industry’s feelings message that read: “Thank you so members eagerly await for this of brotherhood that much for your letter and for the magazine which has become I shared with Ratan message. I greatly appreciate your the voice of FHRAI. Various N. Tata, he sent me kind words.” government departments take a a message that read: look at it to identify the state of “Thank you so much HRANI - I really feel proud hospitality. It has also become a for your letter and that I am working in hospitality. profit generating self sustained for the message. I Being with the Northern Region magazine of FHRAI. greatly appreciate for long has given me numerous your kind words.” prestigious moments. At the FHRAI Conventions outset I extend my deep feelings FHRAI’s convention of the of thankfulness to all my members Northern Region in Agra is for their unflinching cooperation. still remembered for its spouse The seniors, particularly Shri programme, industry related Arun Khanna, Shri Lalit Narula, discourses, talk on health, beauty Shri Sushil Gupta and Shri Rajendera Kumar Ji, and ‘art of living’ besides the memento to members have been very supportive. It would not be out and SMS service. I would like to share with the of place to mention that S/Shri Ajay Agarwal, SM support of our members, that we have been able Shervani, Suresh Kumar, Rakesh Roy, Praveen to achieve many milestones on the part of FHRAI Sharma, Paramjeet Singh, Gurvindar Juneja, Sanjay during the past one year which are summarised Sood and Luv Malhotra extended their support as under: and actively associated themselves in representing the Northern Region at the Federation level. n FHRAI Magazine covers suggestions of all its All have proven themselves to be gems of the members and issues of importance relating to the hospitality sector. hospitality sector continued on page 12...

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...continued from page 7

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more than one million. We continue to actively engage with the Government to emphasise the need to further extend this benefit, uniformly to hotels throughout the country and remain hopeful of a favourable decision on this issue shortly. Once this materialises, hotels will be able to avail loans at lower rates of interest and with a longer repayment tenure of up to 15 years, liberalised norms for raising relatively cheaper External Commercial Borrowings and access innovative financing instruments such as Infrastructure Debt Funds.

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at five additional airports, including Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Goa. The Government is also considering the proposal to extend this facility to nationals of 30 more countries including the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Russia, Spain, Italy, Korea, etc.

The widening demand-supply gap in the availability of skilled manpower is a serious constraint in the growth of the hospitality and tourism sector. FHRAI is proud to have been a key partner in the successful implementation of the Ministry of Tourism’s Hunar In my view, accomplishing the Ministry of Tourism’s ambitious se Rozgar Yojna. In the past few months, we have worked closely target of doubling our FTAs to 12 million within the 12th Plan Period with MOT to strategise on ways by which we can add to the scale (2012-17), mandates a convergence of efforts towards expanding and scope of this innovative scheme, both in terms of geographical India’s tourism product portfolio and targetting coverage and the number of people trained. newer geographies as source markets for foreign We are also currently in the process of tourists. In this regard, we have urged the finalising the formation of the Tourism & Government to specifically focus on providing Hospitality Skill Development Council, which a conducive policy framework for encouraging will be a path-breaking collaboration between profitable niche segments such as beach tourism, the National Skill Development Corporation Tourist MICE, wellness tourism, etc., as these can help (NSDC), the Ministry of Tourism and leading Visa-on-Arrival has position India as a round-the-year destination and Industry Associations. been an exceptionally overcome the seasonality aspect. successful mechanism The enactment of the Food Safety & Standards in facilitating higher All our coastal states such as Goa, Kerala, Act will have a far-reaching impact on nearly tourist inflows. As per Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc., have an every segment of the hospitality industry. the WTTC, within one extraordinary opportunity to benefit from FHRAI has welcomed the legislation as a year of the scheme’s the current global buoyancy in beach tourism. progressive initiative aimed at safeguarding launch in January 2010, However, due to our rigid CRZ norms and public interest, and we have been extending there was a doublea complex approval process, there has been full support and cooperation to the Food digit rise in foreign negligible incremental capacity expansion in Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). visitors from countries terms of new beach-front hotels and resorts in However, we had vigorously represented for which VoA was our country. In view of this, FHRAI has put to the Union Government, our concerns on permitted forward a phased action-plan for rationalisation various aspects of the new rules which we of the existing CRZ norms in accordance believe will place an undue burden on our with the recommendations of the Dr. M S members, especially small and mid-sized Swaminathan Committee set up by Ministry establishments. In response to our requests, of Environment & Forests, Government the FSSAI has extended the deadline for of India and streamlining the cumbersome compliance by Food Business Operators with approval process for beach hotels and resorts by ensuring that the revised Standards and Food Safety Regulations. The FSSAI has the overall time for granting mandatory clearances is fast-tracked also initiated a strategy aimed at benchmarking and harmonising from the present 1.5-2 years to not more than 5 months. As per the existing standards and regulations with international best a recent decision of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Panel practices. FHRAI has been providing extensive technical inputs in on Tourism, our Federation will be working closely with the this process, which can help in developing a modern and industryMinistry of Tourism, MoEF and individual State Governments to friendly regulatory structure. identify suitable coastal stretches for the planning and sustainable development of tourism related facilities and infrastructure.

The aforementioned are of course, just some of the issues which FHRAI has meticulously pursued as part of its multifarious policy Tourist Visa-on-Arrival has been an exceptionally successful agenda during the course of this year. In each of our ambitious mechanism in facilitating higher tourist inflows. As per the initiatives, we have been fortunate to have had the full support, WTTC, within one year of the scheme’s launch in January 2010, cooperation and encouragement of our members across the there was a double-digit rise in foreign visitors from countries country, for which I am sincerely grateful. for which VoA was permitted. The total number of VoA’s issued has grown nearly threefold since 2010, which is an affirmation Looking forward to personally meeting all of you in Kochi! of this initiative’s growing popularity and further potential. We had been diligently following up with the Government, the need With warm regards, to extend this scheme to cover more international airports in the country. I am delighted to note that the Government has accepted Vivek Nair our request and VoA is in the process of being operationalised President - FHRAI

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...continued from page 9

n With the follow up and persuasion of FHRAI, the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, which was to be implemented

by August 2012, was extended twice for registration n We represented before the government that RBI’s master list of infrastructure should be expanded.

The cap of `250 crore also needs to be cut down n Extending ‘Visa-on-Arrival’, rationalisation of the present coastal regulation zone to meet the large demand for beach resort tourism, grant of additional FAR for hotels, luxury tax should be applicable on actual room rent and not on published tariff in Delhi, are areas still in the pipeline to be sorted out with the government.

We have to be serious on FSSAI so that we can serve food of international standard to foreign tourists. Keeping this in view, FHRAI organised conferences in all regions. In its last meeting, the Executive committee accepted our suggestion for a lab at FIHM-ITM in Noida

n We have lodged a strong protest with the government regarding multiple tax structures for the hotel industry. Our fight for service tax on all AC restaurants still continues FHRAI Institute - It gives me immense pleasure to place on record that the FHRAI Institute of Hospitality Management (FIHM) has tied up with the ITM Institute of Hotel Management offering various courses for the industry. It will give an opportunity to hoteliers to train their wards and FHRAI members can now avail discounts as well for the courses and also develop the quality of their staff. We are also grateful to Shri Bharat Malkani for giving valuable suggestions to EC regarding FIHM. We extend our thanks to Shri Vivek Nair and the earlier president - Shri Kamlesh Barot for the agreement with ITM. We would not have achieved the success of FHRAI without the consistent support and guidance of Shri MD Kapoor and staff members of FHRAI Secretariat.

Key initiatives - To mitigate the loss suffered by residents of Uttarakhand, FHRAI and the regional associations donated `52 lakh. Shri SM Shervani made special efforts in this direction and we would also ensure that the hospitality industry at Uttarakhand restores its glorious past to reach new heights. Further, with the involvement and efforts put in by Shri Pradeep Shetty, chairman, legal subcommittee the matter relating to TDSAT has been decided in our favour. We appreciate the efforts put in by Shri Shetty.

We have to be serious on FSSAI so that we can serve food of international standard to foreign tourists. Keeping this

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in view, FHRAI organised conferences in all regions. In its last meeting, the Executive committee accepted our suggestion for a lab at FIHM-ITM in Noida. The lab will be recognised by the government. FHRAI will help in developing similar labs in all regions by sending their experts.

FHRAI logo was registered and this gives us a distinguished identity. My suggestion is to enhance the number of members from each region to seven was accepted giving an opportunity to widen our work force.

Long way to go...

We still have a long way to go to make the hospitality sector achieve its true potential. Crucial areas concerning the industry viz., taxation, pollution, energy conservation, enhancing profit margin, cleanliness and hygiene, safety and security, emerging trends and hotel design, virtual media and culinary innovation, etc., are the threats before us in future and that can be achieved if we stand united.

In the last election, we tried to carry out new experiments. We were all disappointed as we could not carry everyone together. But, we have hope. We shall have to seriously rethink and move together along with those who were left out. This time, the Northern Region has the opportunity to lead FHRAI and all of us will do our best to make it a success.

Lastly, I’m happy to share that I, along with Sanjay Sood, EC Member, HRANI, approached Shri Shri Ravi Shankar Ji, the spiritual guru at his Ashram in Bengaluru to bless us. We could not get a date for FHRAI convention due to his earlier scheduled programme.

We are grateful and obliged that Shri Shri has given us time to attend the HRANI Convention in Gurgaon on October 27-28, 2013. I hope that we, together with Shri Garish Oberoi, President, HRANI will make the convention a grand success. With the blessings of Guru Ji, we hope to lay a new progressive road for the tourism sector to emerge the best in the world.

With regards & good wishes for the festive season ahead...

Vijai Pande Hon. Secretary FHRAI

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From here where?

The FHRAI Magazine is pleased to reprint an article written by Mr. Jose Dominic in October 2005, which provides a compelling personal insight into the genesis of Kerala’s globally acclaimed model of Sustainable and Responsible Tourism. Mr. Dominic is the Joint Honorary Secretary of FHRAI and Chairman of the Convention Organising Committee for the 48th Annual FHRAI Convention in Kochi, 18th - 21st September, 2013.

This article is reprinted with kind permission from Seminar magazine.

S

disability on account of poor access which continues to this day. To compound matters was the fact that both the destination and the offering were completely unknown in the market and our limited resources left us with few options to market the product.

In 1988 we were offered the contract to reconstruct and run the resort on Bangaram Island in the Lakshadweep.

We were then a single hotel enterprise with extremely limited resources. The contract also stipulated what then appeared to be severe regulations to conserve the fragile ecology of the coral atolls and protect the interests of the island’s inhabitants. Added to this was the further

The solution we tried was the only one we could under the circumstances – to accept the reality and find a customer who would find immense value in the inherent uniqueness of the offering. Thus, instead of offering excuses for what we would not be in a position to provide, we made their very absence in a sense the product’s unique selling proposition. The advertised facilities of the hotel came to be the absence of ‘facilities’ such as telephone, television, newspaper, air conditioning, room service and many more. Instead on offer was nature in its spectacular and pristine form and the means to enjoy it without having to be a cause for its diminution. The proof of success of the concept we experimented with in Bangaram is that invariably every guest came back.

rise of god’s own country

ome months ago, I was invited to a spectacular location in Rajasthan to discuss in a small but eclectic group the subject ‘Indian Tourism – from here where?’ When I was requested thereafter to write a paper I was told to ‘write what you spoke’ and I readily agreed. But when I sat down to write what I spoke, I realized it was easier said than done. So what I am now reducing to writing is not a new formula or prescription that I have uncovered. It is instead only a sharing of experiences from a journey which we, as an enterprise, have undertaken. I believe there are some useful lessons to be learnt.

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For the hotel, the approach we took was to ‘do just enough’ in the belief that ‘luxury’ is not necessarily the reason for a tourist to visit a destination.

‘Luxury’ would be redefined from its conventionally attributed meaning of ‘opulence of the built space’ and instead be ‘quality of the experience’. Thus, it became possible to have a hotel at which the guest gladly paid more for less. In 1989, the Bangaram Island Resort could have been ranked as among the most expensive hotels in the country. Yet, the most commonly heard comment was, ‘Please keep it this way. Do so even if you have to increase the price.’

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It is the genius of entrepreneurship exhibited by ordinary people operating on a scale that they can, and in a manner that they know is providing a Keralan personality to the tourism product and thereby its uniqueness

The lessons we learnt from Bangaram were not only the foundations of our growth but were also instrumental in changing our company’s name from Casino Group of Hotels to ‘CGH Earth’, so as to better represent the non-negotiable core values we adopted – respect for the environment, community and the local ethos.

