Food & Beverage Business Review ( June - July 2014)

June-July ’14

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

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E d i t o r i a l

Publisher cum Editor Rajneesh Sharma rajneeshhammer@gmail.com

Associate Editor Swarnendu Biswas Resident Editor Sharmila Chand (Delhi) Ashok Malkani (Mumbai) Layout & Design Hari Kumar. V Narender Kumar Production Assistant Mamta Sharma Business Co-ordinator Pooja Anand Advertising Sales Delhi: Debabrata Nath, Sumesh Sharma Mumbai: Rajesh Tupsakhre Subscription Sales Dattaram Gangurde Director Sales Sanjay Anand Director Operations & Finance Rajat Taneja Editorial & Advertising Offices: Delhi: Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 1202, Pragati Tower, 26, Rajindra Place, New Delhi-110008 Phone: 91-11-45084903, 25854103 Telefax: 91-11-25854105 Mumbai: Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 105, 1st Floor, Aarpee Centre, Gufic Compound, 11th Road, MIDC, Near Tunga Paradise, Andheri (E), Mumbai-400093 Ph.: 022-28395833 Telefax: 022-28388947

Website: www.fbrmag.com E-mail: hammerpublishers@vsnl.net © 2014 Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. No article can be reproduced in part or as whole without prior permission of the Publisher.

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review is a bi-monthly magazine, printed, owned and published by Rajneesh Sharma from 302, Himgiri Apartments, J-Block, Vikaspuri, New Delhi. Printed at Age of Enlightenment Publications, Green Fields Colony, Faridabad, Haryana.

One of the important facets of the fast changing character of India’s food & beverage industry is the growing popularity of lounge bars among young and corporate crowd across urban India.

The growing popularity of lounge bars in urban India could be the result of increased disposable incomes among select but sizeable pockets of urban India during the last decade and a half, and could also be the result of increased exposure of the middle class India to global lifestyles and food & beverage trends through growing influence of Internet, television and overseas travel.

Nowadays there is a significant section of people who are seeking out of the ordinary experiences in the realm of hospitality and here lounge bars are catering to this demand, as they usually provide a more comfortable and luxurious ambience than average bars and nightclubs. Many of the lounge bars also offer global cuisine and have resident DJs, which contribute to their appeal.

In this issue’s cover story, we have covered some sleek lounge bars having exciting food & beverage offerings, which may encourage many hoteliers or restaurateurs to venture for a lounge bar or lounge bars for that matter.

The growing popularity of energy drinks is another evolving trend of the Indian food & beverage industry. Though the energy drinks market in India is at a nascent stage, but it is growing very fast. The predominantly young population of the country, the growth of the party culture across metros and other big cities of India, the rising health consciousness in the society and of course, the rising disposable incomes among middle classes and upper middle classes since the last decade have together contributed towards the growing popularity of energy drinks in urban India.

However, the popularity of energy drinks in India is presently visible across metros and mini metros of India only. The high price of energy drinks, as compared to your average soft drinks, would impede their growth in rural India and even in small towns, at least in the near future.

In this issue, we have done another idea-centric story in our Feature section, which we have been doing since the last two issues. Here we have explored some unconventional restaurant business models, whose applications from idea to realities could have the possibility of enhancing the restaurants’ revenues and profits.

The challenges involved in in-room dining of hotels, the ways to tackle the menace of high vegetable & fruit prices (which seem to be a recurring theme in the Indian economy and a recurring hassle in Indian households), the IRCTC’s catering to corporate sector are some of the other relevant topics covered in the issue.

Besides these, various other interesting topics are covered through our exhaustive coverage of information, analysis and perspectives, which pertain to the ever evolving Indian food & beverage industry.

Annual Subscription rate within India is Rs. 450 and overseas US $110, for surface mail. Single issue is available for Rs. 90 in India and US $25 overseas. Cheques are payable to Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Editorial Policy: Editorial emphasis in Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review magazine is on educational & informational material specifically designed to assist those responsible for managing institutional food & beverage business. Articles are welcome and will be published on the sole discretion of the editor.

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Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

June-July ’14

Contents

Cover Story

32

Departments

Raising the Bar!

Business

38

The Energy in Drinks

Feature

42

Unconventional Restaurant Business Models

Agri

Event

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News

12

Report

26

Focus

48

Restaurant Review

66

Chef Voice

68

Profile

70

Operations

72

Product Preview

76

52

Checking Green Inflation

Dairy

56

Dairy of an Entrepreneur

Beverage

60

The Healthy Brew Business Opportunity 77

Theme Cuisine Cover Pix Courtesy: Veda Restaurants, New Delhi

June-July ’14

A Glimpse into the Tastes of China

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EVENT

FHA2014 Scripts a Great Success Story

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F

ood&HotelAsia2014 (FHA2014), Asia’s muchanticipated mega biennial food and hospitality tradeshow, closed on a high. It was held at Singapore Expo, during 8th-11th July 2014. Attendees to the show had an exhilarating week, which involved closing deals, forging new partnerships, making new business contacts and learning about the latest trends in the industry.

“We are pleased to see the show flourishing over the years. It is now a renowned platform that brings tremendous value to our exhibitors and visitors. With the show growing with each edition, our team will continually innovate in order to meet with rising and evolving expectations from all participants,” said Stephen Tan, Chief Executive of Singapore Exhibition Services (SES), the organisers of FHA2014.

The event showcased an impressive spread of offerings which ranged from fine and unique food ingredients and products, food service equipment and technology, hotel amenities, hospitality technology to wines and liquors from a mix of returning and new regions.

The 19th edition of the show started off by setting new records. Spanning an immense area of 102,000sq m, it was the first FHA show to fully occupy Singapore’s biggest exhibition venue. The show had 3,213 exhibitors, the largest assembly to date for this show, and 63 group pavilions. It attracted 64,826 attendees, 43.1 percent of them from overseas.

There were many important deals struck at the huge show.

German company SYS Systemfiltration, the producers of the Vito Oil Filter System and oil tester, reported that it had closed a deal worth • 100,000 with an Australian company, and another worth • 33,000 with a Singapore seafood chain.

“We have sold more than 100 units in the first three days of the exhibition, an average of 30 per day,” said Michael Theiss, the Sales Director of SYS Systemfiltration, a third-time exhibitor at FHA. “People are now not looking for basic technology but innovation and a touch of green for their business. So they come to us. FHA is the most important event in Asia for our company. It has helped us to touch base with our potential buyers and to meet our partners from all over Asia,” he added.

There were many positive remarks over quality buyers at the show. “There are not only a large number of visitors at the show, the quality of visitors is great as well. We have met a lot of buyers and importers; we are very pleased with the turnout.

We have about 10 exporters, and everyone has been very pleased with the output of the show,” Jean-Pierre Garnier, Head of Export Services, EBLEX from the UK pavilion in FoodAsia.

“It is all about Asia now. About two thirds of the world’s population lives in Asia, and Singapore is a gateway to Asia. It is very important that we develop our brand in Asia for the longterm. The growth of the middle class, the rise in affluence and the greater appreciation for quality products make Asia very central for us towards going forward,” he added.

“Close to 20 Philippine companies are exhibiting at FHA2014 under the Philippine pavilion. We are excited to be here because Singapore is a regional trading hub and especially important for food companies that want to expand their businesses and distribution networks in the region.

We observe that FHA continues to attract increasing numbers of visitors year after year. We are here because we do not want to miss out on the action,” asserted Glenn G Penaranda, Commercial Counsellor, Philippine Trade & Investment Centre, Embassy of the Philippines, Singapore.

“FHA has always been professionally organised, with a wide variety of new kitchen technologies available. The show offers a great learning experience for all. I will definitely encourage my colleagues to come to FHA2016,” said Franco Ho Swee Fook, Honorary-advisor and Life Member of the Chef Association of Malaysia.

“FHA offers a good opportunity to discover many new ingredients and to meet international Chefs. It offers incredible cross exposure to share capabilities, new ingredients and new techniques – to create a vibrant food scene. From this show, you would always get back home better equipped to try new things with new ingredients and new equipment,” said Sandro Falbo, Executive Chef of The Fullerton Hotel & The Fullerton Bay Hotel, Singapore.

The exhibition was accompanied by an international conference with speakers focusing on key topics and issues faced by the F&B and hospitality industries, including new ways to deal with the manpower shortage, managing hotel operations and revenue optimisation strategies; managing F&B operations and food concepts; and latest technologies for the hotel and F&B sectors.

FHA2014 witnessed world-class competitions, such as the FHA Culinary Challenge (FCC), which saw more than 800 Chefs from 27 countries taking part as competitors and judges. The National Team Challenge and Battle for the Lion held every four years, also returned to the FCC this year, with Singapore and Hong Kong national teams taking the top awards in each category respectively.

“Winning the Lion Trophy signifies a new milestone for the team; receiving all the warm congratulations and commendations from judges and fellow national teams proved that it was not just about winning a competition, but friendship and respect that soar beyond the scoreboard!” expressed Anita Cheng, Team Manager of the Hong Kong Culinary National Team, on their victory in the Battle for the Lion.

In addition, there was the Asian Pastry Cup with Malaysia coming out tops, held in conjunction with Bakery&Pastry, the FHA Barista Challenge and the first-ever FHA Latte Art Challenge.

The RIPE-WSA Cocktail Challenge and the WSA Wine Challenge were also held alongside the event.

FHA2016 and WSA2016 will return to Singapore Expo during 12th–15th April 2016.

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EVENT

ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA: Expected to Garner Impressive Participation

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year’s edition of the event.

“We have more exhibitors from more countries than ever before,” confirmed Gérald Lamusse, the Managing Director of Global Produce Events (GPE), the organiser of this forthcoming show. “This underlines the rising interest in the Asian markets from around the world, and the value that the global fresh produce business sees in this show as the platform for growth,” he affirmed.

Some 25 percent more exhibition space has been sold at ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA 2014 as compared with the last year’s event, thereby smashing previous records for the show, according to the event’s organiser Global Produce Events (GPE).

“ASIA FRUIT LOGISTCA gives us an excellent opportunity to meet with

SIA FRUIT LOGISTICA, Asia’s leading trade show for the international fresh fruit and vegetable business, is to be held during 3rd-5th September 2014 in Hong Kong, at AsiaWorld- Expo. More than 400 exhibitors from 38 countries are expected to exhibit their products and services at the event.

China, which traditionally had the largest presence at this show in terms of exhibitors’ numbers, has expanded its bookings for the exhibition space by 40 percent, as compared to its bookings for the exhibition space in the 2013 edition of this event.

Australia, another leading presence at the previous editions of ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA in terms of exhibitors’ numbers, has expanded its stand space by 70 percent as compared to the last ○

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other global producers and share information and experiences with them,” said Martin Salge of Chinese exhibitor Dalian XingYeYuan Group. “As we plan to develop our import and export activities, the three days at the exhibition will enable us to build strong relationships with serious players from all over the world,” he pointed out.

Visitors’ numbers are also set to hit record levels at the ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA 2014, with GPE expecting some 7,000 trade buyers and visitors from more than 60 different countries to attend the forthcoming event.

ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA 2013 attracted more than 6,500 top decision-makers from 64 countries. Here it deserves a mention that since it opened in 2007, ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA has grown in popularity with every year. ○

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The 12th HOSFAIR Guangzhou Concludes

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he 12th Guangzhou International Hospitality Equipment & Supplies Fair was held at the China Import & Export Fair Complex, during 26th28th June 2014. The event was organised by Guangzhou Huazhan Exhibition Co., Ltd., Asia Hotel Association, Guangdong Cuisine Association, Guangdong Kitchen Committee and Shenzhen Zhongzhan Exhibition Co., Ltd. During the-three-day show, 72,988 trade professionals gathered from 86 countries and regions, which included China mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Canada, USA, Australia, Brazil,

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Colombia, Germany Greece, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, the UK, Russia, Pakistan, UAE, Japan, Turkey, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore among others. The show covered 50,000 sq. m exhibiting space and attracted about 1,000 exhibitors from home and abroad.

The show gathered excellent suppliers and purchasers of hospitality industry from all over the world.

HOSFAIR Guangzhou 2014 offered a one-step procurement platform service for hotels, restaurants, clubs, bars, stores, luxury real estates, etc. There were ten sectors in the show which

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

included kitchen equipment & supplies, tableware, hotel furniture, hotel textile and uniform, clean equipment & supplies, interior products, intelligence, wine baker and coffee, food and beverage.

HOSFAIR Guangzhou 2014 also attracted over 50 purchasing groups from all over the world involving hotel catering, coffee baking, restaurant and resorts, store and market industry, etc.

The 13th Guangzhou International Hospitality Equipment & Supplies Fair will be held during 25th-27th June 2015 at the China Import and Export Fair Complex.

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E V E N T S’ C A L E N D E R Thailand Retail, Food & Hospitality Services 2014 24-27 July 2014 Hall 103, Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC) www.thailandhoreca.com

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Restaurant & Bar 2-4 September2014 Hongkong Convention & Exhibition Centre Hongkong www.restaurantandbarhk.com Asiafruit Logistica 3-5 September 2014 AsiaWorld-Expo, Hongkong www.asiafruitlogistica.com

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Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

FHRAI 49th Convention 12-14 September 2014 Jaipur Marriott Hotel, Jaipur www.fhrai.com India F&B Pro + Hospitality Expo 2014 12-14 September 2014 Expo Centre, Panaji, Goa www.trinityworld.biz Annapoorna World of Foods India - 2014 24-26 September 2014 Bombay Exhibition Center, Mumbai www.worldoffoodindia.com Fi and Hi India 2014 29 September - 1 October 2014 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregoan East, Mumbai www.foodingredientsglobal.com/india/home Hotel Hospitality & Food 2014 3 - 5 October 2014 Sri Lanka Exhibition & Convention Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka www.hhf-srilanka.com SIAL Paris 19-23 October 2014 Paris Nord Ville Pinte, Paris www.sial.fr International Foodtech India 2014 14-16 November 2014 Hall 1, Bombay Exhibitioon Centre, NSE, Mumbai www.foodtecindia.com

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Food & Hotel Thailand 2014 10-13 September 2014 Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC) Bangkok, Thailand www.foodhotelthailand.com

Sigep 2015 14-21 January 2015 Remini Fiera, Italy www.en.sigep.it

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packaging and printing for the food and health industry. Some of the companies expected to showcase their products in this maiden venture are Bry-Air (Asia), Buchi India, J.P.Machine Tools, Sealtech Industries, Target Innovation, Unique Equipments, etc.

Industry players such as Glanbia Nutritional, G. C. Chemie Pharmie Ltd, Naturex, Piramal Healthcare, Tata Chemicals, WarKem Biotech, Zeon Lifesciences amongst others will showcase their offerings at the Hi Pavilion.

As a special initiative, Fi&Hi India 2014 will be introducing a two day workshop on ‘Basics to Bakery Modernization,’ with the support of Assocom Institute Of Bakery Technology & Management (AIBTM) on 29th September & 1st October 2014. Hosted by AIBTM, the two day event aims at imparting the basic knowledge on ingredients and packaging of bakery products.

On the sidelines of the event, Fi&Hi India will also organise onsite seminar sessions which will see attendance by food and nutraceutical professionals from across the country. These conferences will be informative and interactive with the presence of expert panelists from some of the most respected trade associations.

Joji George, Managing Director, UBM India said, “With the Indian food industry growing at an annual rate of 17 percent and India being the forefront destination for food investment, Fi&Hi India 2014 will successfully provide the industry with a global portfolio, extending from the iconic tradeshow to online platforms with the world’s leading suppliers and buyers to industry specific conferences.”

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BM India will be hosting the 9th edition of the Food ingredients & Health ingredients 2014 (Fi & Hi India 2014), which would be held during 29th September– 1st October 2014 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai. This forthcoming event is expected to bring together the leading food ingredient suppliers and more than 6,000 visitors.

The 2014 edition of Fi & Hi India aims to focus on innovation and consumer trends, which is expected to provide a channel for the industry professionals from around the world to link to the promising Indian market.

Fi 2014 edition will see impressive support and participation from some of India’s apex policy making bodies such as Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI), Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and National Meat and Poultry Processing Board (NMPPB).

The event will be participated by key industry players including ADM Agro Industries India Pvt. Ltd, Roquette Riddhi Siddhi Pvt. Ltd, Matrix Flavours & Fragrances Sdn.Bhd, Mintel (Consulting) Singapore Pte Ltd, Advanced Enzymes Technologies Ltd, Fine Organics Industries Ltd, ITC Colors, Synthite Industries Ltd amongst others.

Fi&Hi India 2014 will provide a platform for the food processing and packaging companies to showcase their offerings in the Food Technology Processing and Packaging Pavilion.

Keeping in mind the growing industry demand in this sector, the Food Technology Processing and Packaging Pavilion is expected to attract technology companies in the realm of machinery, labeling, processing,

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Fi & Hi India 2014: An Effective Platform for Food Ingredient Suppliers

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EVENT

June-July ’14

June-July ’14

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EVENT

The 32ND AGM of HOTREMAI T

he 32nd Annual General Meeting of The Hotel & Restaurant Equipment Manufacturers’ Association of India (HOTREMAI) was held on 5th July 2014 at the India International Centre, New Delhi. Nirmal Khandelwal, the President of HOTREMAI, expressed delight over HOTREMAI completing its 32 years. “Started 32 years ago with a handful of members by Mr. R. Kumar, today we have more than 300 members from across India and abroad”, he recalled. He attributed the growth and achievements of the association to the untiring efforts of the past Presidents, Secretaries and Regional VPs of the association.

At the same time, Khandelwal observed that many service providers to the Indian hospitality industry were not yet the members of HOTREMAI, and stressed that efforts should be initiated to make them the members of HOTREMAI. On competing with the emerging markets, R Kumar, the Founder & President of Honour, HOTREMAI, was of the view that the members of the association should insist on specialised quality of the products and for that he advocated the idea of ascertaining product certification from some renowned certification company. Kumar termed EPCG as a curse for the hospitality industry and added that the matter

needs to be strongly taken up to the government in a united manner. “Get united and achieve the goal” he stressed, while talking on this issue.

Anil Malhotra, Secretary, HOTREMAI, presented the report on the affairs and activities of the Executive Committee, during the period 2013-14. The audited accounts for the preceding year were presented and adopted by the General Body unanimously. Other agenda items were also taken up and discussed by the members.

Highlighting the future plans, the Secretary informed that as a part of its promotional activity and with a view to boost the recognition and brand building of HOTREMAI in the southern region, a purchase professionals meet followed by an interactive session would be organised during the AAHARChennai, after exhibition hours. AAHAR Chennai would be held during 14th-16th August, 2014. The date and venue for the meet will be decided soon. The event will be organised in collaboration with the Hospitality Purchasing Managers‘ Forum (HPMF).

Sharma further informed that to enable informal interaction of HOTREMAI members with the senior F&B executives of hotel industry, The Executive Committee of HOTREMAI had decided to organise an F&B Managers & Chefs Meet on 26th September 2014 at Four Points by Sheraton New Delhi, as a promotional activity to boost the recognition and brand building of HOTREMAI.

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NEWS SCAN

Creambell Comes with Berry Bonanza Creambell, one of India’s renowned and fast growing ice cream brands, has launched a new international flavour as part of its summer line up. ‘Berry Bonanza’ is the latest addition to Creambell’s international range of ice cream desserts which includes Irish Cream, Smoothies and Hawaiian Chill among others.

