How This Supplier is Offering A Comprehensive Range of Commercial Refrigeration

Ankur Damani is the Country Head at Le Creuset, the world's leading French cookware brand and a renowned market leader among the premium cookware brands globally. 

In an interview with Restaurant India, Ankur Damani, Country Head at Le Creuset India, speaks on why hotel and restaurant chains prefer Le Creuset products in the country.

Cultivating Innovation With Le Creuset India

It has been an absolute pleasure to partner with an iconic brand like Le Creuset, which is best in the world in its category and has a legacy dated back to 1925. The 6-year journey has been more than enriching from securing the brand in retail via FDI in the single-brand retail route, to opening eight stores in the best malls across India and replicating the wonderful Le Creuset experience in India. Le Creuset has a very open culture, and cultivates innovation and creativity, especially with immense freedom to implement ideas locally, and relevant for each market. Such independence is very motivating and impactful to each local market.

The Top Selling Products    

Le Creuset's enamelled cast iron collection has been the company's signature best-selling collection worldwide. Cast Iron, which is still forged and crafted by hand, is our world-leading cookware range offering versatility, unprecedented appearance and the ability to retain and spread heat evenly. 

Must have signature pieces for every kitchen would include Le Creuset Cast Iron Round and Shallow Casseroles & the iconic Wok, 3 Ply Stainless Steel Chef Pans, Toughened Non-Stick Frying Pans & Shallow Casseroles all complemented with the superbly crafted and vibrant stoneware mugs.

Contribution To The HoReCa Segment

Le Creuset is the preferred brand across many hotel chains and our products are used in India in leading star and luxury hotels.

Products Designed for Restaurants

The first Le Creuset Casserole was cast in 1925 using the raw materials of coke, iron and sand at our foundry in Fresnoy-le-Grand, France. The same foundry is still handcrafting our enamelled cast iron cookware in much the same way today. Craftsmen still apply the same skills and high standards to produce each individual cookware piece guaranteeing unrivalled quality each time you purchase Le Creuset. Throughout the process, the products are continuously quality checked passing through at least 20 pairs of hands to ensure the highest product quality is maintained for every cast iron piece manufactured at the foundry, ensuring every Le Creuset product is fully tested for a lifetime of cooking.

Therefore, Le Creuset ensures the same quality, functionality and durability of their products whether it's a household or a hotel/restaurant.

Le Creuset India's Innovations

Le Creuset India offers the latest 'Freestyle Collection'. The Freestyle colour palette includes the classics; Volcanic Orange, Marseille Blue and Rosemary. The chosen shades are available across Cast Iron, Stoneware and Kitchen Accessories. The collection also showcases the diversity and unrivalled cooking performance of the 3-ply Stainless Steel and Toughened Non-Stick ranges. The store also offers the newly-launched professional Kitchen Knives.

Impact of Le Creuset India

Le Creuset entered India in 2007, primarily operating in the HoReCa and wholesale segments. The iconic French cookware brand opened its first company-owned retail store in February 2014, after being amongst the first four brands to secure the single brand FDI license for retailing in India.

The response has been phenomenal in the HoReCa segment, with most premium hotel chains using Le Creuset products. The response to the retail stores has been great, and it is extremely encouraging to see many consumers aware of the brand and using our products for years now, having bought from other countries in the past.

Le Creuset is expanding rapidly in India with its focus on retail stores and is one of the fastest growing markets for Le Creuset globally. We have already opened 8 stores in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune and are happy to share that the brand has been well received. Le Creuset plans to open more stores across metropolitan cities like Hyderabad and Kolkata in the near future.

Challenges Faced While Marketing the Product/s

Being a brand of French origin, it has often been perceived that the cast iron pots are ideal only for European cuisine. Secondly, cast iron as a category is not widely used in India & stainless steel is the staple cookware in Indian households. The brand has worked really hard to change the perception via cooking demonstrations with Celebrity Chefs, recipe handouts to showcase the versatility of the cookware, cookery shows on television, educating the customer on a continuous basis in our stores, on social media and through Chef interactions. 