Our subsequent experience in Kerala had by demonstration a more substantial influence on the evolution of tourism in a state which hitherto was best known for its achievements in the social sector. To quote Burton Stein, ‘Not only did Kerala launch an exemplary land reform programme, but it also devoted relatively large expenditures to basic education and health care, making the state the most egalitarian, best educated and healthiest in the Indian Union, though it remained among the poorest.’ It is, therefore, no surprise that when National Geographic voted Kerala as a ‘must see in a life time destination’, it also described it as a ‘Mount

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Everest of social development’. Indeed, the achievements in the social sector and relatively pristine environment as a consequence, ironically thanks to the non-arrival of manufacturing industries, can be said to be vital factors that have contributed to the state’s achievements in the tourism sector.

Equal credit for Kerala’s achievements need be given to the large number of small and medium entrepreneurs for having created facilities which are contemporary in outlook, unique in experience and of a scale and character which respects the environment and local sensitivities. A fitting description of Kerala’s tourism development reads as: ‘Ordinary people, using resources available no further than in the local village, have created a world class experience.’ It is not the partnership with ‘global brands’, foreign direct investment or imported technologies that are making it happen here. Instead, it is the genius of entrepreneurship exhibited by ordinary people operating on a scale that they can, and in a manner that they know is providing a Keralan personality to the tourism product and thereby its uniqueness.

The Kerala tourism brand is thus as much a creation of the swelling number of entrepreneurs as it is of the state whose role in promotion of the destination has been significant. Indeed, a clear demonstration, at least in this regard, of a successful public-private partnership. It is a chemistry that has few parallels and one which has given birth to unique institutions such as the Kerala Travel Mart – a state and entrepreneur partnered event, which

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has grown into South Asia’s largest tourism marketing fair and is able to attract more international buyers than any other in the region.

While the performance of tourism seen from a macro level in terms of growth rates, earnings and employment is certainly impressive, the story comes alive best if you look at examples at the grassroot level. Take the example of Babu Verghese whose genius created the Kerala houseboat by reworking the traditional kettuvallam. From two in 1992 the number has risen to 350 in 12 years.

CGH Earth’s adoption of the traditional tharavad houses on the banks of the Vembanad Lake has set the backwaters on fire and resulted in hundreds of similar lookalikes.

Take Phillip Kutty’s example in farm tourism – its adaptations are transforming the entire rural landscape in Kerala as is Moosa’s heritage home and culinary offering at Telicherry.

See how in the Periyar Tiger Reserve erstwhile poachers have now turned into trekking guides and consequently protectors of the resource they once plundered. These are only a few examples and many more can be cited.

But even more significant is the manner in which tourism has invigorated and put new life into an otherwise despondent rural and agricultural economy, especially at the small and tiny level. The growing number of farm stays and tourist visits to farms reflects a trend which can transform the state’s core sector which engages almost 70 per cent of the population.

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continue to emerge. Ayurveda is now identified as the state’s unique heritage. More importantly, the success the state has achieved in the tourism sector has been a great confidence builder.

On the human side, the most important thing is that tourism development in Kerala is not a grand project of the government or of the large corporations which are now increasingly attracted to the state. Instead, it is best captured in the efforts of ordinary people who are not content to accept commercialised entertainment as the defining limits of the tourist experience. The integration of tourism into the local community occurs when the local people discover the convenience and desirability of using facilities designed originally for tourists, more so when such facilities are conceived by the local people as their own expression.

Tourism The Kerala product is now being has surely played emulated by other states, at least at a significant and the government level. But soon it will catalytic role in become clear that without the local transforming rural entrepreneurial energy the outcomes Kerala. are considerably diminished. In Kerala It is thus possible too, while the initial tone and tenor of to discern a unique development was mandated by given characteristic realities influenced both by market of the Kerala opportunities and entrepreneurial model of tourism sensitivity, this need not necessarily development ensure similar quality of development in the future. The question is ‘from here, where’. This would need a substantive and indepth understanding both of the changing dynamics of the destination as well as that of the consumer.

The surging demand for organic foods, especially with the tourism-induced markets, is breathing new life into the agricultural sector. Indeed, the state’s traditional agriculture and knowledge base make it capable of emerging as one of the largest producers of organic foods, including spices, tropical fruits and rice. Tourism has surely played a significant and catalytic role in transforming rural Kerala. It is thus possible to discern a unique characteristic of the Kerala model of tourism development. While tourism itself has a significant direct impact, the far greater impact comes through tourism’s ability to invigorate the farm and rural sector.

The story for the state’s entrepreneurs continues to enfold. At some destinations, for example at Kumarakom on the backwaters, there seems to be an explosive surge in new investments which brings in its wake new challenges of excess. At others, for example at Kovalam, which had gone through a phase of excess and consequent degradation, there is now a shared concern and willingness to clean up the site. New products

The success of the new models experienced by CGH Earth initially at Lakshadweep and later in Kerala, as well as the entrepreneurial success, is a clear indication that there are new customers, in fact of several types, who need to be factored in.

The reality of the destination is corroborated by research findings at the originating markets. Here I refer to the statistical research carried out by Peter Aderhold.

Based on holiday traveller characteristics, he grouped his sample surveyed in 1986 into two ‘baskets’. One he called the ‘Sun-Sand-Surf’ (SSS) basket and the other the ‘Alert Independent Traveller’ (AIT) basket. While the SSS is the mass market and the AIT the newly emerging niche, ongoing research provides clear evidence that the AIT is the rising star, clearly sufficient for destinations to hitch their destinies to this growing niche.

The success of the Kerala product is a clear demonstration of the rising strength of the AIT. How and why Kerala chose or chanced upon this model could itself be a subject continued on page 26...

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Guiding the Industry in the Right Direction l Jose Dominic

K

erala is a destination like no other. With the annual FHRAI convention to be held here for the first time, it is also the first Responsible Tourism destination in India. At the Le Méridien Resort & Convention Centre, Kochi, from September 18–21, 2013, the focus of the convention will be on ‘Sustainable & Responsible Tourism’.

The inaugural event will be graced by the Hon’ble Union Tourism Minister Dr. K. Chiranjeevi, along with the Chief Minister of Kerala, Oomen Chandy, the State Tourism Minister A. P. Anil Kumar, Sitharam Yechury, Amitabh Kant and others, including entrepreneurs, government officials, political leaders, international associations and other stakeholders.

Jose Dominic Chairman FHRAI Convention Organising Committee

With last year’s event having witnessed 833 delegates, this year FHRAI aims for 1,500 delegates.

48th annual fhrai convention

Hospitality Exhibition

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There will also be a Hospitality Expo, which will showcase the various products and services in the industry, and will run parallel with the convention. There will also be a unique Responsible & Sustainable Tourism Pavilion, a venture which will have participants from across the country, showcasing environment-friendly products. It presents delegates with an opportunity to stay abreast with new hospitality solutions, source them, as well as build a vendor database.

A book on Responsible & Sustainable Tourism, commissioned by FHRAI will also be launched during the convention.

There are three social events planned during the convention. At dinner, indigenous cuisine of Kerala will be served. Cultural shows will also be performed, showcasing the not so well known art forms of the State.

And an Incredible India evening is also slated to take place.

Convention Focus Through this convention, FHRAI seeks to tell its

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members the remarkable growth story of Kerala. The State has outshone others in terms of tourism. The convention seeks to highlight the many reasons to opt for Public Private Partnership and foster entrepreneurship in the industry. After all, ‘nobody but you can help yourself.’

The convention also aims at addressing issues faced by the members. Various concerns that haunt the industry will be addressed; suggestions for new legislative policies will be made; pragmatic steps to resolve the issues will be considered.

Focus Segments l l l l l l

Sustainable and Responsible Tourism initiatives Online marketing Investment opportunities in the Hospitality Industry Franchisee model of business in restaurants Defining standards in hospitality MICE

Responsible Tourism No tourist would travel the world for something he can get at home. Thus, drawing from the Indian consciousness, the destination must offer the local flavours to tourists. ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ – the Indian system of hospitality makes all the difference. With the help of local enterprises, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Even in the luxury segment, the quality of experience must not be compromised with.

A recent report stated the existence of two types of travellers. One is an experiential traveller who is more aware, who wants to take control and experience new things. On the other hand, the second type of traveller merely buys a seat and goes wherever he is told. There are no surprises in store for him.

Tourism & hospitality must keep the interests of the local community and environment in mind. They must grow together. A customer, despite paying money, must pay due respect to the local culture and people.

This system has gained acceptance globally.

While foreign brands have their own processes, fast food chains, we must give our products a personality. This is the direction the Indian hospitality industry must move in, and this is the message we want to convey to our members at the convention.

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Sub: ORDER PASSED BY THE HON’BLE TDSAT Dear Members, Greetings from FHRAI!!

As you are aware, Cable TV Tariff for Hotels above 3 star category, Heritage Hotels and above 50 rooms is left to be mutually decided between the Hotels and the Service Providers pursuant to TRAI notification dated 21.11.2006. However, the Broadcasters have been demanding/charging separately to all Hotels over and above what was charged by the Service Providers/LCOs. So also, no DTH (Tata Sky/Airtel, etc.) operators were being allowed to supply feed to Hotels. Further, Broadcasters have formed a syndicate and were insisting Hotels to avail bouquets of channels at unreasonable rates and Hotels were not being given choice of selecting channels. We had challenged the actions of Broadcasters and sought correct interpretation of the TRAI notification.

We are happy to inform you that the Hon’ble TDSAT has pronounced an order on 4th September, 2013 in favour of the Hotel Industry. The Operative part of the order reads as follows: 1. DTH and MSOs will be free to negotiate the rates at which they will supply the channels to the Petitioners - Hotels (as long as they pay to the broadcasters as per their negotiations).

2. That the Petitioners would not be compelled to take the full bouquets of any broadcaster/DTH Operator/MSO and the Petitioners will only take the channels that they want and pay for it “at rates mutually agreed between the petitioners and the distributors as provided in the regulations relating to a-la-carte channels.”

3. That if the Petitioners make a request to any broadcaster to furnish names of the authorised DTH operator or MSO or LCO for any particular area or territory, the broadcaster should give the necessary information to the Petitioner(s) without objection.

The Hotels (Petitioners) no longer need to contact the broadcasters or their agents or take any no objection from them but are free to negotiate both the channels and the rates with the DTH operator, MSO or the cable operator. The broadcaster is bound to furnish the name of the authorised DTH Operator/MSO or Cable operator for any particular area.

Members may like to download a copy of the order dated 4th September, 2013 passed by the Hon’ble TDSAT from FHRAI website http://www.fhrai.com/Broadcast/Order_dt.4.9.2013_TDSAT.doc

With regards, Pradeep Shetty Chairman- FHRAI Legal Sub-Committee

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The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India New Members List Date of Joining from 1st April 2013 to 2nd August 2013

n HOTELS Sr.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

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Name of Establishment PARSONS COURT M. M. CONTINENTAL HOTEL B B PALACE HOTEL DE GRAND MALABAR STAR GRAND VILLA COUNTRY INN & SUITES BY CARLSON NAVI MUMBAI HOTEL LANDMARK PRESIDENT SANDALWOOD HOTEL & RETREAT SOORYA GALAXY THE SOLITAIRE SPRINGS HOTEL & SPA HOTEL SOORYA SWAGATH PULLMAN GURGAON CENTRAL PARK RADISSON BLU HOTEL VIVANTABY TAJ - YESHWANTPUR THE LALIT CHANDIGARH PARK HYATT HYDERABAD ALILA DIWA GOA PARK HYATT CHENNAI VIVAANA THE BAGH MARRIOTT JAIPUR HOTEL GARGEE GRAND TRIVENI HOTELS (CREATION OF ICY. SPICY) J. P. RESIDENCY AHUJA RESIDENCY THE WHITE HOTELS VAISHNODEVI HIGH POINT HOTEL REGENCY HOTEL LITTLE PALACE MOTEL HIGHWAY CORAL TREE BY GOLDFINCH MOUNTAIN CLUB RESORT DELTIN SUITES KEYS HOTEL, WHITEFIELD R. R. INN HOTEL KHANNA GOLDFINCH RETREAT THE RETREAT HOTEL 42 OXFORD GOLF AND RESORTS PVT. LTD. UDAY-MAHABLESHWAR ARK HOTEL & RESORTS PVT. LTD. HOTEL CENTRAL VIEW MAYA NIWAS CLARK HEIGHTS PANNA VILAS PALACE HOTEL & RESTAURANT AMRAPALI CLARKS INN HEERA INVITATION HOTEL MEEDO COUNTRY INN BY CARLSON SHERVANI NEHRU PLACE

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City Dindigul Ambala New Delhi Calicut New Delhi Mumbai New Delhi Panjim Calicut Dehradun Bengaluru Palakkad Gurgaon New Delhi Bengaluru Chandigarh Hyderabad Margao Chennai Jhunjhunu Bharatpur Jaipur Patna Anand Delhi New Delhi Katra Tiruchirapalli Varanasi Dibrugarh Chennai Bengaluru Munnar Bardez Bengaluru Tirunelveli Vellore Bengaluru Agra Amritsar Pune Mahabaleshwar Rampur Manali Jaipur New Delhi Udaipur Bareilly Mathura Dehradun New Delhi New Delhi

