How 5 Star Chefs are Creating an Everlasting Experience for Diners

Today we all know that when guests come to a hotel or a restaurant they are not just looking at good food, service but it is the overall experience that counts. Status quo is boring as they say and if you don’t do things often that are new and experiences that bring about something different people are going to get bored about what you are doing. So, you have to be on your toe or else they will move to the new restaurant that is opening. So, it is always important to keep ourselves fresh and ahead of the time.

Creating new experiences

Diners expect more than just great food when they dine out – they crave great experiences. “It is always challenging for every one of us to be unique and different every day. At our hotel we do take challenge among ourselves to deliver experience to the guest that they take back home and can relate to it as memory. For ex: honest food is something that my team and I work upon,” shared Anurudh Khanna, Executive Chef, Shangri-La adding that they do lot of thing that has a different kind of sensory experiences. “We did a dinner last week where we used different kind of colours in the seven course menu,” he added further.

Experience is not something that can be luxury but it is sometimes the basic as well. “I think in this very competitive market we have to look at doing something new and innovative and that’s what customer is looking at. Also, if you are doing something that is available in the market make sure you do it different so that it attracts customer,” added Robin Batra, Executive Chef, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts.

Innovating Product

Product innovation is an important part of the restaurant menu creation. You need to be innovative enough to capture what your customer wants. “We are like a support system to chefs. Chefs innovate and we give them support by the means of convenience products. So, thereby when you are using a convenience product you can meet the consistency day out and day night and not face any seasonal variations and maintain better consistency in the menu,” pointed Sumant Vikas, Corporate Chef, Cremica Food Industries Ltd that has its roots in creating condiments and sauces for top brands.

And, as we say and we experience, we Indians are very inquisitive. We are very hungry for knowledge. So, as a customer when we go to a restaurant we want to know what am I eating that is different from everyone else. “We need to educate and make our guests understand what they are eating. The menu creation is also important in presenting small things,” said Ashish Ugal, Executive Chef, Taj Bangalore, adding that the only focus that they normally do is quality but when any guest come to his restaurant his chef goes and meet the guests personally, take feedback, what they like and what they didn’t like and customize things. “20 per cent of my guests’ messages chefs that I am coming on these days and will you be there. So, that’s the kind of experience that you need to create,” added Ugal.

And, as we know, as Indians we don’t eat to live. But we live to eat. So, to make it everlasting in our memory we need to create an experience that creates a memory.