Expansion Plans of Le Creuset India

Retail has been a key focus area & we have expanded into 8 company owned & company-operated stores in premium malls across India. 

Hospitality is a strategic channel for us where we have expanded our footprint into premium hotels across the country and are a preferred brand across many hotel chains.

SpeedX has been disruptive with its custom-made bars, product design, quality and unmatchable after-sales service. Anirudh Singhal founded SpeedX, the bar design brand, in 2014 with an intent to create inspiration and innovation in bars. While the global landscape of the food and beverage (F&B) industry was undergoing a massive change, the minds behind SpeedX understood and weighed the gap in the market. Foreseeing the exponential growth of the industry, the bar design brand, since then, has been experimental in bringing great innovation and quality to the beverage sector.

In an exclusive interview with Restaurant India, Founder of SpeedX, Anirudh Singhal talks about the design approach of the bars that ensure faster service and prompts an increase in the sales.

How would you define the first bar designed by SpeedX?

The first bar that Speedx designed and built was Khar Social, Mumbai, in 2015; it was a collaborative effort between us and the team at Social. The bar counter was an island (of sorts) with three sides, serving guests — the layout was planned in a way it allowed the bartenders to serve on all three sides while working on the central island counter.

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This central island was a mother cocktail station propelling drinks to all sides of the bar counter. So, when the bar was in full swing it appeared as if the bartenders were collectively preparing drinks on a central piece of equipment, and then turning around and serving the tipples. It all looked theatrical. And this happened three-four years ago! Only a few bars look like the way Khar Social does. It was quite a cutting edge.

What innovations did you bring with Speedx?

Earlier, our focus was to create bars that could aid in showcasing bartenders’ craft. But now, our prime concern is to make a bartender’s life easy. Hence, we introduced the concept of drip trays in bars as opposed to the rubber mats. Drip trays are a common practice in western countries; not much popular in India. These trays, on guest counters, allow bartenders to prepare their drink with the glasses placed on them. This way a bartender showcases his skills and creates visual excitement to other patrons in the bar.

Second, we noticed, the bartenders would stand far away from the guests at the bars which minimised the interaction. We designed equipment which wasn’t deep, thereby, getting the bartender up close and personal with the guests.

Also Read: Bar Equipment Design Trends For 2019: Slushies, Tipples On Tap

In certain cocktail station designs, we even have curved speed rails to bring the bartenders closer to the guests.

Third, to ensure a quick turnaround whilst preparing a cocktail, we introduced the concept of rinsers in bars. The concept is popular in many fast-moving bars abroad. These rinsers work on the principle of hydraulics. As soon as you finish mixing a drink in a glass, you can turn it upside down over a rinser. A gush of water comes out to rinse and makes the glass ready for the next drink. The same can be done for cocktail shakers and other mixing tumblers. This propels bartenders to get into the next drink faster without wasting much time on rinsing activities.

These are some of the innovations which keep us ahead of the curve when it comes to the Indian bartending equipment market. 

Your approach to designing bars? 

We ensure the principles of ergonomics are adhered to, and everything a bartender needs is at an arm’s distance. Also, the Speedx equipment is anthropomorphic, in other words, very intuitive to use and one generally doesn’t need training or a manual to use them. 

How the bar designs have evolved in the past four years? 

Overall, bar designs have taken a leap of faith in the last four years with architects, interior designers, promoters and restaurateurs doing a fantastic job of creating venues, especially in design, which are sometimes better from the ones we see at international bar space.

Earlier, the restaurant entrepreneurs would end up hiring kitchen designers to plan their bars. That was suicidal! Imagine a person who has never worked in a bar and gets to decide where the sink or ice-bin would be placed. This practice set a base for complete disaster. Just because the bar is wrongly set up, the guests complain of slow service.

This is changing now. With more F&B concepts being beverage-centric, a lot of focus is put on overall plans, especially on how the bar should be, how much space should one allocate and the location. Now, there are restaurateurs who brief us the concept of their restaurant, this helps us in the design. 

Challenges in designing a bar? 