Category 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5D 5D 5D 5D 5D HT HT UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC UC

Rooms 52 48 24 11 15 94 18 69 12 42 36 14 201 209 327 179 209 114 201 23 23 292 43 16 50 24 196 22 40 50 20 38 50 104 222 60 40 36 40 30 10 28 50 14 19 34 14 29 12 21 60 38

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The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India

New Members List Date of Joining from 1st April 2013 to 2nd August 2013

n Restaurants Sr.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Name of Establishment IRISH HOUSE FOOD FUSION HAWAIIAN SHACK JUHU CAFE ROYAL ET AL - THE LOUNGE BAR CHASKA RESTAURANT TADKA TALK BITE & BOWL KHANSAMA & AROMA OF CHINA KAKA RESTAURANT & BAR HOT HILL MOTI MAHAL DELUX TANDOORI TRAIL RAYALASEEMA RUCHULU A STEP UP RESTAURANT KF-RESTAURANT KUMAR VEGETARIAN MOSAIC RESTAURANT IMPERIAL GRILL KENS FOOD PLANET VIBES RESTAURANT ELEMENTS-MAPPLE ABHAY

City Category Mumbai Nagpur Mumbai Mumbai Delhi Kanpur Chennai New Delhi Chennai Mumbai Munnar Gurgaon Hyderabad Kolkata Tinsukia Dehradun Gurgaon Jammu Katra New Delhi Jodhpur

Seats 200 98 100 90 98 64 60 60 200 98 95 40 150 80 75 105 96 70 150 78 80

n Associates Sr.No. 1 2 3

Name of Establishment AAKRITI HOTELS PVT. LTD. CSAT SYSTEMS PVT. LTD. SEVEN SEAS HOSPITALITY PVT.LTD

City New Delhi Noida New Delhi

Category HO HO HO

Rooms 0 0 0

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of an interesting and useful study. But the good fortune is that it did. Maybe the timing was right. For Kerala and for India, our infancy in tourism development is turning out to be a major advantage.

We can and should learn from the mistakes of older destinations which have been caught in the trap of profitless volume and uncharacteristic development which does not reflect the ethos of the destination.

Spain, facing the catastrophic impact of its early faceless, though ‘branded’, development is now busy pulling down the huge ‘modern’ mega hotels which were built and operated by some of the biggest and most respected brands in the hospitality industry. All this in a desperate bid to bring back the traditional Spanish way of life.

The experience of Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico and Sri Lanka, to name a few, is no different.

Goa, whose development began in the ‘SSS’ era stands in stark contrast to the Kerala model. In Goa

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the landscape is dominated by ‘modern international standard’ hotels mostly built and operated by national and global brands. If the two destinations of Goa and Kerala are compared, it is apparent that the two attract a distinct type of traveller. Goa, it can be claimed leans more towards the SSS and Kerala more towards AIT. Evidently, in deciding the way forward there are different choices possible. These choices will essentially have to be made at the enterprise level as it happened in Kerala and in Goa. However, the destination too – whether India as a whole or the myriad locations within the country – can have a strong influence on the supply as well as the demand for the service and hence on the type of tourism it would like to encourage.

I believe the way forward is to make an informed choice rather than leave it to a chance outcome.

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TRAVTALK TV

Taking the tourism industry to the next level

p Lalit Panwar, Jyotsna Suri,VK Duggal, RH Khwaja, Parvez Dewan, Sanjay Kothari and SanJeet at the launch event of TRAVTALKTV

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t was a big day in the history of the travel industry when leaders of the travel trade gathered at The LaLit Hotel for an event which scripted a history of its kind. TravTalk TV was born. Over 10,000 people viewed the first news capsule on the same night when TravTalk TV was launched. Going forward, the

new opening

2-minute headlines and 10-minute news capsule will be circulated to around 500,000 viewers domestically and internationally. This module can further be forwarded to friends and business partners. The news capsules will also get international audiences, in as many as 25 countries.

The Oberoi Group launches Trident, Hyderabad

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he Oberoi Group announced the opening of Trident, Hyderabad. Located in the heart of the IT hub, HITEC City, the hotel has an elegant and contemporary design and offers state-of-the-art business and leisure facilities.

P.R.S. Oberoi, Executive Chairman of The Oberoi Group said, “Over the years we have added hotels at various locations in India and overseas which have become industry benchmarks. Hyderabad has emerged as a significant business destination and Trident, Hyderabad has been created with the discerning business traveller in mind. This hotel is a testimony of our vision for the ‘Trident’ brand and its standards of excellence.”

Sharad Puri, General Manager, Trident, Hyderabad added, “With the opening of Trident, Hyderabad we want to offer business and leisure travellers an oasis of tranquility with service which is warm, caring and personalised.”

The hotel has 323 well appointed guest rooms and suites which are the largest in Hyderabad. The hotel offers extensive conference and banquet facilities.

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Travel attractions in Kerala

Beaches, backwaters and Ayurveda are the most popular Kerala Tourism products among international travellers. With domestic tourists the backwaters, especially houseboats, are very popular. Hill stations such as Munnar and Wayanad are also a big hit among travellers from other parts of India.

As far as international marketing is concerned, we are trying to tap new markets like USA, Japan, Finland, etc. Visa-on-Arrival facility will significantly help boost tourist arrivals from these areas.

In the domestic market, we are planning to intensify our campaign targetting Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

New travel attractions?

We are working closely with the private sector in developing new destinations across the State. Bekal in

organic

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Kerala: Eager for new avenues and markets

erala has made a substantial mark with its beaches, backwaters and Ayurveda in the international and domestic tourism segment. Going forward, S Harikishore, Director, Kerala Tourism explains that the State is developing more attractions and new product offerings. Here are the selected excerpts:-

S Harikishore Director, Kerala Tourism

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North Kerala, which now has excellent accommodation infrastructure, is one among them. The other one is Kollam in South Kerala. We have already started promoting these destinations through FAM trips, brochures, roadshows, etc. We are now looking at new products like adventure tourism, and monsoon holidays which will add to our State’s attractions.

Kerala has the potential to become a major player in the country’s adventure-tourism circuit and given the State’s intrinsic natural attractions, ecotourism too holds great promise for the future.

Kochi: The new MICE hub For a city like Kochi which has a fairly advanced MICE infrastructure, hosting 1,200 delegates poses no difficulty at all. It has already successfully hosted national and global events on a far bigger scale, such as the Kerala Travel Mart, the Emerging Kerala Global Connect and the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

MICE tourism has great potential in Kerala, and we are looking to develop world-class infrastructure in other destinations across the State. The Government has supported travel-related events in the past, and we actively encourage businesses and organisations to take advantage of the MICE-friendly environment that Kerala offers.

Seeking ‘Freedom from Pesticides’

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N Balasubramanian CEO Sresta Natural Bioproducts

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resta Natural Bioproducts, one of India’s largest organic food companies and promoters of India’s leading organic brand ‘24Mantra’ products, recently unveiled ‘Freedom from Pesticides’ – a campaign held during August 12-19, 2013 to initiate the fight against pesticide ridden food.

N Balasubramanian, CEO of the company said, “The organic food has grown on to become a USD 60 bn market worldwide. In the last five years, the growth in this segment has been merely 10 per cent globally, with more concentration in US and Europe where the emphasis has been more. In India, the concept of organic food was relatively unknown then. But now, people are looking forward to our products.”

The brand - ‘24 Mantra Organic’ - works along with farmers who have small and marginal land holdings i.e., of 3-5 acres, who don’t have enough money to spend on their produce. “We help them as we have agronomists to better their yield and quality of farming,” he added.

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‘24 Mantra Organic’ products are available in 45 cities in the country through major retail chains and the products are result of its procurement of organic produce from small farmers in 15 states across India viz., Odisha, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and North East.

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Daily Deals:

A profile of price-sensitive customers The availability of Internet-driven flash deals or daily deals has created a phenomenon for the hospitality industry. Asia’s hotel operators are receiving proposals from daily deal purveyors, such as Groupon, Living Social, and TravelZoo, to offer special deals. The lure of electronic daily deals is the chance to fill unused hotel rooms, but the downside is the possibility that existing customers will use the deals and thus cannibalise existing demand. Glenn Withiam

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new study from Cornell University examines the demographics and attitudes of daily deal purchasers in five Asian nations: China, India, Indonesia, Korea and Japan.

The study, ‘Hotel Daily Deals in Asia: A Study of Customers in Five Nations’ by Sheryl E. Kimes and Chekitan S. Dev, is available at no charge from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research. Kimes and Dev are both professors at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. In this article, I’ll summarise some of the findings, with a focus on respondents from India.

Survey findings Professors Kimes and Dev surveyed 100 consumers from each of the five countries, being careful to include a substantial percentage who had purchased a daily deal in the prior six months. One general observation is that hotel operators are correct that the coupons cause some cannibalisation of existing customers.

However, this revenue hit may be partially offset by the fact that many deal purchasers said that they ended up spending more money when they were staying on a deal than normally. This was particularly true of guests at hotels in India, less so for the Japanese or South Koreans. Deal purchasers overall also were happy to recommend the hotel to their friends, and they were willing to return to a hotel that they liked and pay full rates to do so.

One other negative finding is that repeat guests using the daily deal coupon felt that they were treated differently because they had taken advantage of the discount—and when that occurred, it caused them to view the hotel in a different, less favourable light.

One other negative finding is that repeat guests using the daily deal coupon felt that they were treated differently because they had taken advantage of the discount

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Deal purchasers in India Let’s look at what the study learned about the deal purchasers in India. First of all, they were enthusiastic about daily deals. Compared to the other nations, respondents from India were most likely to indicate that they were satisfied with their deal experience, and they were most likely to recommend the hotel to their friends (again, at full price). Moreover, the discount alone did not cause them to choose the hotel. Instead, a solid majority of the respondents from India considered the hotel’s reviews and recommendations from friends before buying their deal. India’s consumers were more likely than those of other nations to agree that they would have stayed at the hotel without being offered the deal, but their decision to take the offer reflects a strong value consciousness.

Finally, taking advantage of a deal did not interfere with the loyalty of India’s hotel consumers—they felt the same about their favourite hotels, deal or no deal.

In conclusion, Professors Kimes and Dev urge hoteliers who are considering offering daily deals to structure them carefully to avoid cannibalisation. Given that guests in India particularly like to discuss their experiences with friends, hoteliers should give their customers the opportunity to do so. Along the way, hoteliers in all nations should make sure to train their employees to treat all customers with the same high standards. The result should be loyal customers who recommend your hotel to their friends.

(This author of this article is the Director of Publications, Cornell Center for Hospitality Research. This is printed following an exclusive arrangement between FHRAI and the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research. The article cannot be reprinted, in part or full, without prior permission from the author.)

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Infusing

creative flavours Not many people have the courage in life to take a new route with no real support and still come out successfully. Chef Pradip Rozario, owner of KK’s Fusion which has restaurants like ‘Global Kitchen ‘n’ Lounge’, ‘Kurry Klub’ and ‘Mio Amore’ in Kolkata, has done that and with panache. SANJEEV BHAR

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radip Rozario was one of the first chefs who brought Italian flavours to the country. He was responsible for opening the restaurant, Trattoria in Taj President (now Vivanta by Taj President, Colaba) in Mumbai after training himself at Grand Hotel Zingonia in Italy.

While he started as a trainee chef, he rose to the topmost position through his caliber to imbibe innovative approach in cooking. Before starting on his own, he worked with the Taj Group throughout and ended his career with the Group in 1993 as the Executive Chef of Taj Malabar in Kochi (now Vivanta

by Taj Malabar). According to him, the corporate culture of the group was excellent where dedication and honesty paid. He even adds that after Taj, it was difficult to work for someone else and hence, he thought of employing his own talent. He had been associated with Taj Residency Visakhapatnam, Taj Coromondel in Chennai and Taj West End Bangalore.

FHRAI Magazine caught up with the chef in Kolkata to get his perspective on challenging something new and what it takes to overcome them to create a new path.

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Q

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Fusion cuisine has always been received by the chef fraternity with skepticism. How do you see it evolving as you started this venture on that very note?

When I started my own venture in Kolkata way back in 1994, the city was vacant as far as fusion food is concerned.

Being a chef, I wanted to contribute something different to the connoisseurs of food of Bengal and started to offer Italian/ Mexican cuisines knowing the possible risks of failure. Coincidentally, it was a Bengali gentleman who came to my restaurant and asked for khichri and fish fry. Even though I did not have this on my menu, I went to my kitchen and made something for him; khichri with fish fry served with crispy potatoes and Szechwan sauce, which he enjoyed and complimented me for. He had pin-pointed to the Szechwan sauce option that had won his heart. That is how ‘fusion food’ evolved in my mind, and till today I have not stopped trying something different everyday.

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How have the customers evolved today in terms of experimenting with new and fusion cuisines, as opposed to when you first started?