Creambell’s Berry Bonanza offers the exotic flavour of choicest imported cranberries from the US with a blend of fresh and luscious strawberry along with dollops of silky smooth cream.

Speaking on the launch of Berry Bonanza this summer Nitin Arora, Chief Executive Officer, Creambell Ice Cream, said, “Summer inspires us to come up with new ideas to delight all our customers and Berry Bonanza is another innovative product, and a first for the Indian market. It adds to our range of desserts with an international twist and customers will love its exotic berry combination in a dessert avatar”.

Creambell Berry Bonanza ice-cream comes in a rectangular packaging and is priced Rs. 275 for 1000ml pack. It is already available across all Creambell outlets. Presently, Creambell has presence in 20 states of the country and also in neighbouring countries of the Indian sub-continent. Creambell plants are ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 22000:2005 and HACCP certified. ○

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The Right Notice In the recent past, Haryana Pollution Control Board had issued notice to close ten poultry egg farms, and directed to stop operations in 11 others, which at that time of issuance of notice were located in Panchkula, Haryana. The PCB took this action in the wake of complaints filed by city residents on the growing house-fly menace in their locality due to the presence of poultry farms. Humane Society International-India welcomed this step by Haryana Pollution Control Board. HSI/ India is a part of Humane Society International — one of the largest animal protection organisations in the world, with more than 11 million members and constituents across the globe.

In this regard, HSI/India’s Managing Director, NG Jayasimha said, “Improper waste management in factory farms have a cascading effect on human health and environment. We have asked poultry farms to manage poultry effectively but they have made no attempt to improve their practices. We applaud the swift action taken by Haryana’s Pollution Control Board and strongly urge the other states to follow the lead.”

In the recent years, the shift towards industrial farm animal production has exacerbated existing waste management problems, with more animals being intensively confined in fewer, but larger, more crowded facilities. Poorly managed animal wastes from these facilities contaminate water and air with harmful chemicals, pathogens and particulate matter, and often attract infestations of flies to the surrounding area. Chronic exposure to such unhygienic conditions can have serious negative implications for human and animal health.

HSI/India along with its partner organisations is working to improve farm animal welfare and sustainability in the Indian poultry industry. It has launched a campaign to end the intensive confinement of egg-laying hens in India.

Here it deserves a mention that India is the third largest producer of eggs in the world and more than 200 million hens are confined in battery cages across the country where the average floor space allowed per bird is not more than a single A4 sheet of paper.

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NEWS SCAN

Noémie Lévieux as Brand Ambassador of LOUIS XIII for India Remy Cointreau, a global name in ultra-premium spirits and champagnes, has announced the appointment of Noémie Lévieux as the Brand Ambassador of LOUIS XIII, for Remy Cointreau India.

Noémie will operate out of Remy Cointreau India’s corporate office located in Gurgaon. In her new role, she will be responsible for creating awareness about the iconic cognac brand — LOUIS XIII from the House of Remy Martin — and its rich heritage among the discerning Indian consumers.

Commenting on the appointment, Rukn Luthra, Managing Director, Remy Cointreau– Indian sub-continent and Gulf, said, “We are happy to announce Ms. Noémie Lévieux as a dedicated brand ambassador for LOUIS XIII for the Indian market. Given her extensive experience in managing luxury brands and her dynamic personality, we are confident that Noémie is a right fit to strengthen the bond between the brand and its equally celebrated consumers.

This appointment is a testimony of company’s commitment to grow and strengthen LOUISXIII’s presence in the country.”

Noémie comes with a vast experience in managing international premium and luxury brands and has worked with Guerlain (LVMH) and Beiersdorf Nivea before joining Remy Cointreau India.

An Invincible Performance Recently, Invincible Vodka has bagged two awards at the highly acclaimed Spirits International Prestige (SIP) awards. The SIP Awards is one of the world’s important spirits award competition, wherein hundreds of established and up-and-coming brands from across the world vie with each other to bag the top honours. Into its sixth edition, the SIP Awards extravaganza was held at St. Regis Monarch Beach, California. More than 400 brands from across the globe participated at the competition.

Octaga Green Power and Sugar Industries’ product Invincible Vodka got a Gold medal for slick packaging design and a Silver medal in vodka tasting.

Here it deserves a mention that Invincible Vodka is the only Indian brand to have garnered two prestigious awards at SIP competition Moderately priced at Rs 800, Invincible Vodka currently has a strong presence in two Indian states Maharashtra and Goa and also in the Union Territory of Daman. The company is ramping up its operations and will be shortly entering Delhi, Punjab, Puducherry as well.

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NEWS SCAN

MAGGI Strives to Make Healthy Eating Fun After intelligently amalgamating taste and health, which attracted popularity among the growing numbers of health conscious consumers of fast food, MAGGI is now working closely with experts and mothers, which can make kids healthier and happier.

Commenting on this, Shivani Hegde, General Manager (Foods) at Nestlé India affirmed, “Physical activity and healthy diets are two very important ingredients for health and the big challenge for mothers today is how they can make the combination of activity and nutrition a natural part of daily life. Some mothers are certainly trying to encourage their children to go out and play, but most of the time it is a constant battle for them. Kids on the other hand are finding the pursuit of health very boring!

“The question for us was to see how we could use our expertise and our insights about human behaviour and consumption preferences to help mothers make their kids healthy. The answer came with the simple concept ‘Health Ko Mazedaar Banaao’. Using this as the central idea, MAGGI will now lead the way to inspire kids and support mothers to make the pursuit of health enjoyable,” she added.

Nestle India has launched a new campaign for its brand MAGGI that urges mothers to inspire their kid/s to come out and play. It also urges mothers that the food that they provide should not only be tasty and nutritious but also be enjoyable.

Nestle India has planned various

initiatives that will motivate and persuade mothers and kids across India to make health enjoyable. In the next few months, MAGGI is also expected to roll out more products that will provide the natural goodness of grains.

The newly launched MAGGI Veg Atta Noodles with ‘Grain Shakti’ is a reflection of MAGGI’s drive towards making healthy eating enjoyable. The product is claimed to be made with 100 percent atta, and according to the advertisement aired on TV where the great Madhuri Dixit plays the central role, the product has the fibre quality of three rotis.

The Impressive Flow of Coca-Cola in India In terms of volume sales, India is now the sixth largest market for Coca-Cola. India has overtaken Germany in this regard, and in terms of volume sales, only the US, Mexico, China, Brazil and Japan are bigger markets for Coca-Cola than India is. Coca-Cola India now accounts for 12 percent of the company’s volume sales in the Asia- Pacific region.

According to some industry experts, Coca-Cola India, which has nationally renowned brands like Thums Up, Sprite, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, and Fanta in its ambit, comprises more than 55 percent of the Rs. 14,000-crore market for Indian soft drinks. PepsiCo India is the second largest player in the Indian soft drinks market, accounting for more than 35 percent of the Indian soft drinks market.

This news would induce many soft drink giants across the world to view India’s market more seriously. Moreover, the fact that the per capita soft drinks consumption in India is much lower than the global average also accounts for great growth potential for both Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India in the Indian soft drinks market, in the near future.

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Reliance Retail to Shut Over 100 Reliance Fresh Outlets Reliance Retail is increasing its focus on wholesale cash and carry business, and is planning to shut down over 100 Reliance Fresh stores. The firm has informed its vendors about its move to close over 100 Reliance Fresh stores. The Reliance Fresh stores primarily sell fresh produce and groceries. Presently, Reliance Retail operates approximately 550 Reliance Fresh stores. An average store spreads across 3500 sq.ft.

This step by Reliance Retail was preceded by similar steps from Aditya Birla Retail and Spencer’s Retail. In 2012, Aditya Birla Retail closed all its Mumbai outlets(run under the More brand) as it couldn’t face the burnt of huge real estate costs. In fact, it is shocking that according to a report by the ratings agency Crisil, India’s top 10 retailers posted accumulated losses of Rs 13,000 ○

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crore during the 2013-14 fiscal.

Besides steep real estate costs, competition from local grocery stores is another important challenge for the survival and growth of the organised retail business in India. According to an expert, the logistics challenge behind stocking and selling of perishable products like food items is another impediment towards the growth of modern organised retail business in the country.

Following Walmart’s announcement to launch 50 new Best Price stores by 2020, Reliance now has introduced plans of opening 100 cash-and-carry stores in the ensuing two years. ○

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Carrefour to Quit India After its four year long innings in the country, Carrefour SA has decided to close its Indian operations. By the end of September of this year, the retail giant will shut its five Indian wholesale stores. According to some retail consultants, the company has already invested Rs. 3 billion in its Indian operations.

The French retail giant has decided to exit from its underperforming markets in order to focus on reviving declining sales at home. Here it deserves a mention that Carrefour, which runs around 10,000 stores across 34 countries, has moved away from many other markets too during the last few years, which include Greece, Singapore and Malaysia among others.

This is discouraging news for the multi-brand retail giants from abroad thinking of investing in India. The world’s number one retail player Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. called off its Indian partnership last year, and has shelved the plan to open retail stores in the country. However, Wal-Mart is now focused on opening wholesale stores in India. It has also come up with an e-commerce venture in India, in the recent past.

Overall, the economic climate for foreign supermarket chains doesn’t seem to be encouraging in India, what with the newly elected Indian government led by Narendra Modi opposing the flow of foreign investment in the supermarket sector, on the logic that this may harm the interests of the small shopkeepers.

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NEWS SCAN

Pita Pit to Expand its Indian Presence Pita Pit, the quick service restaurant chain from Canada has plans to expand in India in a big way. The chain is expected to come up with over 50 outlets in the country over the next five years. Initially, Pita Pit’s expansion in India will be in northern and eastern regions of the country.

Pita Pit entered India in November 2013, and presently the brand has presence in India through three outlets in Delhi-NCR region. In Delhi-NCR, there are Pita Pit outlets at Greater Kailash-I, Cyber Hub in Gurgaon, and at Select Citywalk, Saket. According to Pita Pit India’s Chairman Pramod Dhawan, the expansion of the chain in India will be through company-owned and as well as franchise outlets.

Pita Pit has 500 stores across the globe and has presence in New Zealand, South Korea, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, Brazil, France, UK, Australia, and India.

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Better Food in Trains Soon The recently tabled Railway Budget of 2014-15 has the possibility of giving the commuters in Indian Railways better food options than they are getting at present. The budget has proposed to introduce ready-toeat meals of reputed brands onboard trains, in a phased manner to improve food quality in trains. This step is expected to not only improve the quality of food in trains but also give commuters better variety in food.

Besides this, the Railway Budget also proposed to set up food courts at major stations, which will serve regional cuisine options, which can be ordered onboard trains through e-mail, SMS and smart phones.

Moreover, the Railways, in order to bring about an improvement in catering services the Railway Minister DV Sadananda Gowda has proposed to introduce a quality assurance mechanism through a third party audit, which will be carried out by agencies certified by the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies.

According to the Minister, a system of gathering feedback from commuters on the quality of food served, through an IVRS mechanism, will also be launched in the near future.

The Minister also stated that if the quality of food supplied by the food vendors in trains are not up to the mark, stringent action would be initiated against them, which may also include cancellation of their contract.

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NEWS SCAN

Breezer Introduces ABD Enters Ready-to-Eat Aam Panna and Snacks Segment Blenders and Distillers Pvt. Nimbu Paani Flavours Allied Ltd.(ABD), which is an important Bacardi, a name which is synonymous with rum, has introduced aam panna and nimbu paani flavours under the ambit of its ready-to-drink brand Breezer. This move is expected to facilitate or accelerate the growth of the Breezer brand in the country.

These ‘Indi Mix’ flavours are different from Breezer’s range of international flavours like cranberry, Jamaican passion, blackberry crush, green apple, island pineapple, orange and lime.

Bacardi’s attempt to Indianise flavours which can broaden the market for rum-based drinks in India can be termed as innovative in the Indian spirits industry.

These two Indi Mix flavours have been conceived and developed by the Indian unit of Bacardi and they have flowed into Haryana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Goa and Karnataka.

Here it deserves a mention that Breezer, which has low alcohol content, has gained considerable popularity in the country and has recorded a 24.4 percent CAGR over the last five years. Every year, Bacardi has been coming up with one to two new Breezer flavours.

spirits company with brands like Officer’s Choice Whiskey, has entered the ready-to-eat snacks market. Its flagship brand in the snacks market is Officer’s Choice Snacks.

This seems to be an intelligent decision by the company as ready-to-eat snacks and whisky gel well and often complement each other. Together they can add fun to the parties and get together.

Initially, this range of snacks includes three variants of Potato Crisps and one variant each of Moong Daal and Masala Peanuts. This snacks range has been initially launched in western Maharashtra, which includes cities like Pune, Nashik, Solapur and Kolhapur. The company has plans to extend the distribution network for its newly launched ready-to-eat snacks to the rest of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat,Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal and North-East markets by the end of the year.

According to ABD’s Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, Deepak Roy, the distribution of this range of snacks will be exposed through various mediums, which include grocery stores and modern trade.

Roy believed that Officer’s Choice Snacks would become a significant stream of revenue for the company in the future, and would facilitate to bolster the overall franchise and equity of the brand.

Parle Mango Bite Wins Vegan Food Awards In June, PETA India honoured some companies for cruelty free foods in advance of the World Environment Day, through its first ever Vegan Food Awards. Parle Mango Bite from Parle Products won the award for Best Vegan Candy.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) India did announce the winners of its first-ever Vegan Food Awards after tasting scores of quality vegan products available. Vegan food items are free of meat, egg and dairy products. Here it deserves a mention that vegan eating has gained popularity in the country, during the recent years. Now the Indian market has many delicious vegan eating options.

A hard boiled candy, Mango Bite has a sweet mango taste which is a popular flavour in the realm of Indian palate. Pravin Kulkarnii, General Manager – Marketing, Parle Products said, “We invest a lot of time and R&D to provide our customers with products of the best quality and taste. It is therefore great to be awarded and appreciated. Mango Bite has stood the test of time and has faced fierce competition from many brands in the market.

It is popular for its flavour and is well established amongst children as well as adults.”

Among the notable winners at the PETA Vegan Food Awards 2014 were Nestle Dark Chocolate, which won the award for Best Vegan Chocolate and Mondelez International’s Cardbury Oreo, which won the award for Best Vegan Cookie.

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NEWS SCAN

MICROS Comes With Innovations

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ICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCRS), a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, has introduced its new MICROS mTablet E-Series and the new MICROS Engagement Feature at the National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show, which took place in Chicago during 17th-20th May 2014.

These new innovations from MICROS allow staff members to perform multiple activities from one device, including making guest interactions extraordinary while providing advanced capabilities that will significantly raise the bar on what a modern point of sale system should be.

The MICROS mTablet E-Series allows hospitality and retail staff to elevate guest engagement. The mTablet E-Series, which is available in eight-inch and eleven-inch size, offers an extended battery life, and operates

on Microsoft Windows 8.1 Embedded Industry Pro. The eight-inch handheld tablet is perfect for on-the-go staff, while the eleven-inch version is also fully compatible with the MICROS mStation base, providing staff the flexibility to be mobile or use it as a workstation option with full peripheral connectivity. Optional sleeves for either mTablet size facilitate secure payment on the device.

The MICROS Engagement Feature brings a highly animated and interactive element to the MICROS mTablet E-Series when running MICROS Simphony in a food and beverage establishment. The MICROS Engagement Feature offers a fluid touch experience with an ultramodern look and feel with interactive live tiles that can display and promote numerous content including specials of the day and upcoming events, connection to the loyalty program,

external content feeds for guest entertainment among others. It is also very configurable and highly customisable for preference and can access actionable data, analytics and tools for management staff.

“We are very excited to introduce our new MICROS Engagement Feature and MICROS mTablet E-Series at this year’s NRA show,” stated Russell Butler, Senior Vice President of Global Research & Development at MICROS Systems.

“Mobility continues to be a consistent theme for technology in hospitality and retail. In the food & beverage industry, it is not enough to be able to just take an order on a device at a table. The guests want to be able to interact with the technology as well. Providing an exceptional guest experience goes beyond the quality of food and service; it includes the entire guest interaction,” he added.

A Fusion of Tastes A Pune Fusion Food Festival was held at the MoMo Café of the Courtyard by Marriott Pune City Centre, during 11th 20th July, where some of Pune’s most loved delicacies were given a fusion spin.

Some of the local Maharashtrian dishes were blended with western ingredients to give these local dishes a novel twist that was appreciated by the people who consumed those dishes.

The hotel had, for instance, created a Bhoplyachi Bharit with a difference – in that case the mashed pumpkin was made with a Greek-style yogurt called Labneh instead of the traditional style yogurt. Chocolate Puran Poli was another exquisite creation of this fusion food festival as was Masala Bhaat with Italian Arborio Rice.

Also, Kairiche Saar, a local raw mango soup was flavoured with basil and served with croutons. The Fusion Food Festival saw France’s renowned bakery product – the croissant – stuffed with Pune’s famous shrikhand. Italy’s most famous culinary export to the world – the pizza – also got twisted with a topping of lasooni chutney. The Executive Sous Chef of the hotel, Merajuddin Ansari was the man behind the creation of such innovative preparations.

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REPORT

HSI India Urges Leading Airlines in India to Ban Shipping Shark Fins

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n the wake of growing global concern over decreasing shark population and degrading health of marine eco systems, Humane Society International India has petitioned leading airlines in India to end their role in the international trade in shark fins.

In their letters to the management of leading Indian carriers — Jet Airways and Air India — HSI India has sought for these airlines to institute a policy against shipment of shark fins.

HSI’s letters join an earlier petition led

by WildLifeRisk.

Reports have revealed that the shark fin trade is today one of the leading contributors to the decimation of sharks, globally. Trade

reports and undercover investigations have also revealed that shark fins are most commonly transported from India to places like Hong Kong, Dubai and China as cargo on airlines.

In this context, NG Jayasimha, HSI India’s Managing Director, said: “As top predators, sharks are important to the survival and maintenance of healthy marine ecosystems. However, traders in India have found top dollar buyers and lucrative markets in many East Asian and South-east Asian countries where shark fins are in high demand. We encourage airline giants such as Jet Airways and Air India to end the role they are playing in a trade that is harming these keystone species.”

In June 2014, Etihad Airways, which holds a 24 percent minority stake in Jet Airways, has also announced its decision to ban shark fin as well as live primate shipments.

HSI/ India hopes that Jet Airways shall follow in the example of Etihad Airways and declare a similar decision on its cargo services in India.

By adopting a policy against the transport of shark fins, these airlines would be joining the internationally growing league of environmentally conscious airlines such as Emirates, Philippine Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Qantas and Air New Zealand among others, all of whom have made a public commitment to stop carrying shark fins.

A Humane Ban

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he Indian government has banned the import of foie gras to India.

The ban notification was issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade as a result of a two year campaign by the animal protection organisation named Animal Equality. Animal Equality has been pushing for a ban on foie gras’ import to India after the release of an investigation on foie gras production in the EU. The Humane Society International/India has welcomed this decision by the government.

Here it deserves a mention that behind the creation of foie gras, which is being regarded as a luxury culinary product across several western countries, there is extreme cruelty on ducks and geese. To put it simply foie gras is duck’s or goose’s liver; a liver that is specially fattened. The process of creation of foie gras involves forced feeding of ducks and geese to engorge their liver, a process which is very painful for the birds. The production of foie gras involves force feeding ducks and geese enormous quantities of grain, usually through a rigid metal tube forced down their throat, so that their liver becomes excessively fatty and expands to an unnatural size.

