INDIA NEWS
June 1-15, 2022 - Vol 2, Issue 22
INTERVIEW
Reviving India’s “lost” recipes, meet IABCA finalist By Gaurang Gahoi A Hospitality professional with over 16 years of experience working across world leading brands including Four Seasons, Accor, Starwood, Hayman Island Resort, Gaurang Gahoi is pushing beyond the barriers of conventional Food & Beverage. He has proven abilities to innovate, and continuously explore the unknown using his extensive knowledge of food & beverage and events management.
hospitality sector?
In his latest venture as founder of Foreign Return, Gahoi has broken away from the stereotype to bring Indian cuisine into the spotlight in 2021. In his latest interview with INDIA NEWS, the “Young Professional of the Year” finalist gives us an insight into his journey into the world of hospitality.
Being an entrepreneur, you are more involved in your own success, you have more flexibility around decision making but more importantly I feel building business for yourself is more satisfying overall. It gives me more independence to make fast decisions, make them often and more accurately each time, so it drives my motivation.
Q1: You have stated in a Facebook post that you started your entrepreneurial journey in the middle of the pandemic. What inspired and motivated you to become an entrepreneur after 16 years of professional service in the hospitality sector, especially in such trying times? Ans: Being an ex-hotelier, I consider this as a great gift, reason being, you become jack of all trades, we become masters of doing many varieties of tasks and learn to do them very well. For instance, apart from the basics of running a hotel, there is IT, Social Media, Interior Design, Legal, Project Management, Human resources, Sales & Marketing and the list goes on. A hotelier needs to understand all of this to ensure he/she is running a successful business. I look upon many great hoteliers like Mr. Marriott who started his root beer stand with his wife, which evolved into restaurant chains and now the world’s best hotel company; another example being Accor founders Paul and George who opened their chain’s first hotel “Novotel” in 1967 outside city center making it the most successful brand for business travelers. I feel there is always room for new players if they are persistent and passionate to achieve their dream. I dared to become an entrepreneur and started my journey with my debut restaurant “Foreign Return” with an aim to showcase India’s rich history, culture, and diversity. I do aspire to reach my full potential one day. I can only say why this happened during the pandemic is because I had more time in my hands which made me self-reflect and make changes in my course for life ahead. Q2: How is the experience of being an entrepreneur different from that of a professional in the
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Ans: There is definitely a huge difference. When you become an entrepreneur, you have to constantly create, build and define a framework in which you want to operate in order to make you successful. Whereas working as a professional, many of these things are already defined for you and you are required to follow protocols to ensure you operate in the way the company wants you to.
Q3: What does your nomination as one of the IABCA Global Finalists 2022 in the category of ‘Young Professional of the Year’ mean to you, personally and professionally? Ans: Personally it was great to be recognized and become a finalist amongst such an amazing talent pool out there. It was really great reassurance that hard work is being noted and allows me to further push myself to create even something better. Professionally, I feel being recognized at IABCA was a really rewarding experience especially when you are on your own so I thank IABCA as I couldn’t have asked for any better platform. Q4: Tell us briefly something about your entrepreneurial endeavour ‘Foreign Return’. What does the name signify? Ans: Foreign Return – named affectionately for expats who leave India and come back home was our way of creating nostalgia. We wanted to represent India as a whole, not just one region or two regions. At Foreign Return, every detail in the restaurant helps build a hyper colourful map of India. The Marigold Sour cocktail, for instance, is decorated with pretty petals inspired by the 4000 florists who work at Mullik Ghat, the largest flower market in Kolkata. The marigold gin cocktail is served in a brass goblet custom-made in Moradabad, known as India’s “Brass City”, and located by the Ramganga river, in Uttar Pradesh. Along one wall of Foreign Return, you’ll see the restaurant’s mascot – a pigeon called Aakesh (Hindi for “lord of the sky”) – travelling across India’s regions and now is at Surry Hills. Grandfather clocks hang on the matte, navy walls in the two-
storey space. Old telephones with actual dials hark back to India’s colonial era. At Foreign Return we want to revive India’s “lost” recipes, dishes that are menu rarities and pay homage to regional cuisine of India. Even though it is a regional specific menu we are also adding indigenous twists where we think they’re apt, such as Tasmanian mountain pepper to spice the tandoori chicken, or bush tomato for a spiced chutney that runs over a burrata and pumpkin and wattle seed naan appetiser. We also curated a cocktail menu which represents the north, south, east, and west. Take a trip to India’s north with the Khari Baoli Mojito (spiced rum, spiced syrup, soda, lime, and mint), inspired by Asia’s largest spice market; or head to the tropical south with a spiced Colada (rum, coconut, pineapple, lime and curry leaves). Everything we do at Foreign Return has a story to tell and it’s our way of connecting with locals and sharing an experience which is unforgettable
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Q5: How far has your entrepreneurial journey been so far in terms of personal satisfaction? Ans: To be very honest I feel very happy that I took my first step and created Foreign Return. Being on your own is not easy but it makes it worthwhile once you see your hard work is being recognized. Q6: What challenges have you faced till now in pushing to the forefront Indian cuisine among your clients other than Indians? Ans: I am very fortunate to have such an amazing clientele who appreciate what I am doing, and they are very much intrigued with our story, our food and what we are trying to do. Lots of them have traveled to India and have lived in India so they appreciate authenticity and honesty in our food & beverage. They love our creative approach at Foreign Return. Hence, I wouldn’t say that there has been a challenge, rather it has been great so far as I get to educate and share a new story every time they return to us.
can be helpful while forging strong bilateral ties with other countries? Ans: Yes absolutely. Indian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines across the globe. India’s recent economic growth is robust and remains the fastest growing major economy. Many countries want to upgrade their strategic and economic relationship with India. For example, Australia has significant opportunities to benefit from India’s growth and has taken steps to establish multi-dimensional strategic partnerships with India. One of the cornerstones of this partnership is the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Q8: Finally, let us know if you have plans to undertake some interesting projects in future, and what they are likely to be. Ans: I am always thinking about new and interesting projects and to collaborate with like-minded people. Currently, I am working on something very unique and will share once I am ready.
Q7: Do you think Indian cuisine
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