It was very difficult those days to convince customers to try out something new that would be different from their existing palate. Anything other than

Chinese and Indian cuisines was difficult as a business proposition, but I wanted to offer a versatile cuisine. I also twisted our own home food, Indian, Chinese and other international food and made a milieu of different cuisines to be served in one platter, keeping local likings intact.

And today, 90 per cent of my guests want to experiment new cuisines. I am happy that I get the opportunity to experiment with new requests that pour in and they,

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Rawa Fried Lotte Fish (Served with Gandhoraj – Olive Oil scented Muri) Lotte Fish (cut, cleaned and flattened) 2 nos.

Muri (puffed rice) 50 g Chopped Onion 5g Chopped Green Chilli 1 tsp Chopped Tomato 1 tomato Chopped Basil Leaves 4 leaves Chopped Corriander Leaves ½ tsp Olive Oil 1 tbsp Salt to taste Flour 2 tbsp Egg 2 nos.

Rawa 25 gm Oil (for frying) 50 gm Lime Juice (Gandhoraj) 1 tsp

Method l Clean Lotte fish and marinate it with onion, green chilli, corriander leaves, basil leaves and seasoning. l Whisk egg, add flour to it and mix well. Put the fish in the egg batter and later, coat with Rawa. l Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan. Put the coated fish one by one and fry until crispy. l Take a bowl, put Muri (puffed rice) and put all the spices and the vegetables. Mix them properly and add Gandhoraj lemon juice to it. l Place Muri on a plate and serve fried Lotte on top of it to complete the presentation.

Photos: Biltu Banerjee, Kolkata

Ingredients

as my fans, made me innovate and create something new always for them.

Q

Kindly share some details about the chef’s institute that you have launched recently. How distinctive is it from the rest of the league of culinary institutes or food craft institutes?

The KK’s - Overseas Culinary Academy (KOCA) will have more of practical classes and students will have a direct access in running the kitchens at the restaurants that I operate, giving them extensive practical cookery training apart from theory. After completing 12 months of cookery course, a student can apply at the commis III level for a job after giving food trials. My motto is to produce chefs as there is a crisis in our industry all over the world for cooks. Today, cooks are much more in demand and I feel this demand can be fulfilled after completing the cookery course from my institute.

Q

Kolkata is known as a paradise for food lovers of all kinds. How would you describe this city food-wise?

Where is the future of the restaurant sector in this city?

I think Kolkata is the only place where you are judged on the quality of food that you are serving. Food is the celebrity of our paradise city Kolkata. If the food is good, no celebrity has to come to the

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restaurant to make the place a happening one. I feel that if the effort taken to make a dish is complimented then it is the highest reward for me, as I feel that my food has become a celebrity in itself.

There is still scope in the city to have more organised development of restaurant chains. Good restaurants are much needed, as business proposition has increased; and I feel, for the success of an outlet, the location, a good product are needed to be taken into account seriously more than ever.

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How difficult or easy is it to constantly keep innovating with food? How do you keep innovating yourself with the launch of every new restaurant?

Less salt in a dish can make the dish a disaster, tasteless. More of it does the same. There has to be a balance. One has to be mentally prepared before starting a dish. For me, it is all that the mind plays instantly. I am like an actor who does a lot of rehearsals before the final act! I have a passion and love for food and while preparing it, I want my passion to get reflected through food which should make my guests equally passionate about my food.

That should be the reason for them to come back to my restaurant to have something different all the time. It gives me a challenge and inner will power to produce something good for such passionate food lovers.

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The phrase ‘Bhojohori Manna’ instantly connects with Bengalis as it refers to a famous song of Manna Dey of the late ’60s. But now, it has also become a loved brand for home styled cooked food. The restaurant so called has evolved as a place for diners passionate about typical Bengali cuisine and is proud to be distinguished as a non fine dine place ruling the hearts. SANJEEV BHAR

Passion Dining

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he journey of a restaurant usually begins with a structured plan about what is to be cooked, for whom it would be catered to and how it would be marketed. Even a decade back, the norm was to focus restaurant business in a structured manner to make it a successful venture. But that is a misconception if the journey of ‘Bhojohori Manna Restaurants India’ is looked at.

The chain was started by five friends and its genesis is quite inspiring. One of the owners, Rajeev Neogi explains that it started out as an adventure where five friends got together to do something with food, but without having a definite goal in mind. “Our beginning took place in a small garage space where we started preparing light snacks, which became an instant hit.” From there the journey began of an amazing Bengali restaurant chain.

Chingrai Malai Curry Phulkopi Karai Shuti Torkari Bhaja Mug Dal

Ilish Barishali

Ghee, Gandha Raj Lebu

Mutton Dakbangla

Alu Bhaja Ilish Paturi Begun Bhaja Posto Diye Ilish Machh Bhaja Bori Bhaja

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Hub & spoke model

Since the restaurant started serving simple food, many connoted Bhojohori Manna as a ‘rice and fish curry joint’.

Neogi says, “We started doing well.

Strangely, we were the only restaurant that was selling simple rice and fish curry in a typical Bengali cuisine format in Kolkata. There was no research that we did in particular and only a few restaurants served Bengali cuisine then.

But our forte was home style food, which differentiated us from the rest.”

The initial phase

Simultaneously, the home-styled food was prepared in bulk quantities by the unit and the pre-cooked food was used for serving in its various restaurants that were opened with each passing year.

“The kitchen became the focal point to all our outlets, making our restaurant business based on a ‘hub and spoke operating model’. We started catering a wide variety keeping in mind three wide variants viz., spice, preparations and vegetarian options,” he explains.

mind to serve staple food as well. The Talking to Neogi, I came to know about rest of the friends agreed and the small the way this group of friends relied on unit shaped into a small 16-seater space, each others’ instincts and played on… which was rented near South Point The four of the other partners are School in Kolkata, one of the largest Goutam Ghose, a famous film director, schools in Asia. “We started out with a Siddhartha Chatterjee, Chartered capex of `25,000 from each, and started Implementing Accountant, who has acted in Satyajit selling fish curry, mutton curry along PICE concept Ray’s film as the character ‘Topshe’ in with rice. In fact, we had While the restaurant was two Feluda series films, Ranjit Dutta hired a cook from Odisha, widening its horizon by Gupta, a businessman handling sales Hrishikesh Kar, who knew launching one restaurant of capital goods and Siddhartha Bose about Bengali cuisine and was after another, it kept itself from Tata’s (now retired) handling the long associated with catering reasonably priced. He adds, PR & Marketing exercise. On the other in the city. His contribution “We started with a basic food hand, having had a business in publishing played a major role in our concept. The idea that came and retail medicine, Neogi felt that this success. Even today, he helps into practice was to offer start-up was going to reach somewhere, supervise the entire food the diner wholesome food, someday, guided by their collective production department,” serving it quickly and at an passion for food. The coming together elaborates Neogi.

Siddhartha Bose Founder & Director extremely affordable price of the team gave them a Bhojohori Manna having non-vegetarian options well rounded approach The restaurant was too.” The restaurant followed the ‘pice towards this avenue. “We just a month old and ‘Poila hotel concept’, where the charming were confident of achieving Boishakh’ was approaching variety of home cooked Bengali cuisine something but were not sure i.e., the first day of Bengali was served with the prime concern to of the direction we should New Year. “We advertised live up to the household tradition of ideally take,” Neogi claims. in ‘Bartaman’ – the Bengali serving fresh food. Some 200 years ago, “We all had a hunch that daily, that people could order the simple food was prepared by small whatever comes across we from our ‘Poila Boisakh hotels or shacks to serve immigrant would manage well. Our Menu’, which would be home Rajeev Neogi workers who came from rural places, linking factor was our liking delivered free of charge. Our Founder & Director which developed as ‘pice concept’. Bose for food. Also, the name was Bhojohori Manna sales, which were at `2,000remarks, “Looking at Bengali cuisine, coined taking up from the famous Bengali 4,000 per day, shot up to `40,000 a it has evolved over a period of 1,000 song and decided in no time.” day for that particular day. This was an years. It is only the last 15-20 years eye opener and acted as a great piece that this cuisine has seen a commercial As the group saw the demand pouring of advertisement for us, making us a explosion and created its distinct space.” in for their snack items, an instinctive household name instantly,” remarks The thought of the chain is to serve food thought crossed one of its members Siddhartha Bose.

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IIM Case Study The huge success of Bhojohori Manna has made it a case study at IIM Kolkata. It has made profits, enlarged its business horizon by having number of restaurants in ownership and franchise model in different parts of country, yet keeping a low cost model that enables it to remain quite affordable.

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with passion and process. According to Bose, these are the two elements that are vital in cooking and make the food a pleasurable aspect. “This native wisdom guides us and has differentiated us from others. The mindset we are fighting is that – higher the rates, better is the food.

It is not so in real,” asserts Neogi.

The company has broadened up with 14 outlets with nine in Kolkata, one each in Siliguri, Puri and Mumbai and two in Bengaluru. “We would love to broaden

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analysis

our reach through an inorganic manner but we need the right partners who understand our concept and keep our approach intact,” he says.

“There is a demand pressure building on us and we are looking to take this concept further, but the fear we have is that we might get franchisees which may end up making it a fine dine or QSR. Our product positioning is simple; we want to remain a casual dining experience to our customers,” sums up Bose.

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South India South India is brimming with confidence on the tourism & hospitality map of the country. The prime reason for this is the fast paced development that has taken place in the last couple of years. FHRAI Magazine features some critical cities in the four states to identify their set of challenges and market scope.

Sanjeev Bhar & Megha Paul

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rowth, opportunity and comfortable life is all about south India. At least it has now become the general perception, of late, about the southern cities of the country, be it tier I, II or III. The cities are showing an upward movement on the scope graph of hospitality developments.

The states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have definitely caught the attention of the travel & tourism industry following which, the respective state governments are also toiling the idea to increase the infrastructure to support tourism. In the last couple of years, the state governments have been spending a lot on tourism marketing which also highlights the fact that there is a genuine desire to imbibe tourism into the economic realm.

Myriad travel options Each of the four states in south India is offering attractive avenues for tourists. The competition is immense and Kerala - which has always been a gateway city in the south - is matched by its other cousin states.

While Kerala has always fared well in tourism light, its constant urge to develop its tourism infrastructure is

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commendable. Hospitality developments in the cities of Kochi needs special mention which is now emerging as a critical convention destination (48th Annual FHRAI Convention is being hosted at Le Meridien, Kochi, September 18-21, 2013).

Interestingly, many hotels are perfect in terms of their leisure offering and are simultaneously, adding on the MICE facilities to couple the hotels as corporate destination too apart from being leisure hot spots.

Cities from other states are doing good in hospitality as well. A whole breed of domestic and international hotel chains are spreading their wings in the southern market. We have tried to bring forth some cities of south India with the viewpoint of the hospitality professionals who are managing properties.

There are many challenges and market scope for hospitality, yet there is hope as everyone believes that the market scope is immense to absorb more developments in hospitality projects. Hospitality professionals outline their thoughts on the southern hospitality with average occupancy and ARR that the cities command.

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Kerala

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Kochi Shilendran M Vice President - Sales CGH Earth

Ă™ Challenges

I

n Kochi, hotels are based in two geographical Shilendran M locations. One is the region of Kakkanad, the fastest developing commercial and IT destination. Being in the city and in the IT hub, hotels in the area are mainly focussing on the corporate segment. They do get some leisure travellers, but that is minimal. In the last two years, room inventory has increased here. But there has been relative growth in the corporate sector as well. Thus, prices are extremely competitive. On the other side of Fort Kochi, the hotels cater to a strictly leisure clientele. These are

September 2013 I www.fhrai.com I

travellers who want to just experience Kochi as this is the pristine area of Kochi. Here, business is brilliant for the hotel industry from October-April. Most hotels have full occupancy. However, the properties here are small boutique hotels. Thus, it leads to dearth of room inventory during this peak season. Also, as the region caters strictly to the leisure segment, the lean season has no business. They may have around 30 per cent occupancy but the business cannot be sustained like this. So the lack of inventory needs to be tackled. This side of Kochi needs to garner more investments and gear up to emerge as a MICE destination.

Sanjay Kaushik General Manager Crowne Plaza Kochi

Ă™ Market scope

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ochi has emerged as a gateway to Kerala in the last five years. The hospitality industry has seen a major transformation from the city being dominated by local Sanjay Kaushik and regional players to the launch of almost all major global hospitality players.

Kochi was treated as a typical transit destination, but now it has evolved as an emerging destination for MICE. The growth in corporate and IT segment has increased tremendously since most of the corporate giants have anchored in the city with their corporate offices. This has boosted the hotel industry by reducing

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City average Occupancy: near 50 per cent

Ă™ Tourism Agenda Joerg Drechsel Director The Malabar House

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perating heritage properties is not an easy task in India, leave alone in Kochi. The State

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needs to come forward and help these hoteliers. As the Joint Secretary of the Indian Heritage Hotels Association (IHHA), I am actively involved in the heritage hotels movement. Malabar House has been the first hotel in India to be certified by Green Globe in 2003. The target clientele in Fort Kochi are generally the inbound and domestic travellers for whom experiential tourism and hospitality is the way forward. The guests are mainly FITs as well as small selected groups for culinary, yoga or cultural travel. Thus, the state needs to come forward as these experiences need a helping hand from the government. Currently, the excise rules are not that favourable but at a personal level, the government helps us to get wine licenses.