Besides causing pain and injury to the animals, the force feeding of ducks and geese for foie gras also makes the

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birds’ walking and moving increasingly uncomfortable and difficult as their livers enlarge. Their force-feeding can also cause painful bruising, lacerations, sores or organ rupture. The birds can also suffer considerable fear and stress during repeated capture and handling.

“This is a triumph for animal welfare in India as well as across the globe, and sets a precedent for other countries to follow. Foie gras is sold as a luxury item

but its production results in an enormous amount of suffering to birds.

Humane Society International/India applauds Animal Equality’s persistent efforts to end this form of extreme cruelty by persuading the Government to stop the import of foie gras in India.

We urge consumers to immediately inform HSI/India if they see foie gras been served in any eatery in the country,” asserted NG Jayasimha, the

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Managing Director for HSI/India, in the context of this ban. “India’s progressive stand on this issue will help to crack down the global trade in products of animal cruelty,” he further pointed out.

India is however, not alone in this endeavour. Foie gras production is widely condemned for being cruel, and according to a press release, more than a dozen governments have prohibited this intensive farming practice including the UK, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, most Austrian provinces, Turkey, Israel and the US state of California.

However, though this ban can give a fillip to the animal rights activists, and there is no doubt that the ban on import of foie gras to India is a humane one, but the high-end restaurants across the country who are pushing foie gras on their menus in the recent times may have to modify their gourmet offerings to attract some of their guests; guests who are having liking for such high-end exotic dishes. At the same time, the government should also spare some thought on the serious issues of cruelty being meted out in poultry and livestock production in India. Excessive cruelty to animals for meat production is not a foreign concept but a day-to-day grim reality in our own country.

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REPORT

NRAI Seminar on Food Safety & Standards Act ○

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n 8th July, the National Restaurant Association of India organised a seminar on the ‘Food Safety & Standards Act,’ focusing on its implementation and challenges for the Indian restaurant industry. The seminar was titled NRAI Seminar on Food Safety & Standards Act – Implementation And Challenges for the Restaurant Industry. Chief Guest at the seminar was D K Samantaray, CEO, FSSAI and the Guest of Honour was KK Jindal, Commissioner, Food Safety, Delhi.

At the seminar, Samir Kuckreja, President, NRAI, addressed issues related to licensing and registration, excessive documentation to the central list, group nominations for licenses for chain outlets, licensing registrations for vendors, proprietary product approvals, supply and clearances of imported products and more.

“The Indian restaurant industry thinks that the new act is forward thinking and has incorporated various international best practices. The Act consolidates eight different laws governing the food sector into a single law that covers both the organised and the unorganised segments of the industry. We do hope that this will help convert India’s large unorganised food sector to become more organised. Overall, the new law is comprehensive and will be beneficial to the Indian restaurant and

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catering industry,” affirmed Kuckreja.

However, Kuckreja maintained that “The new act does entail several challenges for the restaurant industry. These include the comprehensive testing requirements, very stringent financial and legal penalties and detailed documentation to be kept at the restaurants.”

Agreeing to look into the issues addressed by Kuckreja on behalf of the restaurant industry, Samantaray addressed the audience saying, “There cannot be an ‘inspector raj’ now. This act is in interest of all of us and is still in the making.” He further suggested, “The industry at the state level must interact closely with the Food Safety Commissioners to resolve the teething problems.”

Mentioning that the new food law came into existence after a decade of detailed deliberations, Samantaray asserted, “If the processed food industry has to deliver wholesome and safe food, it will have to ensure that this act and its rules & regulations are implemented. The entire idea of this act is not to implement it by force. It has to be a process of making people educated. Proactive training and capacity building will be the main instruments in this process. The private sector in the industry will have to take the lead.” To standardise the food products,

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Samantaray stated, “FSSAI is trying to harmonise with the Codex to expand the standardised food basket from 377 to about 11,000 by August 2014.”

Speaking on the occasion, K K Jindal concurred, “Earlier food business operators had to deal with so many regulators. A big change in the new act is that now you will be dealing with only one, that is, FSSAI.” Giving a brief outline about the Act, he added, “The new act is comprehensive legislation. It facilitates food safety management systems, ensures better consumer safety, provides for effective, transparent and accountable regulatory framework within which the industry can grow more efficiently.”

Commissioner, Food Safety, also announced that to expedite the regulatory process, about 126 centres have been made operational in various parts of Delhi with the beginning of July.

The seminar was well attended by restaurateurs from across the NCR region and other parts of India. It is believed that the insightful presentations and interactive sessions at the seminar will facilitate the participants ensure compliance to the new law that is being implemented from August, 2014.

“Currently there are some significant issues which we are hoping will be suitably addressed by the FSSAI. These include the complexity of the registration process for both restaurant owners and suppliers of food and beverage items; long delays in the proprietary product approvals and delays and complexity in clearances of imported products,” stated Kuckreja. “We have given a detailed representation on these issues to the CEO of the FSSAI during our interaction with him at the NRAI Seminar held today, and are actively following up to have a meeting with the concerned authorities to address these issues,” he added further.

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COVER STORY

Raising the

Bar!

Lounge bars are becoming popular all over the country. The lounge bar concept has basically evolved from regular bars but they generally differ on the kind of experiences they provide. At the lounge bars, the ambience and the food are not run-of-the-mill stuff. Here the spirits – national and international brands – should meet the approval of the young discerning crowd, which frequent these bars.

One of the reasons for the growth of lounge bars is the increased spending power of the youth in urban India. The corporate clients who visit the lounge bars, along with the college going crowd and the socialites (they are the predominant crowd at lounge bars), all demand quality stuff which the lounge bars provide.

Constant experimentation by the bartenders is responsible for the new-age cocktails available at the lounge bars. Ashok Malkani probes the reasons for their growth and covers some of these lounge bars.

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COVER STORY

C

hange is an essential element of life and progress. Radical changes are being witnessed in the Indian hospitality industry, not only in the metros and tier I cities but also in the tier II and III cities. One of the changes witnessed in the recent past has been the launch and popularity of several lounge bars.

What is a lounge bar? According to the Macmillan dictionary a lounge bar is: a room in a pub that is more comfortable and usually more expensive than the public bar. As usual, the dictionary definition hardly gives the holistic image of the sleekness that a lounge bar should usually exude.

The lounge bars are becoming popular with the young crowd – students as well as the corporate crowd.

Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Goa and many of the other places in India where there is a sizeable population of youth with spending power, are witnessing a rapid growth of lounge bars. Indeed they are proving to be the favourite havens of the Gen X. The lounge and bar concept has basically evolved from regular bars. “A lounge bar is not a new concept but a take off on old English brandy and cigar clubs. The mixologist/service personnel, beverage list, guest profile, etc. need to come together for the concept to work,” said Sahdev Mehta, General Manager of DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pune – Chinchwad.

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“Lounge bars are in. Here you could avoid cheap crowd, which also includes anti-social elements. These places are totally safe to drink with groovy music and fantastic lighting,” explained one of the regular visitors to lounge bars.

Reasons for Popularity “The middle class Indians today have, on an average, more buying power than their predecessors, and because many of them are well travelled they relate to the idea of lounge bars, having experienced them overseas,” articulated Mehta while reasoning the growing popularity of lounge bars across urban India. “Again the major revenue base for a lounge bar is the age group between 30 – 45 years who spend way more than the younger guests in this type of setting. Lounge bars have also broken through as a chic option. Here you are more relaxed than at the discos or night clubs,” he added.

Most of these lounge bars across urban India are patronised by the corporate crowd, college students, socialites and others who want to have a drink away from the riff-raff. For some it is the groovy music which sets the feet tapping. For others it is the sporting events shown on the huge screen.

“Watching a goal being scored or a six being hit on a large screen while drinking has its own excitement,” averred one of the regulars who visit the lounge bars.

Mehta feels that the concept of lounge-bar has become popular, and is

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swiftly picking up as it offers an atmosphere that is more comfortable and relaxed than average bars; it has resident DJs who play new-age music. The lounge bars also offer different kinds of mixes, and world class cuisines. He adds that they are popular all over the country, even in small towns. Let us examine some of the wonderful lounge bars across Mumbai, Pune and Goa.

Linear Lounge When queried, specifically, if Pune would be a good place for a lounge bar, Mehta replied, “Pune is as good as any other city. However, we have an over supplied market right now between the organised hotel sector and stand-alone bars.” Mehta has made a success of the Linear Lounge at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pune – Chinchwad.

Pune, which is becoming a popular urban weekend getaway for Mumbai people, boasts of a few lounge bars and one of the most popular of them is the Linear Lounge at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pune – Chinchwad. Located in the industrial belt of MIDC, corporate crowd is its regular clientele. In fact, the lounge, which has a huge screen showing sports like cricket or football, has a section which is dedicated to the regular clientele. Here, the customers can order for a bottle of their favourite tipple and consume it over a period of time. The bottle is marked and kept

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COVER STORY separately for the given consumer – to be consumed by him/her on his/her subsequent visits.

Vishal Gaikwad, the Food & Beverage Manager of the hotel disclosed that Linear Lounge was mostly patronised by the corporate clientele, but there were plans to induce youngsters around the area. “With this in mind, we have introduced Bollywood night on Saturdays,” he added. He is sure of attracting the young college crowd from the nearby educational institutions.

The lounge, which is decked with comfortable sofas in close proximity to the large screen, also has a private den for small get-togethers, with a large TV showing your favourite programs.

Overall, the entire Linear area sets the mood – for a quiet tete-a-tete or a hip time – with a natural ambience, groovy entertainment and signature cocktails.

As you enter the lounge, even before the long linear bar, there are small single seaters with small tables, which are ideal for tete-a-tetes. Step into the bar area and facing the bar are two tables, which can each accommodate a small group of about 6-8 people.

The extremely polite bartender, Neelesh, and the rest of the staff who are also very helpful, spoke elaborately about the cocktails available. The Linear signature cocktail is extremely popular. Dark side of the Moon (vodka, kahlua, sambuca, fresh cream) and Vanilla Sky (vanilla vodka, dry vermouth, sweet vermouth, dash of bitters) are interesting vodka-based cocktails at the lounge bar. The Hulk (vodka, gin, tequila, light rum, blue curacao, lime juice, energy drink) is a winner all the way. Buddha In Bliss (bourbon whisky, malibu, cranberry juice, orange juice, Amaretto) can be recommended for whisky lovers. For whisky connoisseurs there is a range of single malts at Linear Lounge. The lounge bar also has several wine cocktails and shooters.

And the starters or snacks available with the drinks are simply out of this world. Fish fingers are just yummy.

The USP of Linear Lounge? In Mehta’s words: “It is the quintessential lounge bar, ranging from the space design – which is all wood, stone and velvet – to the style of music. Add to it the oak

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Nischint Pathania

fragrance and above all, a fantastic value for money, impressive beverage list and the stunning servers. All these come together fantastically in Linear.”

Uno Bar & Grill Mumbai of course, has several lounge bars. One of the trendiest lounge bars in Mumbai, Uno Bar & Grill at the Ramada Powai Hotel is located in the heart of Powai. Located at the lobby level in Ramada Powai Hotel, the bar has a novel feature. As you step into the lounge, on the left hand side you would find Romance@Ramada, a space with water fountain, where couples can have a drink in an aura exuding romance and quietude. Yes, you can rekindle your romance in this area reserved specially for couples.

“The lounge bar is a concept which has become popular with almost all age groups. Having a drink in a serene atmosphere and in an ambience that

exudes warmth and peace is something that a person seeks after a hard day’s work. The Uno Bar & Grill, with its chic and contemporary setting, enhances the guest experience,” explained Nischint Pathania, the General Manager of Ramada Powai Hotel.

“The concept of lounge bar has taken a firm grip of the market and is here to stay because these places offer gourmet meal, music and spirits, all under one roof. Lounge bars have become quite popular with the new generation of well travelled and informed individuals,” he added.

For the family get togethers, step further into the lounge, where a huge screen displays sporting events. The comfy sofas around the screen make your excitement of watching the event comfortable. Besides the large screen there are also TV screens at different angles for easy access of the clientele seated all over the chic and stylish lounge.

The bar displays a wide array of spirits. The ambience is comfortable and cosy and the service is good. The live music adds to the ambience. You can enjoy exotic cocktails and intoxicating spirits, set amidst glass walls that overlook the surrounding hills.

You could try the cocktails Bjorns Moscow Mule, Harvey Wallbanger, Lynchburg Lemonade, Chi – Chi, Singapore Sling, Zombie, among others. They also have a range of shots and shooters.

The food to go with the drinks is delicious. Amongst the western appetisers, the Deer Batter Bombay Duck, Crab Cake, the Greek Lamb Kobab, Norwegian Salmon Tarter are extremely succulent. There is a wide choice of Indian appetisers too. The Fauladi Seekh Kebab, Murgh Hazrat Mahal, Gosht Chapli Kebab, Malai Multani Hari Gobi are some of the many worth trying options.

Bombay High @ ITC Maratha

Sahdev Mehta

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Named after the oil rigs of Bombay, ‘Bombay High’ is a 72-seater, spacious lively lounge bar, serving a fine collection of international spirits and snacks with live entertainment.

A parquet floor set with Knole Sofas, wing armchairs, Indo European tables with the backlit bar counter offers a

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COVER STORY

contemporary look. Rare photographs of bygone ‘Bombay’ adorn the walls, which add to the charm of the 3200 square feet bar.

Bombay High sits nicely just off the Peshwa Pavilion coffee shop at ITC Maratha, in one single large room, with no pillars to obstruct your view. Among the highest rated bars in Mumbai, Bombay High houses among the finest collections of whisky in the city and is reputed for its inventive cocktails and extensive menu of gourmet snacks.

The place is as hard to define as the city it is named after, because the Bombay High is a multi-faceted place.

It changes personalities thrice in a 16 hour day. It could be termed as a bar at noon, a lounge at sunset and a disco at night. According to the management, all these three descriptions are off the mark, because it effortlessly blends the three definitions into each other as the day goes by. To put it succinctly, Bombay High is just the sort of place to go to, anytime of the day, for a drink and large doses of geniality in a sophisticated yet friendly ambience.

Spill A regular haunt of the Mumbai socialites, which opened its doors in Andheri (west) recently, could be termed as a lounge bar or a resto-bar.

This resto-bar comprises of two floors where music flows and bliss spills. The first floor has the bar, which is well stocked with spirits. The bartender mixes up not only the regular cocktails

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but also some special ones.

In one corner of the spacious lounge are cabanas where a family can settle down. On the other side of the bar, if you clamber up a few steps, you enter a VIP enclosure which overlooks the dance floor. You can sip your favourite drink here while watching the crowd dancing to live music. There is another VIP enclosure, for a small get-together, which is done up in black and white.

The entire floor is done up like a chessboard.

The lounge has a large menu of spirits as well as sumptuous food.

Besides the lounge bar, there is also a sports lounge, on the second floor, which has two pool tables.

Overall, the ambience of the entire place is very lively and casual, which is ideal for hanging out with friends.

Le Bar Diamantaire Le Bar Diamantaire, located at the lobby level of Sofitel Mumbai BKC, sports a majestic floor-to-ceiling wine tower, along with a collection of select international wines. I saw the wine tower stocking 826 bottles of wines, which included both old world vintage and the new world varieties.

Here the guests can get a wide range of single malts and other beverages and a very unique wine experience with the French touch through the hotel’s very unique ‘Wine Flight’ – a choice of three wines from the same region with different grape varieties. White, red and champagne flight options exist in the

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offering of the Wine Flight menu.

You can find a personalised range of cocktails, hand-crafted by the bar’s mixologists, who will curate a ‘Cocktail Subway’ whereby the guest can choose her/his ingredient with the base spirit and enjoy the entire mixing experience.

The intimate space is enhanced by two unique elevated pods that are installed to provide special seating for a private rendezvous. The raised seating lounge and the crystal-embedded sofas in Le Bar Diamantaire are inspired by a diamond ring.

Manoj Jangid, Assistant Food & Beverage Manager of the hotel, said, “Lounge bars are very sober places, they tend not to have very loud music, thus facilitating the guests to enjoy the music whilst unwinding and sipping on beverages. They are not very crowded as compared to night clubs, thereby helping to create a very comfortable environment for the guests. They are options for a space to unwind throughout the week, whereas clubs do well only at weekends. Moreover, the service levels at lounge bars, on an average, are much more niche and personalised than at night clubs.”

Edge Bar and Lounge Goa, a tourists’ paradise, has several lounge bars. Two of them are covered here for the readers’ interest. Edge Bar and Lounge, at the Alila Diwa Goa, is a pool bar by the day and a hip lounge by night. It overlooks the cool blue waters of the infinity pool and is a stylish venue to relax, either in airconditioned comfort at indoors or on the outdoor patio along with a cool drink and music for company.

The food at the lounge bar is mainly

Saurabh Bhatnagar

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COVER STORY finger food during the day consisting of sandwiches and salads in addition to light bites. For dinner, the menu features a wide selection of tapas with a wide variety of healthy and vegetarian options. Guests can relax on sunbeds while sipping on fusion cocktail, snacking on light, mouthwatering delicacies and soaking in the beautiful views.

They can enjoy the evenings with foot tapping music, an extensive beverage menu featuring fine wines, single malts and more, and exotic tapas. The extensive list of spirits, which features over 100 wine labels and a special Martini flight could be regarded as the USP of the bar.

“Edge Bar and Lounge is located by the poolside with comfortable sunbeds in and around the pool. There are private cabanas and lounge seating options in the airconditioned bar area. The overall ambience is elegant yet casual with an emphasis on efficient and prompt service that is typical of any Alila property. It is an ideal combination of stylish charm with contemporary service concepts. The Edge Bar and Lounge also has scheduled live entertainment during the season from November to March,” affirmed Saurabh Bhatnagar, Food and Beverage Manager, Alila Diwa Goa. The Edge Bar and Lounge is located at the heart of the resort and provides a spectacular view of the rural farmland and paddy fields. The landscaping surrounding the infinity pool adds a touch of serenity and elegance to the location.

AZ.U.R AZ.U.R is Goa Marriott Resort & Spa’s ‘transition lounge’ – a revolutionary concept based on the individual’s changing needs through the day. AZ.U.R starts off as a sunlit café in the morning where guests can enjoy freshly squeezed health drinks and breakfast while enjoying the serene sea views. As the day progresses, it adopts an atmosphere of easy comfort where you can drop in for a snack, have a chat with friends, or have a business meeting.

As the evening approaches, AZ.U.R transforms into a hip lounge where you can ease in after a long day to unwind over a signature cocktail and mouthwatering tapas with your partner, friends, or business associates. On Saturday nights, the entertainment quotient is hiked up so that you can kick off your shoes, let your hair down and venture onto the dance floor.

Savories and fresh salads, simple crusty sandwiches, and wraps feature on the menu. A selection of crisp seafood tempuras, fresh oysters, grilled lamb cutlets with salsa, stir fried beef, Chorizo with beans are some of the delectable options of the dinner menu, but ‘AZ.U.R’ is known for Chef ’s special chicken liver pate.

Of course, a fine selection of spirits is available to complement these sumptuous presentations. Traditional favourites like mojitos and martinis share the space with Goan feni-based cocktails.

