Market Analysis: Restaurant

TeamLease Services is a staffing conglomerate listed on the NSE as TEAMLEASE, is transforming employment practices and improving business operations in India.

Their recent report on the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector reveals crucial insights set to reshape the industry.

Notably, the report highlights a significant gender gap in the FMCG workforce, with males representing over 90% of outsourced employees.

Drawing from their Associates Database and additional research, the report provides strategic advice on hiring and attrition trends.

It emphasizes the optimization of the people supply chain through hiring, attrition, and productivity (HAP) strategies.

Recommendations include fresher recruitment, utilizing psychometric assessments for better matching, and investing in co-pay models for Learning and Development (L&D) to accelerate career advancement for trainees.

Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, and Hyderabad emerge as the top five Indian cities displaying a robust inclination towards hiring within the FMCG sector.

The report underscores substantial growth in new recruitments across various fields including sales, marketing, IT, office services, human resources, and blue-collar positions.

"The report unveils critical insights into the evolving landscape of India's FMCG sector, offering stakeholders invaluable strategic guidance in navigating opportunities and challenges. From harnessing technology and innovation to addressing workforce dynamics, organizations must embrace agility and foresight to thrive in this dynamic market environment.”  said Kartik Narayan, CEO of Staffing, TeamLease Services Limited.

As per the report, metropolitan areas exhibit the highest attrition rates at 27%, trailed closely by Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities at 26%.

Conversely, Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities demonstrate lower attrition rates compared to metros, reflecting the comparatively lower demand in rural markets.

The report highlights that the average age of active associates surpasses 36 years, while for attrited ones; it's nearly 34 years, indicating a tendency for younger employees to leave their positions.

Additionally, the report reveals that active associates typically hold their positions for 1.7 years, whereas attrited associates hold theirs for 1.1 years.

The report classifies attrition into two distinct categories: 'regrettable' and 'non-regrettable'. Regrettable attrition, constituting 21% of departures, involves employees who earned incentives exceeding the company's average, owing to exceptional performance.

Conversely, non-regrettable attrition, accounting for 39% of the attrition rate, occurs when employees do not earn any incentives.

Teamlease Services further notes that the average Cost to Company (CTC) for both current and attrited associates is highest in southern India.

Notably, while the salary gap between active and attrited associates is marginal, there is a significant disparity in earned incentives.

This suggests that incentives play a more substantial role in predicting attrition than salaries, as salary levels appear relatively unaffected.

Government initiatives such as FDI allowances and the PLI scheme are driving industry growth and export potential.

The expansion of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer models is facilitating market penetration, particularly in rural regions. Adapting to evolving consumer preferences through ongoing innovation and product diversification is imperative, given India's burgeoning middle-class and youthful demographic, ensuring sustained market expansion.

In this context, harnessing technology for operational efficiency, data-driven decision-making, and optimizing supply chains is essential.

The report underscores the importance of collaborating with traditional Kirana stores through enhanced digital connectivity for mutual growth and market expansion.

While Kirana stores remain the backbone of the country's retail sales and are expected to retain their relevance, Modern Trade and E-commerce, particularly Quick-commerce, are poised for rapid advancement.

There's a noticeable shift in consumer behavior, with these platforms no longer limited to impulse purchases but increasingly utilized for regular bulk purchases as well.

The report emphasizes the critical role of effective data management within the FMCG sector. Companies possess extensive consumer data, which, when analyzed effectively, can provide valuable insights to drive innovation and improve customer engagement.

Additionally, maintaining a positive brand reputation is vital for global success, requiring careful navigation of diverse regulatory standards across various markets. Identifying challenges, the report highlights the industry's struggle with heightened competition in online retail, leading to price conflicts and increased research and development expenses for major players.

Furthermore, the sector faces the task of catering to a broad demographic range, including Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z, each with distinct preferences and priorities.

How is Dineout different from other eCommerce players in the restaurant industry?

We are in the space of managing the diners’ expectations in terms of discovery, dining out and savings. Below are some of the ways in which we differentiate ourselves from the others in the food tech space.