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Kerala

the dependability on seasonal international leisure travellers. Consequently, it has helped the industry to have an equal mix of domestic and international or business and leisure travellers.

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Tamil Nadu

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Chennai Ă™ Challenges Sasikumar U General Manager GRT Grand, Chennai

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he year 2013 is going Sasikumar U through a global economic slowdown. Despite this, the new hotels and inventories have practically doubled in Chennai, creating a huge gap between demand and supply. Due to inflation, inbound tourism has moved to pan-Asia where they get a better deal with exciting packages.

Internally, all industries and corporate houses have tightened their spending power. These factors have created a clear stress on occupancy levels and revenues, spiraling to low F&B footfalls and revenues.

recognition, through a team of motivated and trained staff. Hence, constant review of service designs and investment in training & development is a must for business retention and differentiation. However, the industry is still hopeful and optimistic that the present scenario will soon change.

City average Occupancy: 60-62 per cent ARR: `5,500-6,000

Ă™ Tourism agenda Hemant Mehta General Manager The Raintree, Anna Salai

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Since last year, there has been a three fold increase in dining options in the city following the entry of new hotels. The recent surge of high-end malls with huge food courts and standalone restaurants have further diluted patronage. The grandeur of modern architecture and innovative interiors has drawn loyal patrons away from their favourite dining outlets.

overnment should develop better infrastructure, attractive facilities and services for the tourists. Visitors should feel safe and secure during their Hemant Mehta stay. Eco tourism is another area that the government should develop as a tourist attraction. Sensitive areas like the coastal belt, forest and rivers should be preserved.

Established hotels in Chennai have an advantage of existing customer base, but they need even greater nurturing through superior service and customer

City Average Occupancy: 55-60 per cent ARR: `5,500-6,000

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Ù Market scope

Philippe Charraudeau VP & GM ITC Grand Chola

n terms of hospitality the south region has been a forerunner for safety and lack of aggression. Having said Philippe Charraudeau that, most tourist spots are visitor-friendly, though there are people offering services as guides and routes in various places of interest.

Chennai offers history, temples and rich culture.

Most of the temples are thousands of years old and the history seeps into all this through the dynasties and of the origins of the East India Company. The Shore Temple at Mamallapuram built by the Pallavas is a strong attraction as it weaves tales of valour, architecture and abiding wonder. The Kalashetra founded by Rukmini Devi Arundale who brought the arts, particularly Bharatnatyam, to the fore and made it worthy of all traditional families, the Museum Theatre, the Egmore Museum of bronzes feature the influence of the past kingdoms and that of the British and Moorish traditions. The fact that

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culture - dance and music - flourished here despite all influences of modernity make Chennai unique. There is something for everyone and it is also becoming a gateway to the orient - in fact a melting pot of different cultures and traditions. Puducherry being two hours away by road also adds to the touristic value of the city.

Ooty Ù Market Scope P Sudhakaran Deputy GM - Sales & Co-ordination Sinclairs Retreat Ooty

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oty in the Nilgiri Hills is an enchanting destination, the roundP Sudhakaran the-year pleasant weather being just one reason. No wonder it is one of most popular hill stations in south India. It has luxuriant hills, lush green valleys, a dense flora and fauna and undisturbed natural beauty. All this has earned Ooty the recognition of ‘the queen of the hills’ in south India.

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TAMIL NADU

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It is ideal for family vacation, adventure tourism and honeymooners. Strategically located, the hill town has immense tourism potential. A pleasant drive of 3-6 hours through patches of indescribable beauty from Coimbatore, Kochi and Bengaluru or a pleasant overnight journey from Chennai makes Ooty easily accessible. No wonder, the hill station is a popular weekend retreat from all these places. The pleasantness of weather and natural surroundings comes as a break from the monotony of hot weather in its adjoining regions. The natural landscape is an attraction for filmmakers from all over the country. It definitely holds a lot of scope in tourism for the future.

TAMIL NADU

City Focus

Ù Challenges

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Murali Kumar General Manager Fortune Resort Sullivan Court

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ne of the major challenges faced by the hospitality industry in Ooty is the distance and accessibility from the feeder cities of Bengaluru, Chennai and Coimbatore. The development of tourist destinations like Coorg and Wayanad, which are just 3-4 hours drive from these feeder cities provide an attractive alternative to the tourists. These cities are pulling more weekend tourists due to their natural beauty and less commercialised environment compared to Ooty, which is much more commercialised leading to problems like traffic congestion and lack of adequate parking spaces.

Also, a number of standalone ‘home stay’ cottages have come up around the city, which has affected the hotel occupancies to a large extent.

Some constructive steps taken in the positive direction by the State Government would go a long way in improving the scenario for the hospitality industry in the city.

City Average Occupancy: 52 per cent ARR: `2,420 (top 20 hotels out of approved 70 hotels)

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Madurai Ù Challenges Devraj Singh General Manager The Gateway Hotel Pasumalai Madurai

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adurai is one of south Devraj Singh India’s great temple towns and synonymous with the celebrated Meenakshi Amman temple. Some major challenges are: social economic structure is very underdeveloped and no direct flight connectivity with Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. The city is yet not looked upon as a conference destination, and lack of new projects in the city and surrounding areas have resulted in a flat growth of the city. I feel that funds allotted by the state government should be streamlined towards infrastructure development.

Madurai attracts foreign tourist business between November to February which is considered to be the peak season. Due to Madurai’s vantage location and cultural heritage importance in south Tamil Nadu and proximity to Kerala through Thekkady, it can form part of many group and individual itineraries. Apart from the international inbound travel, Madurai can also be a preferred holiday destination for domestic tourists due to the fact that it is located close to Rameshwaram & Kodaikanal and easily accessible from Chennai, Bengaluru and Kerala by road. The Travel Club of Madurai is ardently working towards the tourism development in Madurai in liaison with the government. ‘Maamadurai Potruvom’ (Celebrate Madurai), an annual festival was launched in February 2013 to celebrate the glory of Madurai.

‘Maamadurai Potruvom’ is aimed at promoting and creating awareness of Madurai’s rich heritage, culture, tradition, antiquity and history.

City Average

Occupancy: 48.5 per cent ARR: `3,425

Ù Tourism agenda Sujith Chamukutty General Manager Fortune Pandiyan

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adurai is popularly known as the ‘Athens of the East’. The State Government has put in a lot of effort in promoting Madurai as a temple town and a gateway to the holy town of Rameswaram. The city attracts tourists from around the world due to its rich culture and mythological background. However, a lot

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City Average

Occupancy: 49 per cent ARR: `3,290

Ù Market Scope K. Muralidharan Area General Manager GRT Regency Madurai

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K. Muralidharan

he ‘Athens of the East’ - Madurai has a strong heritage of art, culture & tradition going back over

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2,000 years. The city today continues to attract tourists in large numbers from within India and overseas to admire the world famous sites of cultural and historical importance. Megasthenes, Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta have all travelled to Madurai and mentioned the city in their travelogues. The city had trade links with Greece and Rome, which can be traced to the Pandya Dynasty.

Synonymous with the Meenakshi Amman Temple and Tirumalai Nayak Palace, it is also the base for important religious centres like Rameswaram, Tiruchendur and Palani. Several hill stations are also at a comfortable driving distance from Madurai.

Madurai forms an integral part of the classical south India tourism circuit for domestic and international tourists. The arrivals have steadily grown from being a one night halt, to now emerging as a place where tourists are spending additional nights to explore the city. With a modern airport, the city is well connected and gaining importance as a vibrant commercial and industrial city attracting business travellers round the year. The availability of hotel rooms across categories has increased steadily and has around 1,800 rooms across all classified hotels.

City average Occupancy: 65 per cent ARR: `3,000-3,500

analysis

TAMIL NADU

more can be done to project the city with thousands of years of cultural heritage to its true potential.

A comprehensive campaign can be initiated to highlight its culture, temples, architecture, infrastructure facilities and the surrounding places of tourist interests to attract global and domestic tourists. The city can be projected as the connecting centre to tourism — taking tourists to Rameswaram, Tiruchendur, Palani and Kodaikanal.

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City Focus

ANDHRA PRADESH

Hyderabad Ù Tourism agenda Girish Sehgal General Manager Taj Falaknuma Palace

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he tourism industry of India is economically important and grows rapidly.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Girish Sehgal calculated that tourism generated US$121 billion or 6.4 per cent of the nation’s GDP in 2011. It was responsible for 39.3 million jobs, 7.9 per cent of its total employment. The GDP of the tourism sector has expanded 229 per cent between 1990 and 2011. The sector is predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 7.7 per cent in the next decade. In a 2011 forecast, WTTC predicted the annual growth to be 8.8 per cent between 2011 and 2021. This gave India the 5th rank among countries with the fastest growing tourism industry.

Hyderabad needs to look at the followings factors: l A safe environment: with constant issues (including Telangana statehood), a lot of local and foreign guests may not find the State a safe place to travel l Tourism campaigns highlighting the 400-year-old city of Hyderabad and places of historic importance l Better connectivity to various parts of the world with encouraging airlines to offer direct flights l Better infrastructure for hotels across categories and not just five star hotels to promote tourism

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September 2013 I www.fhrai.com I

which fits in various budgets l Local transport and city tours to be offered by tourist buses l Tourism website to be offered in various foreign languages for the ease of guests from various nationalities.

City Average Occupancy: 52 per cent ARR: `6,000

Vizag Ù Market scope Mohammed Shoeb General Manager Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach

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isakhapatnam, or Vizag, Mohammed Shoeb the city of destiny is one of the few cities in the world where the sea and the hills are in such close proximity. A 30 km stretch starting from RK Beach to Bheemli will get a major infrastructure facelift with a host of tourist attractions in the next one year.

Vizag offers holidays at par with Goa & Kochi but at 60 per cent of the cost. It is a naturally beautiful city with good road connectivity with Kolkata, cities of Odisha and Hyderabad serves as an excellent destination for a weekend getaway. Also, with international air connectivity through Silk Air, the city has already been put into the world map.

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City Focus

The city along with the eastern corridor can become a major tourist destination as its natural beaches can be better maintained and facilitated. Many famous temples in the city are major attractions for people in eastern India which can be better propagated. Due to natural ports, we have a potential to start short cruises to various parts of east India and Andaman Islands. The city also has a great potential to be the medical city of the east. With its present facilities, it is a major attraction for medical reasons, which can be strengthened by creating better infrastructure and facilitating better hospital care.

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For a long time, it lacked an infrastructure which can host big weddings and conferences. To fill the gap, we opened to the public in December 2011 this 225-room property perched on the prestigious RK Beach with all guest rooms having a panoramic view of the sea having the largest banqueting capacity in the city. We have been able to seal a very large demand that was vacant in this region in terms of weddings, leisure and MICE. City averages Occupancy: 50 per cent ARR: `4,500

Tirupati Ù Market scope Gopi Mohan Nair General Manager Fortune Select Grand Ridge

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Ù Tourism agenda Samir Pandita General Manager WelcomHotel Grand Bay, Vizag

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he Union Minister of Tourism being a native of this part of the country has shown a lot of promise. However due to the political uncertainty in the state, many projects are not taking off in time.

They plan to create the Eastern Beach Corridor as a major tourist destination. Dr K. Chiranjeevi even laid the foundation stone of the VizagBheemli Beach Road. The ministry has promised `50 crore for the development of the city to create better infrastructure to improve tourism in this city.

On the business front, Pharma City and the IT city haven’t taken off as planned and promised. The slow progress is mainly due to the uncertainty about Telangana and Hyderabad. The city with its location and existing infrastructure advantage has a great potential to become a major tourist destination in the east.

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City Average Occupancy: 50 per cent ARR: `4,200

ne of the most ancient and spectacular places of pilgrimage in India on the foothills of the Eastern Ghats, Tirupati draws millions of tourists and devotees annually from all over the world. It is also the largest city in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh.

The town owes its existence to the sacred temple of Lord Sri Venkateswara situated on the Tirumala Hill adjoining it. The temple is visited by about 70,000 to 1,00,000 pilgrims daily (30 to 40 million people annually on an average), while on special occasions and festivals, like the annual Brahmotsavam, the number of pilgrims shoot up to 500,000 making it the most visited holy place in the world.

Other major attractions of the city include Sri Padmavathi Temple, Govindaraja Swami Temple, ISKCON Temple, Silathoranam, Swami Pushkarini Lake, TTD Gardens, Akasha Ganga Theertham and many more.