Overall, the sleek lounge bars with great food & beverage offerings are getting popular across urban India but to continue with their popularity they have to win the customer loyalty, which can be done with consistent and exemplary service, and innovation. The state support for the promotion of the lounge bars and generally more hospitality industry friendly policies are being called for, for facilitating enduring growth of lounge bars across urban India.

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BUSINESS

The Energy in Drinks Energy drinks are becoming popular in India, particularly due to the growth of the pub culture. They are being used in bars as mixers. Vodka is being mixed with Red Bull or Burn. Other energy drinks are also being mixed with alcoholic drinks. It is believed that about ninety percent of the energy drinks’ sales in India are due to their mingling with alcohol. The energy drinks segment is still largely an urban consumer trend in the country, and their flow is confined to the metros and mini metros.

There are several new players adding fizz to the energy drinks market in India and the phenomenon of the big city youth driving the demand for these drinks is likely to influence the youth of tier II and tier III cities in the near future. Ashok Malkani views the burgeoning energy drinks market in India.

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ealthy and energy tags for food and drinks have become vogue in the country and are now on their way towards attracting mainstream popularity. One of the major facets of this trend in urban India is the growing popularity of energy drinks.

However, the energy drinks market in India is miniscule. It is only Rs. 700 crore, that accounts for five percent of the total soft drinks market. Yes, the energy drinks market in India is at a nascent stage of growth but it has great potential for growth. According to Neeraj Biyani of Hector Beverages, the energy drinks category in India comprises 0.8 percent of the carbonated drinks market whereas the global average is 16 percent.

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But this nascent market’s growth rate is expected to be higher as compared to energy drinks’ growth in established markets, like a child’s growth is higher than an adult’s.

The trends indicate that the market for energy drinks in the country could soon expand, thereby facilitating India’s energy drinks consumption to reach global levels. India’s predominantly young demographics is possibly one of the important reasons behind the country’s energy drinks market growing annually at 20 percent.

Reasons for the Demand But what are energy drinks, which have been attracting the youth’s tastes across

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urban India? They are soft drinks which are advertised as a source to boost energy.

Apparently, there seem to be many reasons for energy drinks to be an outright success in India.

A predominantly young demographics is just one among them. The increasing pressure of today’s working culture, which entails long working hours, coupled with more exposure towards social gatherings(on an average) for today’s urban Indian youth than was experienced by the urban Indian youth of say a decade back have also contributed to the growing popularity of energy drinks among a section of urban Indian youth.

According to a Technopak’s report

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BUSINESS titled ‘Energy/Sports Drinks in India’ “Long and erratic working hours and the increasing occurrence of social gatherings are driving Indian consumers towards the consumption of energy drinks which are primarily classified as non-alcoholic, caffeinated beverages and sports drinks.”

The report also noted that “The popularity of energy drinks in India is not merely due to its functional aspect as perceived in other countries. Over the past few years, the sales of energy drinks have been driven by changing consumer lifestyle and increasing demand for alcohol mixers. Their association with high octane sports such as the Indian Grand Prix and with eating out has further boosted sales and increased consumer awareness.”

Besides changing consumer lifestyles, the demand among the alcohol mixers for energy drinks has greatly contributed to the energy drinks’ popularity in the urban India. The other factors which have probably influenced the consumption of energy drinks in India are the increasing health consciousness across the urban Indian society, increased

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urbanisation and increased disposable incomes in select but sizeable pockets of urban Indian society. The hot and humid climate has also perhaps contributed to attractiveness towards chilled energy drinks.

An Energised Market No wonder, the sports and energy drinks

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

are attracting entrepreneurs. Euromonitor International in the summary of its report titled ‘Sports and Energy Drinks in India,’ observed that sports and energy drinks in India continued to welcome new manufacturers including JK Ansell Ltd (Raymond Group Company), Monster Energy Drink, and K.G. Functional Beverages Pvt .Ltd during

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BUSINESS 2012 and 2013. Many manufacturers introduced new products to tap into the double-digit growth in energy drinks.

According to Euromonitor, with changing lifestyles and increasing paucity of time, urban consumers in India would start relying on energy drinks to cope up with the fast- paced lifestyles. Sports and energy drinks would continue to be consumed in gyms and sports clubs as well, the report forecasted.

According to Euromonitor, the FF (fortified and functional) soft drinks market in 2007 was valued at Rs 391 crore; just five years later, it had escalated nearly 2.5 times to reach a figure of Rs. 937 crore. And in the ensuing two years, this market will touch Rs. 1,080 crore, by 2016.

A report by the market research firm, Mintel stated that the Indian energy drinks retail market grew by 51.5 per cent during 2008. Industry consultant Frost & Sullivan has also stated that during 2012-15, the market was expected to keep expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent. In comparison, the global energy drinks market, says Technopak, grew by 14 to 15 percent during 2011.

It is therefore hardly surprising that several brands of energy drinks are seen adorning up market grocery stores’ shelves in urban India.

The Energy Brands Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world. The growth in the

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energy drinks market in India is mainly propelled by Red Bull and Gatrode, the latter being a leader in the sports drink segment.

Though Red Bull, introduced by the visionary Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz, is still the most popular energy drink in India, with 75 percent market share in the country’s energy drinks segment, but its twelve-year-old market in India is likely to be challenged by many new entrants, in the near future. The new entrants include Tzinga, Cloud 9, Restless and Burn.

One of the important recently introduced energy drinks brands in India is Tzinga from Hector Beverages, based at Gurgaon. The company was founded in 2011, by Neeraj Kakkar, Suhas Misra, Neeraj Biyani, and James Nuttal. Within merely three years of its launch, Tzinga is having an impressive presence in grocery stores in urban India. Though Tzinga took some time to click with its potential consumers, by February 2013, it was supplying to 45,000 outlets across 45 cities of India.

Cloud 9 seems to be the main contender to Red Bull in India.

Marketed by Goldwin Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Cloud 9’s website calls it a tonic: a tonic that gets you spaced out because that is exactly what you need.

Goldwin Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. has won the 2011 Frost & Sullivan Product Excellence Award of the Year in the Indian Energy Drinks Market category.

According to the Cloud 9’s website, Cloud 9 achieves the exact balance of ‘energy, health & refreshments’ through the perfect combination of naturally occurring, energy rich resources with high-tech manufacturing techniques that give consumers the best of both worlds. Today, Cloud9 has presence in more than 80,000 outlets, and in many of the country’s hotels and bars.

Then there is Burn from the Coca-Cola Company. It is an energy drink carrying the official tagline ‘Fuel your fire.’ Launched in Northern Europe in the year 2000, Burn has expanded its presence to over 80 countries.

KS Energy is also a player in the Indian energy drinks segment, which is

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

brimming with potential. KS Energy comes in two flavor variants— Mixed Berry and Mixed Fruit. According to the company website, KS E-Drinks are packed with all the essential ingredients for you to carry on the action all day long. They are fuelled with natural ingredients such as ginseng, gingko biloba and other vital elements such as caffeine, taurine and B- Complex.

The health attribute of the energy drinks can play an important role in terms of their popularity, in the coming years, as the health consciousness across urban India gains momentum. Take the case of Restless, which claims to be India’s first Action Drink. Formulated in Singapore, and a product which followed 2.5 years of rigorous study it comes loaded with herbal ginseng, Vitamin C and essential salts, apart from the usual B Vitamins, taurine and caffeine.

Restless contains a unique combination of B Vitamins and other vital nutrients; known not only for their powerful anti-aging and stress busting properties, but also for revitalising and energising your body and mind. The natural energy of ginseng, the goodness of Vitamin C, and the replenishing powers of active salts such as sodium & potassium add to the health quotient, positively charging one to get more action out from one’s life.

Krungsiam Beverage Company, an important energy and fruit drinks company from Thailand, has introduced its energy drink named Commando in India through a joint venture with Kolkata-based Poorav group. The energy drink will be sold under ‘Poorav’s Commando’ brand across the country at Rs 85 per 250 ml.

One can easily see that the market for energy drinks in the country is greatly energised with lots of fizz. Consumers are soon expected to be spoilt for choice regarding their preferred energy drink option/s. However, the energy drinks segment in India is more of an urban phenomenon, whose popularity at present is limited to the metros and mini metros. And the flow of the energy drinks in the country is likely to be across urban India only for quite some time to come. The high price of energy drinks would deter their popularity in the rural markets of the country, at least in the ■ forseeable future.

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F E AT U R E

Unconventional Restaurant Business Models

By Swarnendu Biswas

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ny food service business, or for that matter any form of business, is generally expected to be interested in enhancing its revenues, and is expected to be more interested in enhancing its profits. Presently, the Indian food service industry has great potential to explore and also great challenges to tackle.

The increase in disposable incomes in select but sizeable pockets of our economy, increased overseas travel, greater exposure to global food & beverage trends through Internet and television, and hectic work schedules with less and less time for cooking have perhaps all contributed to the growth of the Indian restaurant business during the recent years.

According to a NRAI report released in 2013, the total size of the Indian food services market, which includes both organised and unorganised sectors, was estimated to be Rs.2,47,680 crore in 2013 and it was projected to grow to Rs.4,08,040 crore by 2018, showing a CAGR of 11 percent. The report also revealed that the organised food services market in the country, which comprises chain and licensed stand-alone outlets, was estimated at Rs.67,995 crore in 2013, and it was projected to grow at a CAGR of 16 percent over the next five

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years, to reach Rs.145,770 crore by 2018.

I am not disputing these estimations and neither I have the expertise to do so.

But I just want to point out that simply increase in the size of the food service business wouldn’t necessarily mean that most of the food service outlets in India would be rolling in profits.

Increase in the size of the food services industry can also be through the expansion of the number of food service outlets, which will only encourage more competition.

One of the pragmatic ways to enhance the restaurant business could be through celebrity support. Of course, not all restaurants can take this approach, but this writer thinks that those who do have the financial muscle to avail such a route can have a decent possibility to significantly enhance their revenues and profits in the near future.

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

Not a Rosy Scenario And with the economic condition showing very little signs of revival and steep inflation taking a major chunk of the incomes of the middle income and lower income households in necessities, thereby leaving them with less money to indulge in the luxury of dining out, it can be expected that if the macro economic situation doesn’t significantly improve in the near future, it would become more and more challenging for the restaurants in India to attract the requisite footfalls; needed for healthy profits and future investment.

Just five months back a detailed report on a leading business daily has stated that Indians seemed to be reducing consumption of burgers, fries and pizzas, despite the determination of many reputed QSR chains to keep the prices low. The economic slowdown and steep inflation seem to have together made consumers more prudent than before on non-essential spending.

According to the report, at more than 1,600 QSR outlets in India the samestore sales dropped during the OctoberDecember quarter as compared to their sales during the same quarter of the year earlier. Same-store sales of Yum Restaurants India, which operates KFC and Pizza Hut outlets in the country,

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F E AT U R E decreased by 4 percent during the October-December quarter as compared to their sales during the same quarter a year earlier. The same-store sales of Jubilant FoodWorks also decreased by 2.6 percent in the December quarter.

The situation may have slightly improved today five months down the line, but that improvement is likely to be temporary. It is not a question of good business in one quarter and weak business in another quarter and it is not a question of only QSR chains. The overall economic scenario points to the fact that the restaurant business in India is expected to have tough times ahead as consumers are showing a tendency to curtail non-essential spending. This is especially true for the businesses of those restaurants which have a perceived luxury connotation associated with them.

Celebrity Support To maintain or preferably to increase the rate of profits in times of intense competition and threatening recession, the restaurant business in India must adopt some unconventional methods to garner footfalls. In two issues earlier, this writer has discussed about some unique

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The prizes to the winner/s should also be lucrative enough to attract frequent visits to the restaurants, such as giving two air tickets to Goa or Jodhpur or any other tourist worthy place (the destinations can be decided on the basis of season or festivity) and back, or consumer goods like laptop computer, music system, etc. themed restaurants in the magazine.

This time let us explore some unconventional restaurant models. If restaurant themes are more about style, restaurant models are more about substance.

One of the pragmatic ways to enhance the restaurant business could be through celebrity support. Of course, not all restaurants can take this approach, but this writer thinks that

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

those who do have the financial muscle to avail such a route can have a decent possibility to significantly enhance their revenues and profits in the near future.

By celebrity support for restaurants I am not meaning inviting celebrities for the launch of the restaurants in exchange of a hefty fee to the celebrity concerned, or inviting them on special occasions. A partnership of more regular nature between the restaurant or the restaurant chain and the celebrity concerned can generate good business for the restaurateur in a celebrity crazy nation like ours.

The restaurant business in India can be enhanced by getting the restaurants endorsed by different celebrities. The suggested process is quite simple. The restaurateur can enter into a contract with a celebrity (for example, Shreya Ghosal, Sania Mirza, etc. or any member of the Indian cricket team or a Bollywood star or a television star) where the celebrity under the contract would visit the restaurant (in case of a standalone property) or restaurants (in case of restaurant chains) of the restaurateur after a given interval (say once a month, or twice a month) and mingle and dine

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F E AT U R E with the crowd.

This exercise is expected to increase the footfalls of the restaurant/s by leaps and bounds, and the restaurateur can also charge extra from the crowd. The cost of the celebrity’s participation can be borne by offering the celebrity a share of the profits (for example, the celebrity gets 5 percent of the annual profits earned by the restaurant/s as her/ his fee).

It would not be economically unsafe to assume that by this way the restaurateur’s annual profits can increase by a substantial percent where even after deducting 5 percent of the annual profits to the celebrity concerned, the restaurateur may tend to gain.

This idea can work better in themed restaurants. For example, a Bollywood music themed restaurant can have Shreya Ghosal or Sunidhi Chauhan as the celebrity host for two days a month (where she may sing to guests’ requests too) and a sports-themed restaurant (with basic sporting facilities attached to it) can have Sania Mirza or any other renowned sportsperson as the celebrity host on two days a month. Similarly a restaurant themed on Bollywood can have a Bollywood actor or actress as celebrity host on one or two days a month.

If it is a restaurant chain with say 50 outlets within its ambit, the celebrity under contract can visit two outlets per month, and this way she/he can cover all the outlets of the chain in two years.

Then depending upon the business generated through the celebrity support, the contract can be renewed or cancelled, as the case may be.

Yes, I am aware that often celebrities’ busy schedules would not permit them to visit a restaurant in a city or some select restaurants of a restaurant chain across cities twice a month, but if they cannot make visit to any restaurant or restaurants where they are supposed to visit under contract for one or two months a year, they should have the provision of covering the backlog in the following months.

Of course, as discussed, the celebrity endorsements in restaurants would garner more business in themed restaurants and restaurants thinking of tying up with a celebrity should be wise to have a theme of her/his restaurant or restaurant chains, which in turn would

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These mobile restaurants could cover an itinerary of important tourist attractions of the destination where it is ‘stationed’ and along with eating out, the guests would get an additional package of tourism. pave the way for more unique themed restaurants.

I discussed the idea with Samir Kuckreja, the President of NRAI.”In India, till now there has been limited use of celebrities to endorse restaurant brands. As far celebrities’ involvement in restaurants goes, the restaurants have been more focused on using the star power of celebrities for specific events/ occasions,” he asserted.

He further said that “The concept of celebrity partnership with restaurants is interesting and different. However, it is unlikely to be used extensively in India as celebrities would not want to commit their time without a guaranteed fee.

There is also no basis to assume that restaurant sales would increase on a sustained basis with the celebrity association.” I agree that the share of 5 percent of annual profits of the restaurant or restaurant chain cannot be described as guaranteed fee for the celebrity. What if the restaurant doesn’t yield profits even after using celebrity power? It is theoretically possible.

Probably, a share of the 5-10 percent of the revenues as celebrity fee can be a more pragmatic option for celebrity endorsed restaurants.

Another interesting way of enhancing the revenues and profits of restaurant business is to have restaurants with inbuilt movie halls which could screen old classics of Bollywood and Hollywood as well as the new-age blockbusters from both the film industries.

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

However, about the second part of his response I have a disagreement with the industry expert. I think India is a celebrity-crazed nation, where using celebrities’ star power to enhance business does have huge possibility to reap rich dividends. Huge possibility however, doesn’t mean guarantee.

Besides the financial considerations an upcoming celebrity (say a television actor whose show is recently gaining huge TRPs) would have the additional attractiveness of enhancing her/his popularity through exposure among crowd, through this type of contract. At the same time, an established celebrity would be slightly apprehensive that engagement with the people at regular intervals would hamper her/his ‘elusiveness’ or star power to some extent, over a period of time. So it seems that the endorsement of restaurants by upcoming celebrities is expected to be more successful and affordable in the long-run for both parties concerned.

Gifting Guests Introducing lucrative prizes for guests on lottery basis (the lottery needs to be conducted among frequent visitors to the restaurants concerned, which besides giving greater probability of winning prizes by a contestants and thereby kindling their interest would also encourage more numbers of frequent visits to the restaurant) can also be an effective way to enhance restaurants’ revenues and profits.

The prizes to the winner/s should also be lucrative enough to attract frequent visits to the restaurants, such as giving two air tickets to Goa or Jodhpur or any other tourist worthy place (the destinations can be decided on the basis of season or festivity) and back, or consumer goods like laptop computer, music system, etc. At the same time, the prizes should not be so costly as to be economically unviable for the restaurants. I think conducting of a lottery like this every fortnight, where the frequent visitors to the restaurants can have the hope of winning lucrative prize or prizes can enhance the business of restaurants in the short as well as the long-run.

However, how many visits per month by the guests are necessary for their inclusion in the category of frequent visitors should ideally be decided by the

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F E AT U R E restaurants concerned, who are thinking of introducing this approach to enhance revenues and profits.

Dine With Travel The Indian restaurant business can think of other imaginative approaches to enhance its revenues and profits. What about developing mobile restaurants having seating capacity of say 10 at a time? In the west, the reality of mobile restaurants is not that uncommon.

These mobile restaurants should ideally be air-conditioned buses or vans having a basic inbuilt kitchen in each of them.

These restaurants would be very much relevant for cities loaded with tourist attractions, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Lucknow, Jaipur, etc. and also for hill stations and beach resorts. These mobile restaurants could cover an itinerary of important tourist attractions of the destination/s where it is/they are ‘stationed’ and along with eating out, the guests would get an additional package of tourism. It is better if such mobile restaurants have tie-ups with conventional restaurants, as it would be extremely difficult to have adequate kitchen infrastructure at the mobile restaurants which would be enough to satisfy the tastes of discerning guests comprehensively. However, these mobile restaurants can have basic kitchen infrastructure necessary for serving breakfast and evening snacks.

The important thing is that the mobile restaurants should ideally have tie-ups with those conventional restaurants which are located in the vicinity of tourist attractions of the destination/s in which the mobile restaurants would be traversing.

For example, let us assume an enterprising entrepreneur introduces a mobile restaurant in Delhi. If now the mobile restaurant has tie-ups with some restaurants located near Qutub Minar, Jantar Mantar, Red Fort, Humayun’s Tomb, Old Fort, Kingdom of Dreams, Lotus Temple, etc. which would supply food to the mobile restaurant when the mobile restaurant would reach those tourist places during its tour, then the guests can get hot food with great tourism at one go. I think mobile restaurants can greatly facilitate the restaurant business in India and can contribute to the tourism revenues too.

An entrepreneur plying 5-6 such mobile

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restaurants in a city or across different cities of the country does have the possibility of garnering huge profits.