The biggest challenge we face when we set off to design a bar is the paucity of allocated space. At times, the bar space gets the step-motherly treatment from the restaurant owners. In such a scenario, we try to optimize the space available by creating designs that augment cocktail/beverage dispensing in the minimum space.

Another challenge is to integrate beers on tap and the rest of the equipment inside a bar. A lot of bar owners want different variants of craft/draught beer (which is a great thing), but the equipment and accessories that come along with these bars end up making the layout quite haphazard. Thus, it becomes an obstacle in planning a proper bar layout. But we have come up with custom-made solutions where restaurants can set-up their own draught beers; alternatively, we liaise with all beer brands to ensure streamlined installations.

Also Read: Will Gin Be The Next Big Trend in 2019?

Another common problem is the height of the bar counter. A lot of venues have to raise the floor inside the bars to accommodate plumbing requirements. This makes the guest counter look quite high. We try to customize the height of our equipment in order to leave enough working space for the bartenders. 

Your dream project?

We take every new Speedx bar project as it’s the most important. Designing and building my own bar would surely qualify as a dream project. But that will have to wait for now!

Things to Know About SpeedX

Restaurant Bars Designed by SpeedX

Some of the renowned restaurant bars designed by SpeedX are  - House A at Hyatt Regency (New Delhi), Olive restaurant (Bandra in Mumbai), Social (Delhi and Mumbai), Café Delhi Heights (Delhi and Mumbai), Fatty Bao (multiple locations), Punjab Grill (multiple locations),  Cin Cin (BKC, Mumbai), Mamagoto and Sly Granny’s (multiple locations), Bo Tai, Qutub (New Delhi) and many more established players.

Products Offered

SpeedX offers the best-in-class chillers, refrigerators, simple bottle coolers, mug chillers and even drawer refrigerators. 

Complaint Resolution Policy 

SpeedX has a 24-hour resolve policy.

Future Plans

The bar design brand is now taking projects to create bespoke bars for luxury homes, villas and entertainment centres.

In an interview with Restaurant India, at the Indian Restaurant Congress 2018, Amit Malakar, President & Business Head, Sical Supply Chain Solutions shares the secret of running a successful business by providing the right solutions to the brands.

Tell us about your brand.

Founded in 1955 and with revenues in excess of Rs. 800 Cr, Sical Supply Chain Solutions is India’s leading integrated logistics solutions provider with over five decades of experience in providing end to end logistics solutions. In 2011 Sical was acquired by Coffee Day group, with interests ranging from coffee retail business, stake holdings in leading IT and embedded technology companies, to technology parks and SEZs and hospitality. We are focused in providing supply chain services to our consumers in the retail segment and also to the restaurants, cafes. We are helping brands to serve from bean to cup.

Restaurants and cafes face innumerable challenges related to supply chain. What solutions do you provide to help them grow?

When we talk about supply chain in cafes, we only think of food but then most importantly, supply chain encompasses everything you see in a restaurant, right from the setup to the furnitures, and most importantly to the food getting delivered at the right time and right place to give a complete seamless experience. As far as procurement is concerned, it should be at a right price, at the right time and stored at the right place.

How do you bridge the gap within the sector?

We have been developing the solutions for Café Coffee Day, and have established ourselves in this space, with 1200 cities in the country which is by far the largest footprint by any service provider. We are bridging the gap in terms of geography, so not just few cities; we are catering pan India. We understand the business, so we know what the food industry needs. When you make a delivery to a café, be it peak hours or off hours, we absolutely make sure that we are non intrusive to their business.

How do you manage the inventory in the business?

Major part of the inventory is food which is perishable, as they have a shelf life. On one hand, some amount of it can be increased by putting it in the freezer while some amount has to be consumed the same day. We keep track of inventory of different shelf lives in our system. With technology we are keeping track of when, where and how much to physically deliver and store.

How brands can maintain their value by cutting the costs with the Supply Chain?

For brands, it is the value which they have created and the quality which they have promised to their customers. Some of these brands are not looking at pure cost cutting. They are looking at premium quality being delivered in the right manner. Typically, in the industry, there is a lot of wastage and to make sure that the food is fresh and wasted as little as possible helps in cutting the cost but not quality.