City Average Occupancy: 60 per cent ARR: `2,650

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KARNATAKA

UNESCO heritage site, there is no good connectivity from Bengaluru. There is only one direct train from the city to Hampi. The roads connecting Hampi to the city are not that great. There is dearth of wayside amenities and eateries on the road. To boost travel to the region, the foremost challenge is to tackle this issue. Also, the region lacks in good multi-lingual tourist guides.

Hampi Pradhan Ganapathy VP-development Royal Orchid Hotels

Ă™ Challenges

T

he first issue is of accessibility and connectivity. Despite being a

Pradhan Ganapathy

City Average Being in the belt of iron ore mining areas of Bellary and Hospet, Hampi earlier witnessed a good chunk of

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corporate traffic. However, this has declined with the recent ban of mining in the area. Occupancy has taken a hit due to this reason. Currently, the region sees a year-on-year average occupancy of about 35 per cent.

Ù Tourism agenda Sumit Kumar General Manager Hyatt Place Hampi

KARNATAKA

City Focus

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ampi is recognised as the world’s largest open air museum by UNESCO. Many more breath-taking ancient ruins and tourist attractions from the 4th century, namely Sumit Kumar Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal surround Hampi and are yet to be explored. It also offers adventure tourism as it is famous for rock climbing. However, due to lack of adequate marketing over the years, this destination has not seen the volume of tourism it deserves. The Karnataka Government recently introduced The Golden Chariot - a train which connects popular tourist destinations in the State.

With the increasing popularity of this destination, there is enormous scope for hospitality. However it has lacked quality accommodation for years now.

Hyatt Place Hampi being the first international hotel in the region comes with a global appeal. The purpose however is to identify the appropriate visitor markets that ‘fit’ the destination attractions and experiences.

We began with promoting Hampi as a new weekend getaway destination for families in key feeder cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Goa and Mumbai since these cities are at a comfortable driving distance from Hampi.

City Average The region commands high occupancy of almost 80 per cent from November to February, which is considered the peak season. Unlike any other international tourist destination, the city’s ARR is very poor. Being purely a seasonal destination, the lodging costs here follows the tourist traffic and typically goes up by 35 to 50 per cent during the peak seasons.

(Year-on-year the tourist volume exploring Hampi is increasing. This is the primary reason that the government is supportive and is putting efforts to enhance the hospitality facilities available here.)

Ù Market Scope Raju Bhurat Managing Director Vijayshree Heritage Village

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he region Hampi has a lot of potential. However, unfortunately, there is no particular agenda in the

September 2013 I www.fhrai.com I

State government to promote this region. The state is not that aggressive when it comes to promoting the tourism sector in the region.

City average Occupancy – 42 per cent (during peak winter months)

Bengaluru Sukomal Sarkar General Manager Best Western Premier La Marvella

Ù Challenges

T

here has been a sudden Sukomal Sarkar increase in room inventory in other areas (e.g., Chennai -- addition of 1,164 rooms, followed by Bengaluru with 823 rooms, Jaipur with 821 rooms, Mumbai 755 rooms while Gurgaon added 690 rooms last year). The adverse effect of ‘fall of Rupee’ has been felt. Also, being tagged as unsafe for the single foreign travellers reduces foreigners travelling to India, thus impacting the inbound travel here.

City average

Occupancy – 65 per cent

Ù Market Scope Amit Samson General Manager The Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru

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engaluru witnessed a 10.7 per cent increase in the supply of branded rooms, and yet, the city’s hotel market recorded only a marginal drop in occupancy.

This indicates a strong demand that grew at approximately 9 per cent in 2012-13 over the previous year.

City average Occupancy: 58 per cent ARR: `5,600

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UNION TERRITORIES City Average Occupancy: 57 per cent ARR: `3,200-3,500

Port Blair

Ă™ Market scope Manoj Charles Abraham General Manager - Peerless Sarovar Portico Port Blair

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ndaman attracts mid to upper-end tourist. The primary business has been from those availing leave travel concession (LTC), family holidays, airlines packages, honeymooners, etc. Andaman provides a perfect opportunity waiting to be tapped. Post Tsunami, the local administration is concentrating on developing infrastructure at airport, hotels and transport systems.

Development of the airport has been on for a very long time. Presently only seven flights are operating everyday from Kolkata and Chennai.

Puducherry Ă™ Tourism Agenda Gaurav Suri General Manager The Promenade Pondicherry

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uducherry by itself does Gaurav Suri not offer much except the Auroville and the Ashram. This is good for the elderly but for the younger generation there is nothing much to do here. Puducherry has become dirty. Pubs close by 1000-1030 pm which is not attractive to most tourists. This city should be clean and organised, and more attractions need to come up.

City Average Occupancy: 50 per cent ARR: `3,500-4,000

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Konkan Teaching the finer nuances of Konkani cuisine is something Tara Deshpande Tennebaum loves doing and effortlessly captured the spirit of this part of the country by penning down a book titled ‘A Sense For Spice’.

‘A

Sense For Spice’ introduces one to a long journey from the Konkan coast to Mumbai with the author’s favourite recipes. The writer belongs to Mumbai and has acted in many Indian films. Post her marriage, she moved to the United States and attended intensive classes at the French Culinary Institute in New York and Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and started Azalea Catering in 2004. She has taught at culinary schools in New York and Boston for seven years.

The book traverses through the Konkan region… Raigad, Murud, Dapoli, Guhagar, Malvan, Chiplun and Ratnagiri with an introduction on the Konkan trail.

She writes, “The story of Parshurama is the story of the Konkan, where kinship and gotra play central roles in the life of its inhabitants, determining how they marry and what they cook.” She elaborates about Parshurama’s home in Aparant, which we know as Goa, the reason why Konkanis believe him to be their saviour and the Konkan as his

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spices Q&A

cooking and eating together as a family is - how much happiness, assurance and security it brings.

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Q

How and why did you feel the need to write a book on your grandmother’s cooking, the Konkan cuisine and your childhood?

Our world is very different from the one our grandparents and great grandparents live, and once they are gone a way of life will disappear. Homes and kitchens are not run the same way anymore, and we are so tight for time we are rushed to do things the same way. I wanted to capture for posterity the way we cooked and how important

There is in-depth research in the book. Not only focussed on the culinary portion, but also on religion, caste, geography, etc. How did you go about this research?

The more I read, the more interesting and clearer it became that food is very complex in India, and is something Indians are obsessed with not merely for the pleasure they get but because it is tied inextricably with family life, religious rituals, holidays and social events. India is one of the few food cultures left where even in urban areas people eat more meals at home than they do outside.

Q

According to you, is the Konkani cuisine well documented? Did you find it easy or difficult to tap these sources?

Did you choose to highlight certain recipes that are, in particular, not well known?

Sourcing information was difficult and it took four years. Just finding English words for half the ingredients so I could then source the botanical terms took a year. For those who live in Konkan, many recipes will appear familiar but for those in north and south India, will be surprised to find that Konkan cuisine is as diverse and rich as southern and northern Indian food.

(Compiled by Ramya JS D’Rozario)

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‘karma bhoomi’. Further, she takes one through culinary identity, families/communities, preferences, diets, etc., of the Konkan people. The book also gives an insight on the curry, seafood, spices & masalas, cooking techniques, regional influences, etc., of the Konkan region. There is even an elaboration on the traditional vegetarian Marathi thali menu. Tennebaum devoted one section completely on her grandmother from whom she acquired the art of cooking. She writes, “Grandma always said the gift of cooking made and unmade her. The Admiral’s wife, as she was later known, was a tall, soft-spoken woman with luminescent skin and silky tresses. She looked so ethereal, it was hard to imagine her bent over a hot, steaming pot. But Grandma was a fabulous cook. She cooked and cooked and we ate and ate.”

The stories entail details about the way food was approached by conventional Konkani families. The book presents stories laden with facts adding another dimension to make it look different treading away from the monotony of recipe books. “The story shows you how a middle class family lived in the Konkan. It’s something a reader can relate to, because no matter where you come from in India, one connects. The anecdotes are meant to help readers to see the facts and academic information in a practical, day-to-day basis. Also, I hoped that people would get a good laugh out of some of my family stories,” Tennebaum explains.

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Sustainable & Responsible Interiors O ne of the meanings of ‘sustain’ is to ‘keep strong or hold up’.

There is a lot of discussion on sustainability. One of the biggest factors in the hotel industry is construction quality, indirectly this is also about sustainability. While costs are important quality construction is even more important. At times, design should be simple that should be good beyond just

Various Eco-friendly products There are other interior elements which are eco-friendly such as...

Stones: Reconstituted stone are man-made stones that are primarily produced using broken down natural stone.

Carpets: Woolen carpets are natural and designers should lay more emphasis on using them.

Tiles: Eco-friendly and recyclable tiles such as Bamboo Pulp Tiles, Recycled ceramic/porcelain/clay/ lime tiles, recycled glass tiles to name a few.

Wooden flooring: Rather than Timber or hardwood flooring or Vinyl flooring alternatives like Eco-Lyptus Wood flooring is highly recommended.

Paper stone: It serves the purpose for all solid surfaces, is scratch-proof and has good water/moisture, stain and heat resistant properties.

Paints: Designers can opt for non toxic eco-paints like Linseed oil based paint, wood and vegetable oil based paint and clay based paint.

Wall coverings: A varied range of eco-friendly wall papers are available currently in the market.

Light fixtures: LEDs are energy efficient; have low power consumption and no heat radiation.

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buildings provide optimum use of space as opposed to curves which may look good for luxury properties and resorts, but space optimisation is more in clean lines of buildings.

This aids the construction Keep it simple cost and planning of spaces.

Ritu Bhatia Kler To start with, the optimal Room furniture can be Managing Director space use is a consistent size/ Total Integrated Design (India) ordered en masse if there space without too much are no variations. The civil variation and odd sizes for the guest construction too has to be perfect. rooms. Rectangular or ‘L shaped’ Similarly, use of dry walls for rooms reduces construction time and Cultural responsibility structural weight of the building. This can be done by advance planning of use The most important thing which we of dry walls. Ergonomics of furniture is tend to overlook is our responsibility very important. to hold our culture through design. aesthetics by being practical to enable easy execution of the design. For this, one requires good construction drawings, an eye for details and proper information for the contractor to execute the work.

Even though most business hotels are contemporary or straight line in design, the cultural aspects can be cleverly brought in, in subtle ways – through fabric patterns and artwork or artefacts for 3 and 4 star hotels, through design features and accessories in 5 star city hotels and resorts. Local stones can also be used in clever ways as features in low traffic areas. Comfort level of the guest should still be the top priority and the decorative elements should be accents to create the wow factor of our local culture or heritage.

This would help the local artisans to promote their crafts.

Unfortunately, in city hotels, time is of essence and as most crafts are handmade, this has to be factored in well in advance. India is rich in culture and design can do its bit in promoting tourism by ensuring it is visible to the busy business traveller.

Right materials The other aspect of sustainability is being ‘eco-friendly’, it is possible to do this in all kinds of materials in interiors, though the industry is yet to explore this to the fullest.

While services like water systems, HVAC and electricity may be used for the eco-friendly methods, it can be taken to the next level too. In fact, in lighting, LED lights can be used but not over used. It is also wrong to only use energy saving lights as these kill the ambience of the room. It therefore has to be a mix of energy saving or LED lights with halogens.

There are new materials in the market which can be used in place of wood – wallpaper, valcromat which is an HDF material and comes in various colours or use laminam in place of stone.

(The writer is the MD, Total Integrated Design (India). The views expressed by the author are personal.)

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The hidden

risks

There are primary seven hidden risks of running a restaurant. This area of business, if not so extensive like hotels still call for diligent approach and sound handling of operations to see success. But there are solutions as well to address the hidden risks. SHAIL BAROT

S

ince its inception in the 1950s, the restaurant industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries and amongst the highest revenue churners. Over the past few years a trend was noticed.

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) estimated that the total sales for the country’s 1.5 million restaurants is anticipated to grow by 20-25 per cent from `43,000 crore by 2015, which has a ratio of ownership being 70:30, individual and chains, respectively.

The restaurant industry is in the midst of a revolution, which day-by-day witnesses an increase in the risks and challenges we face, thus stressing on the dire importance for a solution to counter all these obstacles

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and applying safeguarding measures are requisites to generate growth from this business. Some of the key risks faced by the restaurant business and the related safeguard measures are enumerated in the table.