However, it is always better if mobile restaurants are also as affordable as possible, for India is still a price conscious society.

within 2-3 hours can be compensated to some extent by having a take away counter too. Ideally, these type of restaurants should also have a waiting lounge with snacking facility, where many would be guests could wait for their turn to ‘eat and view,’ comfortably.

Watching Out

Open Air Options

Another interesting way of enhancing the revenues and profits of restaurant business is to have restaurants with inbuilt movie halls which could screen old classics of Bollywood and Hollywood as well as the new-age blockbusters from both the film

With the health conscious wave gaining momentum, idea of having open air restaurants spread across a given area can also be explored. Ideally, except the toilets there should not be any rooms in this type of restaurant; even the kitchen should be open air. There should of course be an open air gym and some sporting facilities thrown in to attract the health conscious crowd. It doesn’t deserve a mention that such open air restaurants should be set amidst scenic surroundings.

Of course, as the readers might have guessed, the food at such an open-air restaurant should lay great emphasis on healthy ingredients and healthy cooking options. The option of having only organic food at these types of open air restaurants can also be explored, but that measure can prove to be too costly for the guests in these inflation-ridden times.

These uncommon restaurant ideas, if they become reality in sizeable numbers in the Indian restaurant business scenario, should also give sufficient attention to the basics like great food, great hygiene and a good ambience. It is because if the fundamentals of the business are lacking in quality, all fancy ideas built upon them may soon tumble down, by way of dissatisfied guests.

It doesn’t deserve a mention that translation of these ideas into reality require substantial investment on the part of enterprising entrepreneurs but those risks do have decent chance of accruing rich dividends by way of healthy bottom lines, as these new-age restaurants can help the restaurateurs to stand apart from competition. And guests, even in these times of sluggish economy and steep inflation, may think of dining in such restaurants as there they would not only get good food and ambience, but some additional experiences too, which one doesn’t normally get through a conventional restaurant visit or restaurant visits.

With the health conscious wave gaining momentum, idea of having open air restaurants spread across a given area can also be explored. Ideally, except the toilets there should not be any rooms in this type of restaurant; even the kitchen should be open air. There should of course be an open air gym and some sporting facilities thrown in to attract the health conscious crowd.

It doesn’t deserve a mention that such open air restaurants should be set amidst scenic surroundings. industries. I know this idea entails huge investment at a first glance, but there is no need to have movie halls with seating capacity of 1000 inside a restaurant.

Why not have movie halls with seating capacity of 80-100 in a restaurant, so that at one time 80-100 guests can enjoy food and cinema at one go?

The movie to be screened at a time could be decided by a pre-poll vote of the guests who have booked for the ‘show.’ Of course, in this type of set up, no new guest can avail the services of the restaurant while the show is going on, unless a dissatisfied guest or dissatisfied guests leaves or leave the show midway, but this demerit of a fixed footfall

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

With inputs from Ayonendu Biswas

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FOCUS

IRCTC: Catering Beyond Railways

By Swarnendu Biswas

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he Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd., a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Railways, is now catering to an impressive bunch of corporates, BPOs and other organisations and institutions by providing them healthy, hygienic and tasty food. Its central kitchen at Noida, which has been operational since February 2012, has been engaged in this endeavour.

“Our corporate clientele includes Samsung, HCL, Tata McGraw Hill, Ameriprise, Spice Mobile among others,” informed Sudhir Warrier, Additional General Manager, IRCTC. Besides MNC corporates, according to Warrier, IRCTC’s central kitchen at Noida does cater to a clientele comprising ministries and various educational institutes too.

The Food Factory According to Warrier, this exercise of

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supplying breakfast, lunch and dinner to corporate houses and BPOs(some of which work in more than one shift) is much more challenging and interesting than supplying regular meals for the Indian Railways’ passengers as the food supplied to office staff on a daily basis needs more variety so as to prevent the monotony from setting in among the customers, whereas most of the commuters in trains are not expected to travel on trains on a daily basis and thus they are not expected to crib on the monotony factor to that extent.

“Moreover, as far as supplying of food to offices on a daily basis are concerned, we have to tailor our dishes from time to time to suit the preferences of our corporate clientele,” concurred Warrier.

IRCTC’s central kitchen at Noida also supplies snack food items to various kiosks stationed in Delhi metro stations.

At present, this state-of-the-art central kitchen has a capacity of 10,000 meals per day. At the central kitchen,

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according to Warrier, all the relevant statutory compliances with respect to production of food items are being adhered to. This modern food factory is built on the lines of major air flight catering kitchens to produce meals of high quality and standard. The factory is fully automated with sophisticated equipments.

At the food factory in Noida, medical tests for food handlers and microbiological tests of food samples are being rigorously followed. As I strolled through the facility, even my untrained eye could decipher demarcated areas for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food preparations in the kitchen. VK Bhatti, Manager, Marketing, IRCTC’s Central Kitchen Noida, informed me that hygiene standards at the facility are being adhered to as per the FSSAI Act. Bhatti also informed me that going by the demand, IRCTC had drawn up plans to upgrade the central kitchen at Noida’s capacity from 10,000 meals to

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FOCUS

25,000 meals per day. “Besides we are planning for more such central kitchens in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai,” he informed.

Besides meeting the hunger and tastes in the corporate sector in Noida, IRCTC has also been catering to various ministries, which include the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and Commerce and Industry Ministry among others, and also to institutions and organisations like Delhi University, Income Tax Office, ISTM in JNU among others.

“However, for the ministries and educational institutues, we provide technical consultancy to develop the cafeteria and operate through various service providers; entrusting them with the responsibility to prepare the food. We are not directly involved in the preparation of food in those cafeterias. Of course, our daily supervision is there to ensure that the food quality being served is impeccable,” Bhatti explained.

At the same time, IRCTC’s central kitchen at Noida is also directly involved in supplying evening snacks to some select trains, which include Howrah Rajdhani, August Kranti which commutes between Nizamuddin in Delhi to Mumbai, Mumbai Rajdhani, Patna Rajdhani and all Durantos. “Besides these, we also supply dinners to Ahmedabad Rajdhani and Sealdah Duranto,” stated Warrier.

Food Plazas and Rail Neer Presently, IRCTC is also operating major base kitchens at New Delhi and Howrah railway stations and mini base kitchens in Patna and Ahmedabad. Till to date, IRCTC has also been involved in planning, designing and operation of166 food plazas on Indian Railways’ premises, where the responsibility of preparing food has been contracted to various service providers. However, at these food plazas too the food quality is being closely monitored by IRCTC. Besides all these exercise, IRCTC is also engaged in manufacturing Rail Neer brand of packaged drinking water at three locations i.e. at Nangloi in Delhi, at Danapur in Bihar and at Palur near Chennai, with the cumulative production capacity of 4.10 lakh bottles of 1 litre capacity each, per day.

The Change of Guard Warrier cleared my misconception that IRCTC is responsible for catering of food to passengers onboard on all the long distance trains plying in Indian Railways network. However, not long ago,

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FOCUS

IRCTC was having the responsibility of providing food to the Indian Railways’ train passengers across India and of maintaining that food’s quality.

“That was during 2002-2010,” reminisced Warrier. IRCTC, which was constituted in 1999 as an extended arm of the Indian Railways to upgrade, professionalise and manage the catering and hospitality services at stations, on trains and other locations and to promote domestic and international tourism through development of budget hotels, special tour packages, information & commercial publicity and global reservation systems, started operations in 2002.

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“Before IRCTC’s commencing of operations, catering in trains in the country was individually managed by different railway zones, which are 16 in number,” stated the Additional General Manager, IRCTC. For example, one railway zone was responsible for catering operations in trains, which commuted within that zone. But the problem was that a given train’s route could easily traverse through different railway zones.

This, according to him, often resulted in multiplicity of authority and often led to setbacks in coordination and monitoring of catering operations of the Indian Railways.

Warrier believes that IRCTC’s role during 2002-2010 enhanced the quality of catering onboard trains across the network of Indian Railways. Warrier opines that during IRCTC’s tenure, constant monitoring of the food quality onboard trains by qualified quality control personnel of IRCTC helped to maintain the desired quality of food supplied to commuters. “Although IRCTC gave the contracts of supplying food on trains to various service

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

providers but the constant monitoring of food quality by the IRCTC personnel facilatated to maintain the desired food quality across trains.” affirmed Warrier, who choses to describe himself also as a senior hospitality professional.

However, in 2010, Mamta Banerjee, the then Railways Minister, set the clock back. “Through a policy change, the charge of catering onboard trains was reverted to different railway zones,” informed the senior hospitality professional. The railway zones in turn contracted the charge of catering food in trains to various service providers. Since 2010, this system is operational.

Dismal Food Quality Overall, the quality of food is not that good in trains, and it seems to be progressively declining. Moreover, low quality of food in trains in India is not a recent trend. Frequent consumer grievances regarding food quality on trains do endorse this view of mine, which is substantiated by my own experiences of having Railways’ food while commuting in trains. I queried the bureaucrat on where the problem lies.

Warrier thinks that the huge cost of logistics, both in terms of transportation of food and the involvement of an army of human resource in catering the food does impair the Railways to provide quality food at affordable prices. He asserted that at food plazas at Railway premises ‘value for money’ food could be provided as logistical costs for these food plazas were not that high as that of supplying food onboard trains.

Moreover, the quality of food in trains is also very much related to the overall state of hygiene across the trains, which in Indian trains, to put it simply, is nothing short of pathetic.With cockroaches and rats having a free run across the trains, it is very difficult to ensure that the hygienic food would be supplied to the passengers, every time.

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FOCUS Signs of Change Though addressing the hygiene challenges requires a perceptible shift in the mindset of officials as well as commuters, the logistics challenge, however, can be countered more quickly in this digital age.

In this context, we can hope that the promise in the recently tabled Railway budget to supply quality food onboard trains, which can also be ordered online, would be translated into reality very soon. The Railway Minister DV Sadananda Gowda stated that there were plans for introducing ready-to-eat meals of reputed brands in a phased manner, for onboard catering in trains.

Moreover, the Railway Budget proposed that food courts at major stations would be set up, which would have the option of serving regional cuisine, which can be booked onboard trains through the ‘instant medium’ of e-mail, SMS and smart phones.

With the objective of improving catering services, the Railway Minister also proposed to introduce a quality assurance mechanism through third

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party audit, which would be carried out by agencies certified by the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies.

He has also promised about launching soon a system of collecting feedback from the commuters on the quality of food served, through IVRS mechanism.

However, how far these proposals

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would translate into welcome realties for the passengers remains to be seen.

Would entrusting IRCTC again with the charge of maintaining quality of food in all long distance trains moving across Indian Railways’ network can facilitate towards such above-mentioned ministerial endeavours? To this candid question of mine, Warrier chose to reply with an emphatic “Yes.” ■

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AGRI

Checking Green Inflation

By Swarnendu Biswas

T

he newly elected government, which came on the promise of bringing good days, has so far been unable to prevent the unabated rise in vegetable prices. Instead, the prices of most of the vegetables seem to experience a steady increase across the country since the last two months,till the time of writing this piece.

The ASSOCHAM study of 33 mandies in India has revealed that during AprilJune 2014, the gap between the wholesale and retail prices of vegetables has increased by 80 percent. Releasing the study, ASSOCHAM said it had also been observed that on an average, retailers were selling vegetables at more than 48.8 percent of wholesale prices. Surely retailers seem to be making a killing at the expense of end consumers.

ASSOCHAM Secretary General, D.S. Rawat said that the analysis was based on the wholesale price of vegetables and retail price of vegetables in the different markets in India. It doesn’t deserve a mention that wholesale price indicates the price at which retailers are buying from different markets and retail price is the price at which

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consumers are buying from retailers.

The essential vegetables incorporated in the study according to Rawat are “Bitter gourd, brinjal long, brinjal round, cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, chilly, okra, onion, peas, potato fresh, potato store, tomato hybrid and tomato local.” All of them deserve to be essential part of middle class budget. But sadly, they tend to drift away from our budgets.

An Alarming Scenario Many vegetables like tomato, onion and even the good old potato are fast moving out of daily reach of many middle class and lower middle class households.

According to a reputed news daily, the price of tomatoes in Coimbatore increased from Rs. 30 per Kg to Rs.60 per Kg during 17th-19th July. This is simply insane.

In Delhi and other major cities also the situation pertaining to tomato prices are not much dissimilar at the time of writing the piece, with tomato prices increasing in Delhi from Rs.35 per Kg to approximately Rs.50 per Kg during middle of July. And I am sure the upper

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middle class households too are likely to feel the pinch of huge vegetable prices.

The continuation of these steep prices of vegetables in the retail market for even two more months may indirectly upset the restaurant business in urban India, as people would have less and less money to spend on eating out, after meeting their day-to-day food needs in the household.

And it is not that only retail prices of vegetables are rising. For example, the wholesale prices of potatoes in June 2014 showed an annual escalation of more than 42 percent, though on an average, the wholesale prices of vegetables did decline by 5.89 percent in June of this year as compared to May 2014. But that is hardly sufficient.

Just because we have confined ourselves in this feature to inflation in vegetable prices, that doesn’t in any way mean that we as an industry should not be concerned with the steep inflation in fruit prices during the recent months.

Both fruit and vegetable prices have gone through the roof, with no signs of respite till now. Let us term this inflation as the Green Inflation of our times, which is

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affecting the households and can heavily affect the food service outlets.

The fact that recently the central government has decided to bring onions and potatoes under the ambit of the Essential Commodities Act is a welcome step, though not a sufficient one to address the chimera of green inflation.

Affect on Food Service With the steep price rise of essential vegetables that our government seems to fail to arrest, the dining at restaurants is also likely to become more costly in the near future than before, if this economic situation continues. In such a scenario, many small restaurant owners who generally operate on thin margins, have to either increase the cost of their products or lower their quality, and in either case they are likely to lose the customers, who in the first place would be less likely to shell the money for eating out, after exhausting a major portion of their finances on eating in.

I hope the situation would not continue longer to warrant the above-mentioned bleak situation for the restaurant business.

But the hope that such a situation wouldn’t recur soon amounts to wishful thinking on my part. Probably, when this issue comes out the price of vegetables may return to normalcy, but I am quite sure that such normalcy is expected to be only a transient phase and agri-inflation may strike us again and again with ruthless force unless we take some concerted steps to tackle this economic menace where both the producers (read farmers) and the consumers tend to lose and the retailers and middlemen continue to gain. We must remember that more than normal rise in fruits and vegetable prices is a fairly common and recurring issue in India and needs to be tackled holistically. And no it is not a question of weather only.

This writer has a humble suggestion to address this economic malaise which can hamper the budget of households and food service outlets. One of the ways to prevent the vegetable prices in India from going haywire is to prevent the menace of middlemen. Both Union and state governments should proactively bring necessary legislative actions to bar the role of unauthorised private middlemen in agriculture, except those of the agents or traders functioning under the supervision of APMC. It is common knowledge that the middlemen often not only prevent the farmers from getting their due price for their produce, but also are often responsible for inflated prices of fruits and vegetables in the market. It is because they often purchase the farm products from the farmers at very less price and sell them at the market at exorbitant rates. Thus both farmers and the end consumers suffer. Besides preventing the menace of middlemen in agriculture, stringent action against hoarders of agricultural products should be initiated on a war footing.

Collection Centres Only then the wide discrepancy in pricing between farm to fork could be addressed. Instead the state governments (since agriculture is a state subject in the country) should create several not for profit ‘agricultural produce collection centres’ in each district where the farmers can have the choice to sell their agricultural produce at decent profitable prices.

This exercise would be in addition to the Agricultural

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AGRI Produce Market Committees established by different state governments of India.

However, in APMC system too, the farmers can become victims of price manipulations by traders and marketing agents. Therefore APMC also needs close monitoring by independent authorities.

However, in the above-mentioned suggested initiative, the state governments’ representatives and not state authorised traders and agents should be directly involved in the purchase of agricultural produce from the farmers.

Registered Retailers These steps should be supplemented by allowing only registered retailers to sell fruits and vegetables across India and by ensuring close monitoring of those retailers by the state authorities to see that they are not overcharging the consumers.

Resgistration of fruits and vegetable retailers should be made mandatory by law aross various states.The registered retailers could purchase fruits and vegetables from the not for profit agricultural produce collection centres and sell them to the end consumers which can be households, food service outlets or other institutions like canteens, hotels, etc.

These ‘registered retailers’ should be clandestinely monitored by the state authorities on a frequent basis to prevent them from overcharging beyond a certain prescribed limit that would be stipulated by the respective state governments. This registration and monitoring should be indepth and should be extended even to small time green grocers, operating through unknown roadside kiosks.

Any retailer charging beyond the state sanctioned maximum price limit for fruits and vegetables(each type of fruit and vegetable should have a prescribed maximum price limit in a given state which in turn can be revised, depending upon the prevailing economic conditions) should have his license cancelled, and no retailer should have the right to sell fruits and vegetables in India without proper license. Legislation/s should be made effective to support these initiatives.

In this regard, the Union Government should also extend active support to the states, in terms of constructing a legislative framework, for inflow of finances and for developing qualified human resource needed for the entire exercise. I believe if the states can initiate such comprehensive legislative and administrative measures, the

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prices of fruits and vegetables can be greatly checked across the country. If this exercise of registered retailers proves successful for distribution of fruits and vegetables, it could be extended to other forms of agricultural produce too, such as groceries.

Other Distribution Routes The farmers of course, should also have the option to sell their produce through APMC besides through the state operated not for profit agricultural produce collection centres, as suggested above.

There should also be a third alternative to the farmers to sell their agricultural produce, and another alternative for the consumers (which is already existing) to get their fruits & vegetables and other agricultural produce affordably. The consumers should also continue to have the option of having their vegetables and other agricultural produce from retail chains of various corporate houses, which many of whom are already doing presently.

The state governments should encourage various important corporate

players through creation of conducive business environment to purchase the fruits and vegetables directly from the farmers and selling them directly to the retail consumers and institutions (hotels, restaurants, etc.) at reasonable profit and prices.

The corporate players wanting to venture into this field of selling fruits and vegetables should be given stringent instructions to not employ any middlemen between them and the farmers, so as to prevent the exploitation of the farmers and the end consumers. Furthermore, these corporate players should also be monitored by the state authorities to ensure that they are not exploiting the farmers and the end consumers to abnormally enhance their profit levels.

If our state governments, along with the help of some corporate players, become proactive in presenting the farmers’ produce directly to the retail and

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

institutional consumers from a plethora of huge supermarkets, the present scenario of exorbitant fruits and vegetable prices could be controlled to certain extent in the future. These supermarkets should not have only urban presence but should be extended to rural India too on a widespread basis.

Farmers’ cooperatives can also be treated as an effective answer to keep the agricultural prices in check, while at the same time facilitating to give farmers a good value for their agricultural produce through direct marketing of agricultural produce. This can be another alternative for the farmers. State governments should support and promote more and more farmers’ cooperatives to eliminate the scourge of middlemen in agriculture.

Farmers’ cooperative societies have been successful in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Infrastructure Issues The conducive environment to the corporates venturing to procure agricultural produce directly from the farmers and selling directly to the end consumers can be provided by developing a huge network of cold chain infrastructure and providing them with real estate at cheap rates. In fact, both the Union and the state governments, along with the support of private players, should jointly endeavour to vastly improve our bleak scenario in terms of cold storage infrastructure. More effective pest control initiatives in warehouses storing food grains are also needed.