For a successful restaurant

As Bill Gates rightly puts it - “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. Keeping in tandem with the saying, I have listed a few do’s and don’ts for our members However, in the recent as well as managers and years, the restaurant industry employees that work in has faced numerous market restaurants. There are always challenges such as rise in few ‘old school’ employees consumer health concerns, or owners who will not pay high employee turnover and heed or abide to the do’s and an aggressive competitive don’ts as they would feel that environment. The restaurant it would standardise them, industry is in the midst of a and they believe that the revolution, which day-byShail Barot restaurant industry is known day witnesses an increase International Business Development Director to treat each customer as a in the risks and challenges Vie Hospitality different individual. we face, thus stressing on the dire importance for a solution to counter all these obstacles. This article The DON’Ts highlights the hidden risks and underlying dimensions that restaurant owners face º Do not let any guest enter the restaurant without a warm greeting. while operating a restaurant, and it also provides for safeguarding measures to º Do not walk up to the table and interrupt a conversation between the mitigate such risks. guests. º Do not touch cutlery or glassware Challenges for with bare hands. Always use a Restaurants serviette.

Running a restaurant is a risk prone º Do not ignore a table if it doesn’t fall business. Proper assessment of risks under your section.

(The picture in this article has been used for representation only)

September 2013 I www.fhrai.com I

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Solutions

Food Procurement

Incorrect assumptions with regard to rate Conduct periodic market research. Establish an Intelligent Order Quantity programme; avoid the risk of stock out and food expiry. and quantity.

Food Issuance

Uncontrolled issuance of food can increase pilferage.

Food Inventory

Loss due to pilferage, expiry, or damage.

Revenue & Billing

The perishable items issued from the store, food prepared and food sold should be settled at the end of each shift. Food discarded should be recorded.

Periodic inventory - inspections and counts.

Reports on Inventory Status (Purchase dates, expiries).

Food sold might not be recorded or billed POS system, CCTV cameras, system-generated invoices, surprise inspections of at incorrect rates. restaurants to reconcile order booked with the table occupied.

Ensuring the accuracy of system prices is also imperative.

Cash Misappropriation Customer payments are always susceptible to embezzlement.

Identity theft

An industry notorious for high employee turnover.

Unfocussed employees Focus on taking care of guests.

Place CCTV cameras at the cash counter. Reconcile bills with the payments received at the end of day.

A secure document management programme reduces the opportunity for exposure of private information from personnel records.

By working with a facility services provider that provides ongoing cleaning and restocking services on a predetermined schedule, you can limit task overload. º Do not stop customers from taking

pictures of their food. Blogging is a great way to promote your restaurant. º Do not have few menus for guests and avoid ‘grabbing’ menus from one table and placing it on another.

The DOs º If a guest is waiting for a table, do

offer a free snack or a glass of water.

º Do make sure the server is trained to

Do not stop customers from taking pictures of their food.

Blogging is a great way to promote your restaurant

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º

º º º

always announce his/her name at the table.

Do interact with guests and ask them how their meal was and if they have any suggestions, make a note and follow it up.

Do alert your customer about any taxes before they place their order.

Do memorise your menu and give suggestions when asked.

Do make sure the restaurant and its surroundings are always clean and free of pests.

The bottom line As stressed in this article time an again, the importance of an effective Risk Management Strategy and its symbiotic relationship in business sustenance is of great importance for the hotel industry.

The success of a restaurant business is dependent on how well its operational risks are identified and the effectiveness of the strategies to mitigate or reduce the impact of such risks.

This article is a representation to help facilitate an understanding of the relationship between the current competitive restaurant environment and the risks associated along with providing practical solutions.

(The writer is the International Business Development Director of Vie Hospitality. The views expressed by the author are personal.)

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Travel spends going up Concur, the global leader in providing integrated cloud-based travel and expense management services, released its third annual global report on corporate travel and entertainment (T&E) spend.

T

he report analyses more than $50 billion in corporate travel and entertainment (T&E) spend. Leveraging expense data generated by its more than 18,000 corporate clients, this report provides businesses and travel managers with unique insight to help inform their travel and expense programmes, enabling organisations to make more informed decisions.

The spend data was analysed for nine nations worldwide, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and India. To augment the analysis, Concur asked IDC, the premier global market intelligence firm, to give additional insight on the data.

Their insights provide important context for the numbers, to give an even more complete picture of the global T&E environment.

India data India’s data threw up some interesting facts based on the analysis. The rupee declined 12.4 per cent against the dollar from 2011 to 2012 (in the present condition, the rupee value has gone way below the mark when the report was prepared). Accounting for this change in exchange rates, India saw an 18 per cent increase in the average airfare transaction, which is the highest recorded increase globally. Rail costs also increased greatly – nearly 58 per cent, which is the highest recorded increase across the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia.

City focus Bengaluru once again emerged as the most visited city in India for business travel ranked 12 in the 25 most visited cities. It was followed by Mumbai (ranked

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20) in terms of number of overnight hotel stays. Bengaluru dropped from rank 11 in 2011 to 12 in 2012 with the average spend also dropping from around $258 to around $227 for categories of lodging, ground transport, dining, entertainment.

On the other hand, Mumbai maintained its position at rank 20, however, total average spend dropped from approximately $255 to approximately $238. The average transaction amount has fallen in 2012 as compared to 2011 for both cities with Bengaluru declining from $258.7 in 2011 to $227.83 in 2012 and Mumbai declining from $255.18 in 2011 to $238.37. It is important to note here that though the spending in dollar terms has declined, the actual spending in rupees may have increased owing to the 12.4 per cent decline of the rupee in the said period.

Lodging spends The average percentage spend on lodging (31 per cent) was the highest in India as compared to other APAC countries like Japan (23 per cent), Hong Kong (25 per cent) and Australia (14 per cent). India ranked the lowest in average entertainment spend at 2.44 per cent and the highest being 8.14 per cent in Japan.

Christopher Juneau, Senior Director, Marketing, APAC, Concur Technologies informed, “Through this report we have aimed to help our customers in understanding and organising their employee spends accurately. The report is a study of travel and entertainment spend across important business hubs of the world, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States. As we see an increasing interest by companies in automating their travel request to enforce travel policy prior to booking, Concur gives access to Low Cost Carrier (LCC) content that helps in driving the airfare lower.”

The Concur Expense IQ Report states that corporate travellers spent 93 per cent more on ancillary fees in 2012 ($58 million) than they did in 2011 ($30 million) – challenging companies with nearly twice as much hidden or low-visibility spend.

He further added, “Ancillary fees are a relatively new area of spend that many organisations are still not capturing accurately. However, Concur Expense enables clients to categorise and capture these specific categories with increased granularity, enabling them to truly understand all the costs involved in air travel. The total for this area of spend captured by Concur clients increased from just over $30 million to about $58 million from 2011 to 2012, with only ‘Onboard Entertainment’ seeing a marked decline and ‘Seats/Upgrades’ remaining relatively flat.”

“The fact that ancillary spending nearly doubled from 2011 to 2012 reflects two key facts - customers are using automated tools to more accurately track their ancillary spending, while airlines, hotels and other providers have gotten more savvy about componentising their services to collect more cash in a down market,” explained Robert Mahowald, VP of Cloud Services at IDC. Desire for mobile expense growing mobile devices were also found to be a growing aspect of companies’ expense management processes as logins to the Concur mobile expense app more than tripled from 2011 to 2012.

“We’ve seen great momentum around Concur’s mobile application this past year among businesses of all sizes,” Juneau said.

(Concur is an integrated travel and expense management solutions provider for companies of all sizes. Learn more at www.concur.com)

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‘Carving’ a niche

Sai Institute of Carving is ISO 9001:2008 certified, and is the first and only one of its kind in India that trains aspirants in food carving.

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or Chef A S Vinithkumar, for sure the centre of attraction in every a Diploma holder in Hotel high profile corporate event, celebrity Management and weddings and buffet spreads Catering Technology at restaurants and hotels, thus with an MBA degree, Sai making it a very profitable Institute of Carving is his business model. Professional life’s mission. He has over food carvers are in high 15 years of professional demand not only in India, but experience in the hotel and also abroad, and it has become catering industry, having a lucrative and prestigious worked in many leading career option. hotel brands such as Le A S Vinithkumar Meridian, Taj Air Caterers, Chef “Training in catering alone is CEO, Sai Institute of Carving etc. Having realised that not enough to secure a job in there is huge potential and immense today’s highly competitive hospitality opportunity in food carving, it became market,” Chef Vinithkumar shares, his specialised niche venture in the adding that, “Knowledge of fruit hospitality industry. and vegetable carving indicates specialised skill and expertise that gets Food carving today is an integral part of highlighted in a CV, thus increasing the multi-crore hospitality industry. It is employability chances.”

Chef Vinithkumar says, “Our Institute is committed to the systematic education and training with the latest methodology demanded by the industry, has the best faculty and placements, plus offers career guidance.”

Started in 2004, Sai Institute of Carving has trained over 5,000 food carving aspirants from India and abroad. These students are trained in fruit, vegetable and chocolate carving, ice and butter sculpture, as well as gelatine carving.

No wonder that all Sai Institute of Carving students can be found well placed in the hospitality industry!

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Electrolux Professional opened its ‘Demo Kitchen’ in Bengaluru on September 10, 2013, the second in India within a span of two years, since the successful inauguration of the Electrolux Innovation Centre in Gurgaon. The 7,000 sq ft space with live demo kitchen is dedicated to dealers, key accounts, consultants and opinion leaders.

kitchen equipment, and also undertake culinary research & development in these facilities,” says Kim Underhill, Regional Head - South East Asia and India, Electrolux Professional, who was present for the inauguration.

The location

g n i t c e n n o C through excellence A huge opportunity “Electrolux Professional has a strong structured direct presence in many fast growing emerging markets. The opening of this Demo Kitchen in Bengaluru is an important move to pursue the rapid

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growth in South India through direct presence, strengthening our distribution network in this region, and supporting the end-user. Most importantly, we are the only manufacturer in the country with centres of excellence offering a complete overview of the product range, seminars and trainings on Electrolux

The recent Demo Kitchen is in partnership with Griffith Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., and is conveniently located at Griffith House in Yelahanka.

As Chef Baranidharan, Corporate Executive Chef, Griffith Laboratories Pvt. Ltd, says about the Electrolux Kim Underhill Kitchen in his Regional Head - South East Asia and India, Electrolux premises, “The Professional Electrolux Team in India lead by Marco Pesce are a highly professional and qualified team. From facility planning suggestions to equipment choice and execution, the Electrolux Team has shown tremendous knowledge, commitment and perfection. With a wide range of futuristic equipment, Electrolux provides for a complete one-stop solution for any form of food service operations.

They provide cost effective solutions from fine dining to QSR formats. The quality, finish and performance of their equipment is amongst the very best internationally. I can assure you that they

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would be a fantastic team to engage with and build your food production centre requirements.”

The solutions on showcase at the Electrolux Professional Demo Kitchen are: º The Cook&Chill system for cooking, chilling and regenerating, dedicated to technological restaurants, º Thermaline, high-capacity boiling and braising pans designed for heavy duty º Green&Clean dishwashers, and, º Dynamic Preparation range of versatile and compact tools for fast food preparation.

Looking back The journey of Electrolux Professional in India started in 2008. In the period of a year since opening, 15 projects were awarded, especially in the hotel chains segment. Since 2009, more than 100 installations have been executed in the country. On October 11, 2011, the first Electrolux Professional Innovation Centre in India was inaugurated at the

Gurgaon office, which comprised live demo kitchens and laundry appliances, service rooms for technical training dedicated to the hospitality industry.

Today, the Electrolux Professional India team is made up of 15 people located in different cities: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai.

About Electrolux Demo Kitchens in India Electrolux Professional launched its

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India Innovation Centre in Gurgaon, in October 2011, and it is today a hub for training, innovation, and demonstration on Electrolux Professional equipment.

“Post the launch of Electrolux Innovation Centre in Gurgaon, our next milestone was to better serve the South of India, to increase our staff, and to guarantee availability of stock of fast moving finished products in India. With the opening of this Demo Kitchen in Bengaluru, in partnership with Griffith Laboratories, we have yet again fulfilled our commitment to bring added value to the hospitality industry and culinary professionals of India,” says Marco Pesce, Country Manager India, Electrolux Professional.

To mark the event, Electrolux Chefs, Xavier Gomes, Anil Kumar, and Varun Bajaj showcased the Tandoor Concept by Electrolux to the special invitees, with unstinting support from Chef Balaji Hariharan, Chef – Culinary Centre Griffith Laboratories, and his team.

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Design your office space with Fantoni A well crafted office furniture adds comfort to the workplace. With Fantoni, the maker of world-class office furniture, recreate your office space into an interesting & comfortable one with aesthetically designed contemporary furniture and accessories. Your office design can help in communicating the corporate mission of the company to your shareholders, clients and employees.

Fantoni displays its latest range of furniture at Studio Creo. The contemporary designs of office furniture designed in Italy are now available in India. There is a vast range of amazing designs and colours to choose from.

The Fantoni collection has a wide range of furniture including executive tables, executive chairs, conference tables, cafeteria furniture, office cabinets, book shelves, storage, office desk & chair, office systems, acoustic panelling, radiant systems, coverings & boards/laminates, etc.

CQube Filter Brew by Coffee Queen Freshly ground, perfectly brewed coffee is all about exclusive design, flexible technology, energy-efficient operation and minimal impact on the environment throughout the life of the machine. Perfect coffee depends on a combination of coffee beans, water, temperature and technique. CQube provides precision with respect to brewing temperature, brewing time, grinding grade and recipe.

Bio systems for cleaner tomoRrow Sree Devi Enviro (P) Ltd has designed/developed/ manufactured and is the supplier of Eco – Friendly ‘Bio clean ® systems and Bio – 3 system’ for wet/dry garbage instantaneous disposal and generation of Bio-Gas and Bio-Fertilizer. This can be made available on a container model which can be movable to any area within your facility. This system is instantaneous and point of generation waste disposal, and approved by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.

September 2013 I www.fhrai.com I

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The perfect coffee With its software-based machine intelligence, the premium bean to cup coffee machine WMF 8000 S sets standards in terms of both user-friendliness and coffee quality. The newly developed container matrix permits the individual configuration of up to four coffee bean containers and variations with up to two powder containers for hot chocolate or milk topping. The optionally integrated Dual Milk and Active Milk systems also gives full credit to the professional barista feeling and guarantees hot and cold milk mix specialities, which are in a class of their own and froth the milk manually or fully automatically. Top drink quality is also ensured by the sensor-controlled milk temperature monitor.

A new range of crockery Clay Craft India Pvt. Ltd., India’s leading fine bone china tableware crockery manufacturer, has launched a new full range of products for the coming season in its all India dealers meet. The company has developed lots of new items such as one bite/two bite bowls, new range of platters, handi, etc.

Fat Free Snack Warmer A signature product from Skyra Professional Tableware, the Fat Free Snack Warmer is a leading innovation in its category. The Matt Black template is made of a single piece of sheet. The napkin holder, card holder and toothpick stand is built into the item. The toothpick disposal system is a first-of-its-kind and also built into the Snack Warmer. The burner is placed at the bottom of the dish in an intelligently concealed design. And a frosted glass votive is added to provide a warm glow to the beautifully prepared food and the gorgeously designed product.

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Square Foot introduces Parquet Wooden Flooring Square Foot, a leading pioneer in flooring solutions has launched its latest range of Parquet Wooden Flooring. The Parquet flooring composed of wooden blocks, are arranged in a geometric pattern, thus creating unique aesthetic features making the room look elegant as well as luxurious. This flooring not only provides warmth and coziness, but also acts as a good thermal and sound insulator, regulator of air humidity and is also non-allergic. When it comes to durability, Parquet flooring can be renewed a number of times.

The product is available in various colours, such as Wheat, Cognac, Coffee and has also been introduced in walnut colour. The product is available at a starting price of `450/++ and is available at all Square Foot stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi and Kolkata.

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Another feather in the cap for GRT Hotels & Resorts

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orporate Executive Chef Sheetharam, along with Sous Chef Ganesh of GRT Hotels and Resorts, Chennai won the Gold Medal at the International Chef Competition held in Singapore recently. The competition titled ‘Tradition and Innovations’ was organised under the auspices of the Singapore Tourism Board, Indian Restaurant Association of Singapore and Indian Chef’s Culinary Association, as part of a 10-day food festival held at Little India, Singapore.

Six finalist teams from five Asian countries participated in the competition, viz.

India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Hotel Sahara - Mumbai and GRT Hotels and Resorts - Chennai represented India. Based on our nomination for the competition and chefs profile, GRT was selected to participate in the competition.

Each team, comprising a Chef and Sous Chef, along with a local culinary student competed for two live challenges. They had to prepare a 3 course menu, followed by a mystery challenge.

The jury panel comprised internationally acclaimed experts of World Association of Chefs Societies like Chef Rick Stephen - Asia and Pacific Continental Director of WACS; Chef Edmund Toh - Assistant Vice President, Resorts World Sentosa Hotels and Casino and Chef Mahendran– Chef d’ Cuisine- Indian Kitchen SATS, Singapore.

The judging criteria to win the competition was based on originality, ingenuity, creativity, appearance, presentation, colour scheme, professional skill, ingredients used, name, speed, alertness and knowledge.

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Westin launches Kitchens of Kangan

City f,The Westin Mumbai Garden p Ajay Chopra, Executive Che

p Anurag Bhatnagar - GM,The Westin Mumbai Garden City and Area General Manager for Westin Hotels, Mumbai and Pune

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estin Hotels & Resorts, part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, recently announced the launch of ‘Kitchens of Kangan’. The new initiative will see a unique menu being set and signature dishes being standardised for Kangan restaurants at Westin Mumbai, Westin Pune and Westin Hyderabad, in a bid to strengthen the brand’s value and presence in India. Kangan is one of Starwood Hotels and Resorts’ first exclusive ventures in to North West Frontier specialty Indian cuisine.

Speaking about the initiative, Executive Chef Ajay Chopra, Westin Hotels & Resorts said, “This initiative allows chefs from all three hotels to pool together their strengths and offer our customers the very best.

Anuraag Bhatnagar, Area General Manager, Westin Hotels, Mumbai and Pune stated, “We want to position Kangan as a venue that offers a classic epicurean experience for the finest Indian cuisine.” To promote this new standardised menu, Westin will organise food festivals at Kangan Hyderabad in September, Kangan Pune in October and Kangan Mumbai in November.

(Lyandra D’souza)

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krishnan, p Actress Yaami Gautam with K Rama

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President Marketing, CCD

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The new menu introduces two new taste tingling variants – ‘Blushberry Frappe’, a luscious strawberry shake with chunks of strawberry topped with whipped

September 2013 I www.fhrai.com I

cream; and ‘Crunchy Vanilla Frappe’, also called ‘Snowy Vanilla Frappe’, a rich vanilla shake with crunchy butterscotch bits topped with whipped cream. These are in addition to the recently launched and already a big favourite, ‘Crunchy Frappe’, a divine mixture of crunchy Oreos dunked in a rich creamy chocolaty meltdown.

‘Friends of Frappe’ is available at all CCD’s 1,497 cafes across India and the price ranges from `25 to `94.

The ‘Bestie’ combos range from `79 to `99.

p Team Zuri Whitefield Bengaluru

Celebrating Independence Day 76

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CCD launches ‘Friends of Frappe’

afé Coffee Day (CCD), the pioneers of the coffee café culture in India introduced ‘Friends of Frappe’. The range comprises beverage and bite-sized delights, launched by the actor, Yaami Gautam. The menu was unveiled at the CCD café in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai on August 30, 2013.

This special menu offers three lipsmacking new frappes.

p The Zuri Whitefield, Bengaluru celebrates Independence eve with The Refugee Orphanage

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s a part of their CSR activity, The Zuri Whitefield Bengaluru celebrated 67th Independence Day eve with the children from The Refugee orphanage – a day spent in happiness, unity and laughter.

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p From left,Ajay Mago,Publisher, Om Books International,Vikas Khanna and Sanjay Bhatia, MD, Hindustan Tin Works Ltd

‘Every One Can Cook’

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ichelin-starred Chef Vikas Khanna launched his latest title ‘Everyone Can Cook’. The book is Chef Vikas Khanna’s ode to those visionaries who took the first step towards preserving the goodness of nature in a can so that it can reach kitchens and tables across the world, even during emergencies, and nurture appetites and souls.

In this book, Vikas Khanna puts together easy-to-cook recipes using a variety of canned ingredients in ways never seen before. From mouth-watering starters, comforting soups, delicious

meat preparations, poultry and seafood delicacies, vegetables delights, healthy sandwiches, unusual grains, pastas and breads, decadent desserts, to refreshing beverages on a hectic or leisurely day, Everyone Can Cook is an ideal guide not only for those who wish to quickly put together a sumptuous meal, but also for beginners who wish to experiment bravely in the kitchen.

‘Everyone Can Cook’ has received the Innovation Award for Design from the International Packaging Association, Paris, France in 2013.

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Girish Agarwal awarded Young Achiever for 2013

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t a recent awards ceremony organised by Indian Achievers Forum, an apex body that promotes and encourages commendable achievements from all over the country, Girish Agarwal, CMD, Rajasthali Resorts & Studios was conferred the young achiever for 2013 for outstanding contribution towards progress and development of the Indian economy and society. Agarwal conceived Rajasthali Resorts & Spa in 1990-91 with a vision to contribute to the economy. The award is an appreciation of his holistic thought process which is directed towards the growth of the city.

r Singh, GM,Taj p Ritu Beri with Taljinde lhi De w Ne tel, Palace Ho

p With actor Irfan Khan

p Taljinder Singh, GM,Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi with former Gen V P Malik

An evening for unsung heroes in uniform 78

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n keeping with the Tata’s philosophy of commitment to human values, Taj Palace pledged to pay homage to the spirit of eternal patriotism of the heroes of the armed forces. Initiated in 2011; theTaj Black Tie charity Ball has received overwhelming response. It has always been the group’s conscious endeavour to align and integrate efforts to better address contemporary societal needs and challenges and through this event, has focussed on the needs of the unsung heroes in uniform.

Humbled by the response received over the last two years, the Taj Group, this year continued to showcase its gratitude towards the men and women of the armed forces.

Taljinder Singh, General Manager, Taj Palace, New Delhi says, “It is a platform that brings together the capital’s crème de la crème to give recognition to the soldiers who have made sacrifices and fought valiantly to safeguard our nation.

The Taj Black Tie Charity Ball is a platform to create public awareness and provide an opportunity for contribution and support to our men and women in uniform.”

The proceeds of the event will go to the Taj Public Service Welfare Trust to effectively address the cause and administer the funds in the most transparent manner. The ball was held at the Durbar Hall atTaj Palace, New Delhi.

movements

new faces

cover story

chef talk

news updates

events

beverage

movements

within the hospitality trade Jitendra Kumar

Pranay Verdia

Gaurav Aggarwal

General Manager Radisson Blu Hotel Greater Noida

General Manager Fairfield by Marriott, Bengaluru

Director of Sales Fairfield by Marriott, Bengaluru

Jitendra Kumar has joined Radisson Blu Hotel Greater Noida as the General Manager. He has worked with Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces as an Executive Chef for 19 years in all three SBU’s - Luxury, Business & Leisure. His last stint was with BJN Hotels where he worked as Director-Food Production & Operations taking care of both front and back of the house operations for five years. His expertise also lies in planning and implementing Quality Parameters for both Service and Production areas in line with International Guidelines.

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Gaurav Aggarwal has been appointed to head the Sales department of the soon-to-be-launched brand Fairfield by Marriott, Bengaluru.

This marks the launch of the brand in India for the first time. His current responsibilities entail developing and maintaining customer relations to generate avenues for business to successfully launch the property, interfacing with key influencers, leveraging the presence of global sales offices to drive business and providing one point service delivery for all clients.

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Emiliano Di Stefano

Pankaj Wadhwa

Prakash viswanathan

The Westin Gurgaon Italian Chef De Cuisine

Director - Sales and Marketing Hyatt Regency Mumbai

Director of Sales and Marketing JW Marriott Bengaluru

The Westin Gurgaon appointed Emiliano Di Stefano as the Chef De Cuisine at the hotel’s Californian style Italian venue, ‘Prego’. Chef Stefano bears with him eight years of experience as an Italian Chef for many restaurants and hotels, globally.

In his new role, he will be supervising culinary operations at Prego, leading his team and providing them with directional purpose.

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In addition to strong Mediterranean and Western - international roots, Chef Stefano has also pioneered the art of Italian cookery.

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Pranay Verdia has been appointed as the General Manager of Fairfield by Marriott, Bengaluru. He brings with him an enriched exposure and a wealth of experience in the service driven hospitality sector. In his new position at Fairfield by Marriott, Verdia would facilitate smooth and efficient functioning of the property and guide the teams across departments to meet the set goals. He joins Fairfield

by Marriott, Bengaluru from Jaipur Marriott where he was the Director of Operations.

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September 2013 I www.fhrai.com I

Pankaj Wadhwa has been promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing at the Hyatt Regency Mumbai. Wadhwa, with over 14 years of experience, will be responsible for the planning and induction of sales and marketing strategies, while tapping into relevant national and international market segments, among others. He will also lead Hyatt Regency Mumbai towards fulfilling the vision of establishing the hotel as the preferred corporate destination in Mumbai. He is an alumnus of the Institute of Hotel Management Ahmedabad. Wadhwa began his career at The Trident Udaipur in the food and beverage department.

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Prakash Viswanathan has been appointed as Director of Sales and Marketing for JW Marriott Bengaluru. A Graduate in Hotel Management from WelcomGroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, he brings with him a strong backing of sales and marketing skills which contributes significantly to his newly appointed role.

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He will be leading his team to develop and implement a strong plan of action for brand promotion and performance.

His role also warrants networking with present and potential customers to drive quality sales for the property.

RNI No. DELENG/2000/1230 Posting Date 15-21 (Every Month) Postal Reg. No. DL-(C)-01/1294/2012-2014 at MBC-1 Date of Publication 12-09-2013