The governments should also encourage and as well as monitor service providers engaged in pest control initiatives in agriculture and also those who are engaged in transportation of agricultural produce, so as to prevent unnecessary wastage of agricultural produce, which in turn can result in price hike of fruits and vegetables in the market.

Of course, these steps need to be supplemented with more comprehensive, extensive and sophisticated irrigation facilities, so that our farmers’ produce even in this twenty-first century India do not have to often entirely depend on the vagaries of monsoon. The unchecked drought or flood in turn results in agriinflation. The diesel and petrol prices need also to be kept in check for they play a crucial role in the costs of food products to ■ the end consumers.

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Dec-Jan ’14

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DAIRY

Dairy of an Entrepreneur

By Swarnendu Biswas

T

he meeting with Nandkishore Attal, the Chairman and Managing Director of Vaishno Devi Dairy Products Pvt. Ltd., began with a surprise from my end. I was expecting a grey-haired and overbearing corporate honcho wearing an expensive suit and a deep frown of disapproval, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a smiling young man in casual attire who also didn’t mind my casualness about punctuality.

Incidentally, I was half-an-hour late for the interview session. But beneath his apparent carefree disposition, my

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experienced observation could easily sense a steely determination that passionately loves the language of success.

When my question on whether he had been running a family business (a few young and high profile MDs and CEOs whom I had come across were seen running their well established family businesses) received a negative reply, my surprise got settled. Frankly, in my more than fifteen years of journalistic career, I haven’t come across a 38-year-old who has created a business with a turnover of approximately Rs.250 crore (this figure,

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according to Attal, was attained during the 2013-14 fiscal) on his own while starting from scratch, within barely 11 years of starting his enterprise.

A Modest Beginning “I am from Hyderabad, and I came to Pune in 1997, for my livelihood,” stated the unassuming Attal. Initially, he marketed computer stationery for a firm, but within a couple of years that is in 1999, he graduated to his own computer stationery business. His company was named VD Marketing, which was later

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DAIRY it big in any way. He forayed into the dairy business with his childhood friend and they co-founded Vaishno Devi Milk Product.

“Initially, we only used to provide the package of polythene film, and the milk was supplied by an established dairy firm,” informed Attal. The packaging of the milk within the package was also done by the same dairy firm, whose name the savvy entrepreneur chose not to disclose.

Growth and Diversification

converted to V D Logistics to enable successful distribution of the milk products, after Attal entered the dairy business.

His visit to a dairy plant, located near the Bhimashankar Temple, Maharashtra, spurred his innate entrepreneurship with

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the inspiration to start a dairy business and in 2003, he translated this inspiration into a reality. Attal began his innings in dairy business with less capital and great vision. He admitted that the initial capital for the dairy business was only Rs.2.5 lakh but that didn’t deter his dream of making

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

In 2005, Vaishno Devi Dairy Products entered into a tie-up with Mother Dairy for milk supply, which can be interpreted as an important milestone for the company.

Attal started supplying milk to the industry from 2007, when he did set up a dairy plant after acquiring a sick unit.

From 2007 onwards, he went solo. In 2007, the plant had the capacity of producing 50,000 litres of milk per day, which was enhanced in the subsequent years.

In the same year (2007), Vaishno Devi Dairy Products Pvt. Ltd. and the company’s brand Shubhi was also born.

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DAIRY then the company has entered the retail market too. The company caters to renowned brands in the institutional segment. “We are working on strengthening our distribution network pan-India,” elucidated Attal. Presently, Vaishno Devi Dairy Products Pvt. Ltd.’s brand Shubhi has impressive presence in Gujarat and Maharashtra but Attal has pragmatic hopes to make it a brand with a pan-Indian reach very soon.

Quality Needs Control The young entrepreneur displayed a stringent stance regarding quality control in dairy business, which is a welcome attitude in this business where At the end of the very first year of its operations, Vaishno Devi Dairy Products Pvt. Ltd. attained revenue of Rs.12 crore.

In 2010 with an intention of business expansion, the company bought a land at Sahajpur, near Uruli Kanchan , located around 20 km away from Pune. In record time of just 10 months, the Uruli Kancqhan plant was commissioned with an initial capacity of 1.5 lakh liters per day. Today, this plant, set up near Uralikanchan in Daund Taluka, in the Pune district of Maharashta, has the capacity to process up to 7 lakh litres of milk and convert it into premium quality modern dairy products every day.

Here it deserves a mention that the Uruli Kanchan plant is a proper composite dairy plant where along with milk business the company is also engaged in the production of ghee, curd, yogurt, paneer, butter and milk powder. In the same plant, the company undertakes copacking work for Mother Dairy milk and Britannia Ghee.

For the company, the raw milk is being procured by the firm from the dairy farmers. Through Shubhi Milk, the company has formed a strong association with more than 50,000 farmers, directly and indirectly. The company is now planning to set up a plant at Chittore, with an initial capacity of 4 lakh liters per day.

“By 2011, we started diversifying into other products. Presently, our product range includes ghee, milk powder, dairy whitener, paneer, butter and curd,” proffered Attal. Currently, the company is supplying to and fulfilling sub-contracted orders of various big and well-known brands for their pan-India market.

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Attal feels that the profitability in liquid milk is very low and the market for liquid milk is quite saturated in the country, which induced him to diversify into a range of other dairy products, where according to him, profitability and as well as market potential are much better.

The company under its Shubhi brand has recently launched buffalo ghee with the capacity of 15 tonnes per day. The company is also launching dairy whitener (milk powder) in small sachets costing Rs. 5 and Rs. 10 only, which can effectively tap the rural market.

Till July 2013, Vaishno Devi Dairy Products Pvt. Ltd. was engaged in catering to the institutional segment, but since

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adulteration of milk is fairly rampant, largely because of the fact that almost 85 percent of the Indian dairy industry falls into the unorganised sector. “Vaishno Devi Dairy Products Pvt. Ltd. follows strict quality control at its plant where the collected milk undergoes 18 to 20 strict tests and milk is rejected even for very small deviation from the desired quality,” asserted the entrepreneur.

Presently, the company owns 35 milk tankers, which are well-equipped with GPS facility to ensure proper tracking and monitoring. The company aims to have a fleet of 100 milk tankers soon. “We monitor our processes closely on a day to day basis and ensure that products of

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DAIRY the same category are identical and homogenous in quality, nutrition and taste,” averred Attal. According to him, the exhaustive quality control process at his firm covers different levels form farm to plant.

Inspiring Success Stories?

Though Attal’s success story may inspire many entrepreneurs to venture into dairy business, but they should also know that dairy is a highly capitalintensive enterprise and at the initial stage of any business, the finances are not easy to come by.

Raising the requisite funds from banks at early stages of his business was one of the impediments that Attal did face. He managed to overcome those challenges, but every other would be entrepreneur entering the organised dairy sector should not be expected to have his uncommon grit and talent, but at the same time they should also need the right opportunity and the business environment to grow, if the government needs the Indian dairy sector to grow to greater heights and be more organised in character.

Therefore, easy availability of finances

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Nandkishore Attal

from banks and other financial institutions for entrepreneurs venturing into dairy business is needed for giving the desired momentum to the Indian dairy sector. The challenges of procurement and sales and marketing also need to be addressed well by the would be entrepreneurs in the dairy sector.

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It is not that dairy sector in India is not growing; it is indeed growing impressively. According to Rabobank, the country’s dairy segment is expected to grow at a CAGR between13- 15 percent until 2019-20. Yes, the dairy industry is going through an impressive growth phase, but presently its growth rate is not sufficient enough for catering to the fast growing demand for milk across the country.

In the recent past, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) had stated that India’s annual increase in milk production should be enhanced from the present level of 4.5 million tonnes per year to 6 million tonnes per year, in order to solve the nutritional challenges in the country.

Here it deserves a mention that NDDB is presently running a programme named ‘National Dairy Plan’ with the objective to increase milk production for meeting the growing demand for milk in the country, which is estimated to increase to around 200 MT by 2021-22. Therefore, need for more dynamic entrepreneurs like Nandkishore Attal in the dairy industry can also be beneficial for the society as a whole.

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BEVERAGE

The Healthy

Brew

By Swarnendu Biswas

D

espite the rapid invasion of café coffee culture across urban India, and the growing popularity of coffee in middle class India, tea is still the most popular beverage in the country. In fact, after water, tea is the most consumed drink in the world. This aromatic and healthy brew has its origins in ancient China. There is a legend that Chinese Emperor Shen Nong (an emperor of mythical origin) was getting water boiled in the shade of a tree. Accidentally, some leaves fell into the water as a result of a light breeze. After the infusion of the leaves, the emperor found that the water tasted much better….The incident traces back to more than 2700 BC. The legend associated with the origins of tea flows back more than 4700 years ago, and the popularity of the beverage subsequently flowed from China to many other geographies of the world. India’s association with tea drinking dates back to more than 2000 years. Our tradition of herbal teas owes its legacy to Ayurveda.

Whereas in the UK, tea drinking gained popularity only during the 17th century.

legacy; it began in the early nineteenth century, during the colonial rule, when the process of converting large tracts of land for mass tea production began.

During early 1820s, the British East India Company commenced large-scale tea production in the state of Assam.

However, in the colonial era, tea drinking didn’t assume to be a nationwide habit. In India, tea garnered widespread popularity as a recreational drink during 1950s, in which the advertising campaign by the

Green Tea or Panacea?

India’s Favourite Beverage However, the large scale commercial production of tea does have a British influence. The commercial production of tea in India doesn’t have an ancient

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India Tea Board played an important role.

Today, tea drinking constitutes an integral part of modern Indian life.

According to a report by Indian Tea Association, the country’s tea production was 1200 million kg in 2013, which was 6.5 percent more than 1,126.33 million kg during 2012. Founded in 1881, the Indian Tea Association is the premier and the oldest organisation of tea producers in India.

India is the second largest producer and the second largest consumer of tea in the world, only China being ahead of our country in the production and consumption of tea. India is also the fourth largest tea exporter in the world, with Kenya, China, and Sri Lanka being ahead of us. Our Darjeeling and Assam tea have enduring demand across the globe.

About 70 percent of the country’s tea production is consumed domestically.

Dr. Ritika Samaddar

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

There are various types of teas in the world, the most common among them being black tea, oolong tea and green tea.

Teas are traditionally classified in these three major categories, though myriad lesser known types of this beverage, such as white tea, yellow tea, pu-erh tea and blended teas are also there.

According to the renowned clinical

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BEVERAGE nutritionist Dr. Ishi Khosla, the Founder of www.theweightmonitor.com, Whole Foods India and the Founder PresidentCeliac Society for Delhi, “Green tea is non fermented tea and undergoes minimal oxidation as compared to black tea, which is more oxidised, and generally stronger in flavour than green tea. Oolong tea is intermediate in composition between green and black teas.”

Tea is not only aromatic and refreshing, it is also a healthy beverage. Tea consists of antioxidants, which prevents ageing and shields the body from the affects of pollution. Drinking tea can also lower the risk of heart attacks and stroke, and can help protect ageing bones against osteoporosis. Tea consumption can also act as protection against cancer. Moreover, tea is a calorie free beverage if its intake is without the infusion of sugar or sweeteners. Green tea, perhaps the most healthy form of tea, has shown to increase the metabolic rate and thereby facilitates burning of calories.

In fact, the multiple health benefits of green tea are fast increasing its popularity.

“The secret in green tea’s health benefits are largely due to its high content of plant-

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derived compounds that are antioxidants called catechins,” explained Dr. Ritika Samaddar, Regional Head, Department of Clinical Nutrition, Max Healthcare Institute Ltd. Catechin is a type of natural phenol and antioxidant. To put it simply, catechins are a type of antioxidant, which are largely present in the leaves of the tea plant Camellia sinensis. They are part of the chemical family of flavonoids.

Catechins spruce the green tea with health attributes. “Studies have shown that catechins in green tea render various health benefits which can have antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, anti-arteriosclerotic and antibacterial effects,” Ishi pointed out.

Green tea can also play an important role in tackling the bad cholesterol, which

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

is playing a malevolent role in the rising graph of lifestyle diseases in urban India.

“Due to its high polyphenol content, green tea has been shown to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, because its potent antioxidant effects inhibit the oxidation of LDL cholesterol in the arteries,” confirmed Ritika. She also stated that green tea helps to burn fat, as it helps to speed up the metabolic rate.

“Several studies have suggested that

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BEVERAGE

A Unique Endeavour

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Dr. Ishi Khosla

drinking either green or black tea may lower blood cholesterol concentration, blood pressure and also inhibit the clotting of blood, thereby providing some protection against cardiovascular disease. While green tea’s benefits arise from catechins, black tea’s health benefits arise from the aflavins — both of which inhibit oxidation of bad cholesterol LDL,” explained Ishi. She informed that both green and black tea can provide health benefits if taken in moderation, as a part of a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Green tea’s role in safeguarding against cancer is also becoming evident.

According to Ritika, “Regular consumption of green tea has shown a reduced risk for several cancers, including the cancer of skin, breast, lung, colon, esophageal, and bladder.”

Ishi informs that the catechins epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin (EGC), and epicatechin3- gallate (ECG) in green tea are believed to play roles in the protection against cancer. “Theanine, another polyphenol in green tea, may play a role in reducing stress,” she averred. According to current research, the presence of cancer-fighting flavonoid epigallocatechin gallate (ECGC), which is also known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate, in green tea gives it great potency in cancer prevention. The epigallocatechin gallate (ECGC) seems to fight cancer at all stages, from tackling chemical carcinogens, to reducing the spread of tumours. Its potency as an antioxidant is almost 100 times more powerful than Vitamin C. ECGC may also endow the green tea with antibacterial properties.

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he Sui Generis, Inc., an Imphal-based company in the state of Manipur, has developed a seven-step process for deriving a light, aromatic and flavourful green tea from lemongrass. Its brand of tea is named as Sui Generis CC Tea. According to Ragesh Keisham, the young 37-year-old Chief Managing Director of The SuiGeneris Inc., “Sui Generis CC Tea is a naturally caffeine-free tea made from lemongrass, which is endowed with a subtle citrus flavour and a soothing aroma. It brews into a radiant green tea that is light, clean, zesty and tangy.” Moreover, he asserted that “Sui Generis CC Tea is 100 percent organic, natural and pure. It is much more flavourful and therapeutic than a regular green tea.”

Ragesh Keisham Keisham informed that the tea has medicinal values and can help many in relieving from health ailments. “Sui Generis CC Tea is derived exclusively from Cymbopogan citratus. We grow it in pristine 75 acre organic farms, without the involvement of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or fertilisers. Moreover, Sui Generis CC Tea is prepared and packaged without any artificial flavour, colouring agent or additive. The naturally caffeine free instant lemongrass tea is available in granule form and in teabags, which are 100 percent biodegradable,” explained Keisham. Here it deserves a mention that Cymbopogan citratus is commonly known as lemongrass.

I queried Keisham about the myriad health attributes of Cymbopogon citrates, which is the main ingredient of Sui Generis CC Tea. “Cymbopogon citrates is an ancient remedy for alleviating anxiety and helps provide relief from fever, flu, cough, nausea, headaches and menstrual cramps. It is an effective gut relaxant and is very useful for combating poor digestion, stomach aches, gas, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disorders,” explained the entrepreneur while adding, “It is also extensively used for treating nervous disorders. It is rich in good anti-oxidants and can get rid of excess toxins or fats in human body thus resulting in natural weight loss and healthy skin, hair and eyes. Furthermore, it lowers bad cholesterol levels and also helps lower high blood pressure.

Cymbopogon citrates can also be used for treating diabetes,” he articulated.

This brand of tea, which was launched in August 2011, is gaining popularity in many parts of the country. “Sui Generis CC Tea is currently consumed in many parts of the country and has received an outstanding response from Manipur, Assam, Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata in West Bengal and Karnataka,” asserted Keisham. Though according to him, international expansion is not a priority in the brand’s current growth phase, Sui Generis CC Tea “has caught the attention of many global traders.”

Keisham is presently depending on the traditional and time-tested method of word of mouth and direct sales campaign to enhance the popularity of Sui Generis CC Tea across the country. Sampling at key venues, spreading awareness through participation in trade shows, and campaigning on the therapeutic benefits of this unique brand of green tea are his marketing arsenals to increase the tea’s presence in the market.

Ritika asserted further on green tea’s cancer inhibiting property. “The polyphenols in green tea have antioxidant property which acts as a scavenger, helping to remove all the toxic/ free radicals from the body which damage the cells and can cause cancer.

Also polyphenols in green tea have been found to inhibit tumour proliferation

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and tumour growth,” articulated the famous doctor.

It is about time the food service industry in India makes sustained and proactive efforts to promote green tea, an initiative which can garner popularity and increasing revenues with the growing importance of healthy eating and drinking in urban India’s mindspace.

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June-July ’14

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63

THEME CUISINE

A Glimpse into the

Tastes of China

By Sharmila Chand

C

hinese cuisine is a very wide term. It can be subjected to four broad divisions. They are Northern or Beijing (Peking) Cuisine, Eastern or Shanghai Cuisine, Western or Szechuan Cuisine and Southern or Cantonese cuisine. Culinary character of each of these regions of China has their distinctive style.

The Flavours from Canton Cantonese region is endowed with abundant rainfall and has a tropical climate, which has influenced the choice of ingredients in cooking. However, Cantonese cuisine also has non-native ingredients in its cooking. For example, coconut milk, rice noodles and curry powder, which are essential characteristics of Thai and Indian cuisine, are employed in several Cantonese dishes.

Cantonese cuisine is known for the subtle use of sauces and the diversity of ingredients and cooking methods. Cantonese Chefs are well-known for their expertise in stir-frying, steaming, and roasting a wide variety of meats, poultry, and seafood. Here it deserves mention that roasted and barbecued meats are hot sellers at restaurants and meat shops in China, perhaps more so because of the fact that most Chinese kitchens do not have ovens.

A characteristic of Cantonese cuisine is its emphasis on preserving the natural flavour of the food. A Cantonese Chef would consider it a culinary sin to create an overcooked or heavily seasoned dish.

this is the least intrusive cooking technique, and the healthiest.

As far as stir-frying goes, the Cantonese are the acknowledged experts. Cantonese cooks believe every stir-fry must exude a taste and aroma that comes from having wok hay or ‘wok breath.’

Along with freshness and quality, artistic presentation of the food and garnishing are also very important in Cantonese cuisine.

Besides stir-frying and steaming, Cantonese cuisine is also famous for its roast meats of pork and duck.

Cantonese also deserve a word of thanks for dim sum, literally meaning ‘touch your heart.’ The custom of feasting on a varied assortment of pastries and dumplings originated in China’s teahouses. Char Siu Bao, or steamed buns filled with roast pork, is a popular Cantonese dim sum treat.

Popular Regional Dishes Beef with oyster sauce is a typical Cantonese dish, as is steamed chicken with ginger scallion sauce. Steamed sea bass, stir-fried garoupa, and lobster Cantonese are all well-known Cantonese dishes.

Shark’s fin soup is a local delicacy in Cantonese cuisine. Curry chicken, made by simmering chicken, curry powder and vegetables in coconut milk, shows the influence of South-east Asian cuisine on Chinese cooking. Vegetable dishes in Cantonese cuisine reflect the wide variety and seasonality of what is available.

Cantonese Cooking

Szechuan Cuisine

At Cantonese homes, two important cooking techniques are steaming and stir-frying. Given the emphasis on freshness in Cantonese cuisine it is not surprising that steaming is popular, as

This cuisine originated in China’s largest province, Szechuan. Over the years, Chefs in this landlocked, mountain-ringed province developed a cuisine distinct from other Chinese cooking styles. It

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June-July ’14

THEME CUISINE was also influenced by the foreigners journeying along China’s famous ‘Silk Route.’

For instance, Buddhist missionaries introduced Szechuan to the flavour of spice, which Szechuan Chefs replicated by making liberal use of Szechuan pepper.

There are other influences too. During the 16th century, Spanish traders introduced chilies to the region. Like their northern neighbours, Szechuan cooks prefer pungently flavoured vegetables such as garlic and onions.

Szechuan cooks employ a variety of cooking methods, from stir-frying to roasting and simmering. Twice Cooked Pork, where the pork is first boiled and then stir-fried, is a classic dish from Szechuan cuisine.

But, along with fiery classics such as ‘Hot and Numbing Fish’ and ‘Kung Pao Chicken,’ Szechuan is also the home of ‘Tea Smoked Duck’ — a fascinating dish made by smoking a duck over tea leaves.

Signature Dishes from each of the four regions of China are as follows: Cantonese Beef with Tomatoes Cantonese Steamed Chicken Pineapple Chicken with Sweet & Sour Sauce Sweet & Sour Pork, Cantonese Style Szechuan Hot & Sour Soup Hot & Sour Cucumber Salad Chengdu Chicken MaPo Dofu Prawns in Tomato Sauce Szechuan Noodles

Steamed dumplings and pancakes are also popular items in north China’s cuisine.

Mutton is frequently consumed, and is the chief ingredient in Mongolian Hot Pot, an important dish from northern China.

Another favorite is Mu Shu Pork. This dish, with its strong flavours of leeks, onions, and garlic, wrapped in steamed pancakes, is characteristic of northern-style cooking.

Eastern China Cuisine

In Eastern China, both rice and wheat are grown — rice in the subtropical climate to the south, wheat in the colder northern area of eastern China that includes Northern China (Peking) Shanghai. Cooks in the northern regions Mongolian Hot Pot of eastern China rely on noodles and bread Mongolian Lamb with Scallions made from wheat flour to provide Peking Duck sustenance in the cold winter months.

Mandarin Pancakes The very popular, ‘Congee,’ a rice gruel Dofu Fa – a dessert similar to porridge and eaten for breakfast throughout China, originated in the south-eastern province of Fukien.

North China Cuisine Interestingly, there are a few features that characterise eastern In China’s northern regions, dry summers and freezing cold winters China’s cooking, such as the liberal use of sugar to sweeten have made the people opt for more solid, nourishing fare. Instead of dishes.

Eastern China is also famous for ‘red-cooking’ — a process rice, wheat is the staple grain in the north China, and noodles made from wheat flour are part of many meals in north China. Peking whereby meat is slowly simmered in dark soy sauce, imparting a reddish tinge to the final product.

Duck is another delicacy from northern China.

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Good to Know Szechuan pepper is an important ingredient in Szechuan cooking. Also known as pepper flower, Chinese pepper, and fagara, Szechuan pepper is not a pepper at all.

Instead, the reddish-brown fruit — one of the ingredients in five spice powder — is a berry that comes from the prickly ash tree. While not as hot as chili pepper, it does have a unique flavour, and is famous for its numbing effect on the tongue.

Recipe New Zealand Lamb Rack in Black Pepper Sauce at Empress Of China (Serves Four)

By Suprabhath Roy, Executive Chef, Eros Hotel, New Delhi, Nehru Place Ingredient

Quantity

Rack of New Zealand lamb Corn flour Cooking oil Broth powder Butter Garlic chopped Onion chopped Black pepper crushed Yellow bean paste Hot bean paste Oyster sauce Chinese cooking wine

1 rack (750 gm approx) 2 tablespoon 2 tablespoon 2 tablespoon 50 gm 1 tablespoon 4 nos.

4 tablespoon 2 tablespoon 2 tablespoon 2 tablespoon ½ cup

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Soya sauce Stock Salt Sugar Potato starch Onion sliced Green bell pepper sliced

4 tablespoon 1 cup To taste ½ tablespoon 1 tablespoon 1 number ½ number

Method 1. Clean the lamb rack till all meat and fat is removed from the bone. Marinate with salt, broth powder and little soya. Leave aside.

2. Heat butter in a wok and add in the chopped garlic and onion. Once brown add in the crushed black pepper and cook till aroma of pepper is released. Add in the bean pastes, oyster sauce, soya sauce, cooking wine and stock. Add in little salt and sugar and allow to cook over low heat.

3. Dust the marinated lamb rack with corn flour and pan fry till cooked. Toss the sliced onion and bell pepper in a wok till it is slightly caramelised.

4. Add in the broth powder to the sauce and then thicken it by potato starch. Adjust the seasoning of the sauce and pour sauce over the lamb rack and serve garnished with caramelised sliced onions and bell pepper.

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65

RESTAURANT

Meet the Empress of

China

By Sharmila Chand

E

mpress of China at Eros Hotel, New Delhi, Nehru Place, offers an out of the ordinary fine dining experience. Here you can savour authentic Sichuan and Cantonese cuisines from China with a unique display and wafting of great aromas, which together provides much more than the run-of-the-mill eating out experience.

Located at the lobby level of the hotel, the restaurant exudes an Oriental ambience with modern art displays complementing the ethnic cuisine served. The Private Dining Room of the restaurant opens out to a scenic private garden, which is ideal for exclusive get-togethers.

The New Menu “The menu at Empress of China has got a completely new makeover with additions in each section of the menu. In some cases new sections have been added, e.g. ‘The Signatures’ at the Empress of China. The

Fact File Timings: 12 noon to 2.45 pm for Lunch and 7 pm to 11.45 pm for Dinner (Monday to Sunday) Address: Empress of China, Lobby Level, Eros Hotel, Nehru Place, New Delhi - 110019

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entire menu comes with ‘Beverage Recommendations’ from our in-house ‘Beverage Specialists,’ which would help our guests to choose their beverage as per their food order,” said Arindam Chakraborty, Director — Food and Beverage, Eros Hotel, New Delhi, Nehru Place.

“We normally change the menus once a year, during the summer months, that is during April–May. Any new change is definitely noticed by our guests and we prepare ourselves for the next change based on the comments that we receive. A menu is an important marketing tool for any restaurant and we use it to talk about our new endeavours; to bring about change in the F&B offers of the restaurant,” Chakraborty explained further.

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At the restaurant, the Chef offers extensive preparations of authentic Sichuan signature dishes that include Drunken Chicken, Peking Duck, Salt Baked Chicken, and a wide range of exquisite dim sums.

For the exclusive get-togethers at the Private Dining Room, the restaurant has introduced three pre-set menus – Empress Meal, Empress Regal Meal and Empress Prosperity Meal, which are tailor-made for special gatherings.

“We have emphasised on the use of premium ingredients like Australian lamb, New Zealand lamb rack, American duck, Chilean sea bass and traditional Chinese

June-July ’14

RESTAURANT ingredients like ginseng, goji berries, red dates, etc.,” affirmed Chef Suprabhath Roy. “Also we have enhanced the dim sum menu with all time favourites like bao, pot stickers and har gao,” he pointed out.

The Chef has given due importance to salads in the menu. “We have also introduced new salads in the menu keeping in mind the feedback of guests and an increasing demand for salads,” asserted Suprabhat.

He explained in detail the new salads in the menu at the Empress of China.

“Seafood Salad is a delightful combination of fresh river sole with calamari and shrimps, in a light chilli and lemon marinade. The addition of broccoli, celery and bell peppers add to the freshness of the salad. Then there is Duck Salad, which brings a new avatar to the classical Szechuan Duck by combining it with the freshness of cucumber, orange and Asian herbs. This salad is served warm with a sweet bean dressing and red dates and the salad is a must try for duck lovers,” elaborated the culinary expert.

He also talked about the Asparagus & Mushroom Salad, which, according to him, presents itself as a melange of

Chef’s Prowess Chef Suprabhath Roy spearheads the kitchen at the Eros Hotel, New Delhi, Nehru Place, where he is engaged as the Executive Chef. He has worked in renowned kitchens in India and abroad.

His growing up years were in the city of Lucknow, where he got to savour the kebab parathas and pulaos in its bylanes.

He began his career with the Taj Group of Hotels. He has assisted some of the best culinary minds in the trade, which has facilitated him to develop a fine understanding of cuisines. This understanding is manifested in his fresh take on food and artistic and modern style presentation.

Prior to this role, Chef Suprabhath has been credited with conceptualising and opening various restaurants. He has also been the Chef de Cuisine at Nina, the award winning fusion restaurant with an Indo-European concept menu at the One and Only Royal Mirage, Dubai.

When not taking new strides in the world of gastronomy, Chef Suprabhath Roy enjoys reading, travelling and photography.

June-July ’14

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We plan to highlight the special features and unique techniques used to craft the menu, to make it the talking point. For example, the specialty menus have a fragrance aspect to it i.e. the Empress of China menu will have the fragrance of ginger in it. This will transport the guests to another sensory domain and will involve their smell sense to appeal to their overall state.”

which featured in the imperial menu. It was highly regarded by emperors and other members of the ruling classes.

As a dish with long culinary legacy, the Beijing’s roast duck can help you to understand more about China’s gastronomic tradition.

At the Empress of China, the roasted duck is carved at the guest’s table on a special trolley and rolled in a pancake with cucumber, leek & sweet bean sauce, and served with an aromatic broth.

Szechuan Red Snapper Wok fried whole red snapper with elephant garlic, star anise, and leek is doused with hot oil at the guest’s table to release the aromatic flavour into the fish.

The dish is served with wok fried pokchoy & steamed jasmine rice.

Salt Baked Chicken Lotus leaf wrapped spring chicken is baked in salt encasing. Flambeed in the restaurant and then carved on the guest’s table, the chicken is served with a seasoned broth and steamed jasmine rice.

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— Arindam Chakraborty, Director — Food and Beverage, Eros Hotel, New Delhi, Nehru Place. ○

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mushrooms with the goodness of asparagus. “Tossed in a sesame seed and with soya dressing this earthy salad comes with the addition of the superfruit goji berry and the nutritive benefits of sprouted beans,” informed the Chef.

Empress’s Signatures Beijing Duck According to a Chinese proverb, no visit to Beijing is complete if you miss seeing the Great Wall or savouring on the roasted duck. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) the roast duck was a delicacy

“

One of the premium dishes on the menu is the Pan Fried Lamb Rack for which rack of New Zealand lamb is initially seared with seasoning and then tossed in a fragrant sauce, consisting of freshly crushed black pepper, fermented soy bean paste & Chinese cooking wine.

Cooked to perfection, the lamb rack is served with a generous helping of lightly sautéed onions to add crunch.”

— Chef Suprabhath Roy, Executive Chef, Eros Hotel, New Delhi, Nehru Place.

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CHEF VOICE

A Chef of Substance

By Sharmila Chand

Mistral, an all-day dining restaurant by PVR Leisure, located in the Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi has appointed Mayank Tiwari as the Executive Chef. In his new role, Chef Mayank is engaged in overseeing and driving Mistral’s kitchen operations and PVR Leisure’s future F&B initiatives.

With an experience of over a decade, Chef Mayank’s last assignment was with Olive Bar and Kitchen at ARC Mahalakshmi & with Olive Bistro in Pune and Hyderabad as Chef De Cuisine.

Chef Mayank has a proclivity towards modern European cooking and a flair for molecular gastronomy. He has worked with many renowned and successful restaurants during his career.

His strength lies in his perseverance. “Perseverance allows me to be cool minded and balanced and in reaching an optimum condition of mind in order to make the correct choices. My patience allows me to deal with the toughest situations with ease,” he stated. In an informal chat with the Chef, I got to know more about him. The excerpts of the interaction follow:

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June-July ’14

CHEF VOICE How do you define yourself?

I am a person with varied interests, who is keen on experimentation. I like to combine modern culinary techniques with classic cooking. As a Chef, I would define myself by saying ‘I cook for the plate’.

What would you like to say on your work?

With a proclivity towards modern European cooking and a flair for molecular gastronomy, I prefer cooking my dishes with freshness and simplicity.

I like to keep my dishes simple and maintain a balance between nutrition and taste. Pairing the right ingredients for taste, presentation and flavour is the essential feature of my cooking.

Had you not been doing this then what would you have been?

I think if I were not a Chef, I would have academically pursued to be a geologist.

What is your source of inspiration?

I believe one’s strengths and weaknesses are determined by her/his family. My sole inspiration of life and profession has been my family. My family has been extremely supportive throughout.

What is your definition of success?

I feel success is an everyday result of one’s hard work. Being happy in your personal and professional life is the ultimate success.

Professionally speaking, what are you passionate about?

Being a Chef, my passion lies in the plate. My passion is delivered with each bite by the guests of the dishes which I serve on the plate.

You believe in?

My belief is very simple. There is no escape from hard work. The approach should be to strike the right balance between hard work and technique so that you are recognised for your efforts.

I believe the hard work and the technique used by a person to earn her/ his daily bread are the sole parameters which suffice a person’s professional growth.

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What has been your weakness?

I have an inclination of forgiving people very easily. Being humble by nature I have never been able to breed anger in me. But that at times curtails people from realising their fault.

How do you de-stress yourself?

My friends and family are my real stress-busters in life. Be it a good day or a bad day, it is they who make me feel alive. Moments spent with them gives me the strength to fight all odds and the strength to be patient through tough times.

What is your biggest asset?

Without a doubt I would state that my son has been my biggest asset, ever since he has been a part of our lives. The relationship with my son is something which is boundless. In him lies my life and my ability to do anything.

If you had to describe yourself in one word, how would you prefer to do so?

If I had to describe myself in one word it would be Chef. The original meaning of this term in French is ‘head’.

Hence I think it would be an apt word to describe myself.

How do you rate yourself as a Chef?

According to me, for Chefs there are just two ratings: ‘A Good Chef ’ and ‘Not a Good Chef.’

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What is your favourite cuisine?

My favourite cuisine is Catalan cuisine. Catalan cuisine is a variety of Spanish cuisine, from Catalonia.

What is your favorite spice?

My most preferred spice is cinnamon, and a very close second is fresh bay leaf.

And which is your favorite dish?

My most favourite dish is steak frites.

Which would you consider as your favorite equipment?

I would rate knife as the best equipment for me What has been your hot selling item/s?

They are pork belly and pork steaks.

Speaking in culinary terms, what you are obsessed with?

I feel as a Chef, I am obsessed with garlic while cooking.

What has been your philosophy of work?

I believe the most important principle at my work or otherwise is honesty. A person who can breed honesty in his life is not only mentally satisfied but also achieves inner peace. My philosophy is tough for a person who has to try to be honest.

What is the position of Chefs these days, in India?

The Indian Chef ’s position is highly competitive but lucrative. The amount of exposure for the Chef is making it an interesting profession.

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PROFILE

The Vision Behind La Vie

By Sharmila Chand

La Vie was conceptualised and given birth by the entrepreneur Anirudh Gupta, the Owner of Divine Hospitality. It was his sheer will to venture into the food service industry of which he was and is so passionate about. Being a travel enthusiast and a food lover, he has nurtured a dream of having a restaurant of his own.

Chance brought him in touch with Chef Naresh who has vast experience in Italian cuisine. His passion for the European cuisine and Anirudh’s desire to venture into food service industry amalgamated into a vision.

The vision whose initial reflection is the ‘La Vie’ in posh Khan Market, New Delhi. The excerpts of an interview with Anirudh Gupta follow: something that satisfies a huge base of Indian restaurant going consumers, which is far more educated in terms of its culinary knowledge than was seen ever before in this country, is a challenge. The palates of today’s consumers are far more discerning and difficult to please than ever before, which provides the industry with a challenge, which I believe it loves.

First and foremost, please spell out some key challenges of opening a new restaurant

Starting a restaurant business for us entailed too many ends to tie before we could meet the opening deadline. Also being a small floor area premise, a lot of effort had to be put in towards planning the layout of the restaurant.

Especially the kitchen had to be designed in a way so as to have maximum possible operational ease and space utilisation.

What according to you are the most tricky issues to tackle these days in food service business, in India?

Being able to come up with

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What would you like to say on the current restaurant business scenario in big cities of urban India?

The Indian food service industry is going through a phase where low investment models are becoming the choice for investors and entrepreneurs.

QSR models also seem to be in for the long haul. The best thing going for the industry is the fact that the end consumer is now better educated in terms of cuisines and culinary preferences than it was a decade before, which makes it easier for ventures to focus on specific target markets.

Please comment on how the industry trend has changed over a period of time

As someone who has always been interested in the nuances of this

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industry and the trends, I can say that there are far more restaurant goers in India than there were till a few years back.

Due to the increase in the spending capacity of the consumers there has been a marked increase in the number of consumers who don’t mind spending more for a product of their choice.

But also because of high competition the restaurateurs have to keep on innovating to cater to the demands of the consumers, especially in this age of social media where the consumers’ attention span has a lot more places to focus on than ever.

What has helped you the most in the image building of your brand?

The fact that we have an authentic product and a team of individuals which works with a unified passion to develop the brand La Vie to meet the vision of the promoters, have helped in the image building of the brand.

What do you enjoy the most about being in this business?

The fact that each day you are able to put smiles across various faces while doing something that you have always had a passion for is the most gratifying feeling.

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PROFILE

What do you dislike the most about this business?

I wish we could have more consistency in this business so as to have some kind of ease while executing our expansion plans and deadlines.

What kind of pressures have you encountered at work?

Time pressure is very much there in a business where you have so much to do within so little time. Meeting the evolving guest preferences is another challenge in this industry.

How important is it to have good interiors in the restaurant? How much significance you give to the décor and ambience of the place as compared to the food?

For providing the guests with experience that they won’t forget easily, I think ambience of the restaurant is extremely important.

For us at La Vie, it was very

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important to create an ambience that would not be too heavy so that the size factor didn’t play on the guests’ mind.

We have tried to keep a minimalist approach towards the interiors in order to give the guests a lighter and contemporary feel while dining with us.

What are the top three traits or skills you look for in your Head - Food & Beverage Manager?

She/he should have passion for the job, she/he should display consistency in terms of product quality control and should be a good team player.

Is it getting difficult to hire good trained manpower these days?

Yes, the pool of good trained manpower is becoming smaller in the Indian food service industry.

Can you share tips or insights which are employed

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by you to strengthen your team?

We try and keep the team motivated and strong by keeping a casual but disciplined approach towards our respective roles in the unit.

What are your future plans to expand your brand?

By the end of one year of operating La Vie, we plan to open three more outlets adhering to the same vision. Our target markets are Gurgaon & South Delhi.

Anything else you would like to say about your brand?

Brand La Vie was created with a vision to provide consumers with a great product at reasonable prices, in a relaxed non-intrusive setting. We will adhere to our core values and try and establish the brand as per our vision, while doing what each hospitality industry outlet is meant to do, that is to serve.

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O P E R AT I O N S

In-room Dining:

A Tough Call

By Sharmila Chand

P

erhaps the best service that any hotel can provide is to serve its guests quality food & beverage in their hotel room in a prompt manner, along with excellent service.

Though nowadays hotels focus significantly on their in-room dining service but the fact is this particular service comes with tremendous challenges and demands. Let us look at what our experts have to say in this regard.

Director of Food and Beverage, Courtyard

by Marriott Pune City Centre.

“Guests prefer to order comfort food through room service. Considering the ○

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Great Expectations “Nowadays, guests expect the same kind of experience from in-room dining (IRD) that they would get at a restaurant. The server is expected to be as well-versed as a Restaurant Manager. He should be able to explain the dishes to the guests, and should get into every possible detail about presentation and service. For example, the server should ask the guests where the tray needs to be placed, whether some accompaniments are needed, etc. The inroom dining menu in hotels has also become extensive in terms of offering choices to the guest,” observed Jai Chugh,

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“Training is very crucial. Staff and order takers require training on a continual basis to deliver quality.”

— Vivin Kuriakose, Director F&B, Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield

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working hours, flight timings and lifestyle changes, we have seen a rising trend of guests preferring to eat within the comfort of their rooms than going to dining venues at the property,” affirmed Jameson Solomon, F&B Director at Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway.

“Even when a guest chooses to dine in the comfort of his/her hotel room and not step out to a restaurant, he/she still expects to be offered the luxury of choice in terms of menu. Also, high standards in terms of food quality and presentation are expected from in-room dining. Most importantly, the process of order placing over the phone should be smooth and hassle free for the guest. Also when a guest is dining in his/her room, delivery of food within the time specified becomes very crucial,” explained Chugh.

“It is a small world. Many of our guests these days are well travelled so they like to explore world cuisine when they are away from their homes. Therefore, we should be able to deliver their choice through inroom menu too,” pointed out Vivin Kuriakose Director F&B, Bengaluru

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O P E R AT I O N S

“Keep things simple in this area.

Any complications would always backfire in the form of guests’ complaints. Ensure we listen to our guests and change or evolve as and when required. Make sure all processes are followed strictly.”

— Mohammad Khan, Director of Food & Beverage, Courtyard by Marriott Pune Chakan ○

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Marriott Hotel Whitefield.

“Customers expect larger room service menus featuring dishes from the specialty restaurants of hotels also. They also want food to be served within 20-25 minutes,” stated Kuriakose while discussing the guest expectations from in-room dining.

Content and Presentation “In-room dining in hotels has seen a burgeoning trend of smaller plates along

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with items that are easier to prepare and serve,” aired Prahlad Kumar - Asst. IRD Manager, The Imperial, New Delhi.

However, he also added that “Although occasionally there are requests for unusual orders involving ingenuity and personalisation to meet and exceed the guest’s needs.”

“There has been always some interest shown by the guests to order from the specialty restaurants in the comfort of their hotel rooms. However, these days it is more common to see serious comfort food items and/or healthy items being ordered for inroom dining, which reflects guests’ changing preferences,” concurred Kumar.

“Earlier there was hardly anything innovative in the menu of room service across Indian hotels. Also the Director of Food and Beverage and the Executive Chef in Indian hotels used to give minimal thought in the preparation of in-room dining menu and in laying the entire service sequence. However, with the changing times, restaurant menus are getting incorporated in the in-room dining menu, which is increasing awareness of specialty restaurants among the guests, which in turn is leading to greater satisfaction for in-room dining guests,” elaborated Mohammad Khan, Director of Food & Beverage, Courtyard by Marriott Pune Chakan.

“Nowadays Chefs in the Indian hospitality industry are seen trying to do some wonders in the room-service food & beverage items by including home style menu items, and healthy food which is less oily and less fatty. This breaks the monotony for many frequent travellers

who get bored of eating the regular burgers and salads. By doing so these Chefs are trying to make in-room dining an integral feature of the overall food-andbeverage picture of the hotel,” pointed out Khan.

“Worldwide, guests are becoming much more conscious with extensive travel and global exposure. The guest expectations range from anything from a cob salad to a burger to a green chicken curry to Korean short ribs, which can come at 3 am in the morning. During the recent years, there has been a big change in the product offerings and packaging along with service delivery levels as far as in-room dining in hotels is concerned,” articulated Kumar.

“Over the years, in-room dining across the Indian hospitality industry has witnessed many changes. From business view point, now in-room dining is seen as another F&B outlet equivalent to any exclusive restaurant, where Chefs get a chance to show his/her culinary panache & serving skills,” expressed Sandeep Panwar, Executive Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel and Spa New Delhi. ○

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“In-room dining is all about efficient order taking and conveying it right to the kitchen team. The guests are looking towards ease of ordering and prefer it if the order taken can guide the guest for better options of food, while judging his/her likes and dislikes. Half the battle is won if the order taken is clear and conveyed properly to the back-up team.”

— Vimal Varma, Manager of Food and Beverage, Hyatt Pune

June-July ’14

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“Today room service menu in hotels includes dishes ranging from very simple to outrageously innovative and spruced with some elements of surprise.

Furthermore, there is a trend of add-ons in terms of amenities, value addition and happy hours,” averred Panwar.

Challenges Towards Guest Satisfaction However, there are challenges in in-room dining towards meeting guests’ expectations. “When it comes to in-room dining, there are limitations in terms of presentation. Certain items have their inherent limitations when eaten in the room as compared to at the restaurant.

Take a pizza for instance. The experience of eating a freshly baked hot crisp pizza in the restaurant cannot be matched when served in the room. Also, the time factor ○

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“Close & well-knit coordination between services & kitchen is essential for effective room service operations.”

— Sandeep Panwar, Executive Chef, The Metropolitan Hotel and Spa New Delhi

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becomes all the more crucial when it comes to room delivery. A guest is likely to get impatient during the time span of food delivery in the hotel room, whereas at the restaurant, he/she has the ambience and music to make the wait for the food much more bearable,” reasoned Chugh.

The time factor is indeed crucial.

“Speciality restaurant dishes look and taste the best when the dishes are served immediately after plating. They are not always the best after travelling between five-ten minutes to the guest room,” said Kuriakose.

“To meet the requests that are off the menu or out of season is quite challenging.

We are unable to meet them due to logistical challenges or restrictions. To serve exotic and quality products like pomelo, yellowtail hamachi or jamon is not only difficult on the procurement side but is also expensive,” affirmed Kumar.

“One of the biggest challenges towards meeting guest expectations in in-room dining is often the lack of proper temperature maintenance equipment for food delivery. Though the hotels are equipped with suitable hot boxes in trolleys but there is always a temperature loss while delivering food to the hotel room. Consequently, the food reaches room warm rather than hot,” analysed Vimal Varma, Manager of Food and Beverage, Hyatt Pune.

“The presentation of the food is also a bit concern during its transportation from kitchen to hotel rooms. Moreover, the room service has a specific order time pattern which leads to multiple orders at peak hours, which in turn can cause delays in-room service as well,” added Varma.

The Personal Touch Personalised menu in in-room dining tend to be a winning option. “Our long stay guests, guests who stay for 10-12 days or more, tend to get bored of having to

Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

choose from the same menu through the duration of their stay. Hence at our hotel (Courtyard by Marriott Pune City Centre), the Chefs proactively meet the guests and interact with them to understand their dietary preferences, any allergies, etc., so as to develop a personalised menu for them,” informed Chugh.

“We also have a special ‘Home Away from Home’ menu wherein guests are asked to fill in a small form asking them which city they come from and what they miss most about their home in terms of food. The Chef then prepares that particular dish for them the next day. This has worked brilliantly well with the guests,” Chugh observed. According to him, at the hotel where Chugh works, there is provision of a special kids menu in the guest rooms.

“Earlier we used to have a small IRD menu. Based on guest feedback, our IRD ○

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“Room service deserves more recognition and praise. It should not be just treated as a delivery mechanism.”

— Prahlad Kumar- Asst. IRD Manager, The Imperial, New Delhi

June-July ’14

O P E R AT I O N S

“In-room dining operations must have a good team of Chefs and Managers to ensure synergy and smooth flow.”

— Jai Chugh, Director of Food and Beverage, Courtyard by Marriott Pune City Centre ○

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menu is now the same as the menu of our all day dining restaurant. Guests are spoilt with choices in terms of cuisines and meal options. We have health menus and even a special beverage menu. The increase in F&B selections for our guests has given them choice, variety and flexibility,” asserted Chugh.

“At Courtyard by Marriott Pune Chakan, we serve Ghar ka Khana to many guests who are bored of eating regular hotel food. This is quite popular with our

guests,” said Khan.

Tailoring in-room dining options while keeping the specific choices of guests in mind can reap rich dividends in terms of appreciation and revenues. “Our most important quality is guest recognition. We try our best to understand the needs, the desires of our guests. Supposedly, last time a guest had stayed with us and showed disliking towards a particular spice. Next time when he/she will come, we will make sure we keep his/her disliking in mind and instruct our team not to put that particular spice in his/her food at all,” proffered Panwar.

“At The Imperial, New Delhi we offer 15-20 minutes Ultra Express menu items which are very popular. Additionally, we offer Indian Thali Dinners for our foreign guests to encourage them to enjoy tasting Indian meal in their rooms, along with butler services. Also we have cocktail packages offering a selection of handcrafted cocktails, made in the room by an in-room mixologist,” informed Kumar.

“At Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway, a glass of chilled water is served with every order that is sent to the room. This is a practice that not many hotels follow. The IRD Manager meets all the long staying guests to know their preferences, which helps us in going the extra step and personalising our service to these guests,” expressed Solomon.

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“It is important to treat IRD as a regular restaurant venue and have all equipment like ice machine, fully equipped bar, etc. in place to offer the best possible services.”

— Jameson Solomon, F&B Director, Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway

June-July ’14

The industry experts also offered some tips to improve the quality of in-room dining.

“In-room dining has to be people-driven.

The In-room Dining Manager has to meet and interact with guests as would a Restaurant Manager in a restaurant,” offered Chugh. “Also, it is very essential to have the right manager and right Chefs in place to back in-room dining operations and ensure synergy and smooth flow,” he added.

“Adequate staff is a pre-requisite of IRD. Select the associates who are well experienced and who have worked in several key outlets in-house,” advised Kumar while observing, “This would facilitate that they treat guest rooms as private restaurants and ensure that personalised services to the in-room guests are being offered. Most often staff is graduated from IRD to specialty restaurants as a step up in career growth, but the reverse makes more sense in terms of guest services.”

I

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PRODUCT PREVIEW

SEAFOOD DELICACIES

MOMOS BY UNITAS

The foundation of MM Fisheries

Unitas Foods Pvt. Ltd. is a privately held company, which was incorporated in 2004. UFPL ‘s journey began with the setting up of a restaurant in Gurgaon, in June 2004. This was followed by the setting up of a food processing plant in 2008, for the manufacturing of ‘momos/dim sums.’

Unitas Foods Pvt. Ltd. is perhaps the first player in the organised retail business in India to produce momos/dim sums. The company claims that its YUM!YUM!DIMSUM is till now India’s only manufacturing facility for dim sums. The company’s momos have an impressive demand, with their clientele spanning across major five-star hotels, malls,

dates back to 1964. The company deals in high quality fresh, frozen and ready-to-eat sea food. The company imports best quality of Norwegian Salmon Fish and its portions in addition to various other varieties of fish and seafood.

MM Fisheries added another feather to its cap by also dealing in import of Basa Fillet (Pangasius Fillet) from one of the renowned companies of Vietnam.

To facilitate its customers to enjoy the delicacy of fish and other seafood, the company has come up with wholesale outlet and six retail outlets where it delivers extraordinary quality of products.

MM Fisheries Pvt. Ltd. mmfisheries@hotmail.com ○

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TO ALITY SOL UTIONS TOTTAL HOSPIT HOSPITALITY SOLUTIONS

multiplexes, schools, and hospitals, throughout India.

The company’s momo manufacturing plant is a ISO:22000 (HACCP) certified factory, producing thousands of dim sums every day. The dim sums are handmade with the utmost care and then frozen at -18 degrees C to preserve freshness and nutrition.

Apart from dim sums, the company supplies a range of frozen snacks such as wontons, spring rolls, satay, chicken lollipops, etc. to the F&B industry in India. The company has market presence in Delhi/NCR, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bhopal, Gujarat and Bangalore to name a few cities. The company has plans to cater into the modern retail trade i.e., food retail stores, department stores, hypermarkets, wholesale markets, cash and carry stores. The company’s products are available in 250 gm and 1 Kg packs under the brand name “YUMYUMDIMSUM” across major retail chains like Walmart, Metro Cash & Carry, Food Hall (Future Group), Modern Bazaar, Le Marche, Needs Supermart, Godrej Nature’s Basket and GPI (24 x 7) stores.

Unitas Foods Pvt. Ltd. unitasfoods@gmail.com

With an experience of over 40 years in the field of designing, manufacturing and after sales services, Ravinder Hospitality Equipment has pioneered the hospitality solutions industry since inception in 1968. A company endorsed by a group of senior professionals, Ravinder Equipments has successfully delivered hospitality solution in India with its complete range of commercial hospitality products. International standard equipment and technoeconomic aspects of after sales service tuned in optimum satisfaction for the consumers with every purchase decision.

A company that initially started off as a service maintenance contracts and suppliers to dealers in different brands now manufactures equipments that have been successful in gaining its loyal customer base. Having over four decades of solution providing expertise and specialist team of highly qualified, experienced mechanical engineers and technocrats, the company now directly supplies and services to the best of the Hospitality chains and institutions in India.

A vision to be distinguished as the paramount hospitality Solutions Company in the country and markets served, the company offers and manufactures the finest brands available in the country making outstanding customer service as the differentiator.

Ravinder Hospitality Equipment info@ravinderequipment.com

The information published in this section is as per the details furnished by the respective manufacturer/distributor. In any case, it does not represent the views of Hammer Publishers Pvt. Ltd.

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June-July ’14

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BUSINESS OPPORTUNIT Y

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Hammer Food & Beverage Business Review

June-July ’14

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AKASA ALLIED METAL WORKS ANI GLASS CORPORATION ANNAPOORNA 2014 ANOUSHKA GOURMET PVT. LTD. APPLE BAKERY MACHINERY PVT. LTD. BMS ENTERPRISES CHANDRA ENGINEERS EQUIPHOTEL PARIS 2014 EUROPEAN QUALITY FOODS FCML DISTRIBUTORS PVT. LTD. FnS INTERNATIONAL PVT. LTD. FOOD INGREDIENTS INDIA 2014 GENNEXT LOGISTICS PVT. LTD. HINDUSTAN REFRIGERATION STORES HOTREMAI HUMMINGBIRD FOOD & BEVERAGES PVT. LTD. IFB INDUSTRIES LTD. IH EXPO & FOOD PRO INDIA 2014 INTERNATIONAL FOODTEC INDIA 2014 KANHAIYALAL TANDOOR PVT. LTD. KING METAL WORKS LOOM CRAFTS FURNITURE (INDIA) PVT. LTD. MAHTO KITCHEN CARE MANISHA INTERNATIONAL METAL AVENUES

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COMPANY

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MITORA MACHINEX MM FISHERIES PVT. LTD. MOD KITCHEN EQUIPMENTS PVT. LTD. MRS. BECTOR’S FOOD SPECIALITIES LTD. MUNNILAL TANDOORS PVT. LTD. NEENA ENTERPRISES NUTECH JETTING EQUIPMENTS PVT. LTD. PACIFIC MERCHANTS PRIMO FOODS PVT. LTD. RAJKIRAN KITCHEN EQUIPMENT RANS TECHNOCRATS (INDIA) PVT. LTD. REMINGTON STEEL ARTS ROSHAN LAL TANDOOR WALA SHAMSONS FOODS SHRI BANKEY BEHARI FOODS SOLUTIONZ CONSULTING PVT. LTD. STEC STAINLESS STEEL PVT. LTD. THE NEW INDIA ELECTRIC & TRADING CO. THE SCS AGRIBUSINESS CONSULTANTS PVT. LTD. UNITAS FOODS PVT. LTD. VENUS INDUSTRIES WANG HOSPITALITY EQUIPMENT PVT. LTD. WINDSOR CHOCOLATIER WINTERHALTER INDIA PVT. LTD. PRODUCT PREVIEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

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INTERVIEW

A Passion for Hospitality

By Sharmila Chand

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What is the USP of your place?

USP of my place is good location and great food and beverage, especially the North Indian & Goan cuisine, with warm service.

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She/he should also maintain friendly atmosphere to get optimum output from the team.

Above all, I would tell them to have passion for their job. Otherwise you will get exhausted very fast as it involves public dealing and long working hours.

This goes for all the staff of the F&B team of a restaurant/hotel. At the hospitality industry, unless you enjoy your work, you cannot succeed.

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I think a good F&B Manager or an Executive Chef should lead by example, should have good communication skills and should be able to delegate work and at the same time ensure accountability from her/ his team members.

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Can you suggest some tips or insights for F&B Managers/ Executive Chefs to strengthen their team?

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I like everything about my job.

However, sometimes long working hours take a toll on your family life. But when we enter this industry, we should be mentally prepared to face it.

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If you could change one thing about your job, what would that be?

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growth in revenue, the challenge of maintaining the highest possible level of standard in service, the challenge of dealing with guests & vendors, and facilitating smooth running of F&B operations.

Then sometimes I have to deal with guests who are not ready to listen to my side of the story. In such situations, I have to be very calm and patient and focus on trying to resolve the situation. Sometimes it builds up the frustration and the pressure.

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The food service industry poses many challenges and success can come when you accept those challenges. Some of the challenges of my job are finding costeffective resources, including manpower resource, the challenge of maintaining

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Is your job challenging? Can you point out five challenges?

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I dislike it when sometimes guests are not happy despite giving them our best, especially in events.

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And what do you dislike the most about your job?

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I enjoy interacting with different global clients, understanding their expectations, and delivering to their satisfaction.

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What do you enjoy the most about being a Food & Beverage Manager?

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She/he must be endowed with team management and leadership skills and should be a team player. She/he should have a liking for organisational work. She/he must deliver with profit and adaptability. The latter is needed to cope with the diversity of guests and their diverse needs.

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What are some of the skills every Food & Beverage Manager must have to excel?

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With the mission of delivering quality services to guests, Sanjoy Saha has completed around two decades in the hospitality industry.

Presently he dons two hats, one of the Executive Chef and the other of heading the F&B team as the Food & Beverage Manager at LazyLagoon Sarovar Portico Suites in Goa. Prior to this position, he has worked as the Executive Chef at Highland Beach Resort Goa and as Sous Chef at Old Anchor Resort Goa. In his managerial roles, he has always strived to ensure that the food and beverage team delivers good quality product, keeping in mind the healthy financial returns for the company. He also strives to ensure stringent compliance with relevant hygiene and safety legislation and requirements.

Saha’s strength lies in the ability to take on challenges. “Challenges energise my mind. I do not rely heavily on repetitive skills. I like to create new benchmarks for myself,” he asserted while pointing out, “I am good at adapting to changes and becoming comfortable in new settings. This has immensely benefitted me in my career pursuits.” The excerpts of the interview follow:

What is your take on the hospitality business in general?

Hospitality industry is one of the most interesting and challenging industries to work in and it offers a wide range of career opportunities.

Hospitality is the business of helping people to feel welcome, relaxed and rejuvenated and creating a conducive environment for their enjoyment. It is all about customer service; providing the best possible experience for your guests.

I simply love this industry and will continue to do so.

June-July ’14

DELENG/2005/14944

Jan-Feb ’13

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