• Online Table Reservations at top restaurants in the city • Great offers for the customers absolutely free of cost • Authentic reviews by real customers • Comprehensive tiered customer loyalty programme. • We plan and organise parties for our customer saving them time and money • Fully functional customer service division with late night support • A complete tech-based solution for the restaurants for table management and manage their database

You have also entered into the mobile app market; do you think eCommerce will give way to mobile commerce? How do you see the consumer’s behaviour changing in the near future?

Today, people prefer different devices depending on the online activity or task, the desktop v/s mobile skews by content category can vary widely. Categories such as Photos, Maps and even in the case of dining out too, are more often than not used on the go, lending themselves to heavy mobile usage, while the Portals and Business/Finance categories comparatively index much higher on desktop devices. Although Portals function as an accessible hub of information on desktop, the mobile environment is markedly different where apps have taken on the role as the gateway to the web.

We just released a very cool version of our app with fantastic integrations with Paytm and Uber, empowering the user with lucrative cash back options. And that’s how we are going to be moving forward.

In my journey with Dineout so far, I have seen the user behaviour change significantly. In 2012, when we went live, 75-80 per cent of our users were engaging with us on the phone/web and today we have around 60 per cent-70 per cent using our mobile platforms. So this does seem like the trend especially in our industry.

Talk to us about the opportunities and challenges being in your kind of business.

Our target demographic is urban population in Tier I cities where dining out has become fairly common. The growth in ‘eating out’ has been contributed to several factors including; the increasing middle class population, rise in the working class population, emergence of more nuclear families coupled with the rise in disposable incomes and double income households. The age group of 20-45 views dining out more as a lifestyle activity with the average urban consumer in that age group dining out 8-10 times a month. This has led to an explosion in the organised sector of the restaurant industry in India, which is growing at CAGR of 40 per cent and is worth 15,000 crore, clearly proving that there is a huge market waiting to be tapped.

First Challenge- To change the current behaviour amongst diners - from waiting outside a restaurant, to reserving a table in advance by educating them about the benefits of a restaurant reservation platform like ours.  The consumer is still not aware of the benefits of reserving in advance and specially by using on-the-go technology. Once this becomes a part of the habit, almost the entire eco-system will fall in place. We are seeing a trend shift for the good.

Second Challenge- Getting the restaurants to adopt technology is one major challenge. But that’s also changing fast. The new age restaurateurs are in sync with the latest technology and are at least open to the idea as compared to what was the mindset in 2012.

Although large, this business is extremely sensitive, how do you make sure that the quality of the products is intact and is in no way compromised?

When the core motive of the entire organisation is to help the diner come what may, this becomes fairly easy. We have opened all the channels of approach (App, web, mobile site, in house call centre and whatsapp) for the diner. And each and every aspect of the user engagement is closely monitored. We are very quick to make changes or adopt functionalities as per the user behaviour and user expectations. Our entire core leadership team is involved in the day-to-day, each of us owns a core piece of the user experience and stay on top of our game. This helps us keep the service quality at par with the user expectations and often exceeding them.

Tell us more about your business model.

Dineout is a table reservation service that enables customers to book a table using our mobile apps, the website and through phone concierge; at their favourite restaurants in town and provides them exclusive discounts, FREE of cost! We also enable Dineout users to plan and organise parties, corporate lunches and dinners, anniversaries etc for FREE without the hassle of having to call many outlets themselves. Our platform does all of that for them, thus saving their time and effort. We specialise in organising gatherings even in the tightest of budgets. Our restaurant partners love us for building this service just as much. By using technology, they are able to be very efficient with group bookings on Dineout, and are happy to pass on savings to Dineout users; it is a great win-win.

Our partners pay us a fixed fee per seated diner. So it’s based on customers not the table. This is a winning combination for a restaurant as nowadays any outreach to acquire customers is prohibitively expensive. Our channel is the most cost effective for a restaurateur today, as it is entirely performance based.

What would be the average orders that the website gets in a day?

In the past 12-months, we’ve doubled our monthly seated diners, and over the past quarter we are seeing strong growth of nearly 25 per cent month-on-month. Dineout has also expanded its footprint from 2 to 7 cities in that time frame. We have over 2,000 partner restaurants in 7 cities, where booking is possible.

Is there a particular segment that has a huge demand?

Today, the diner is spoilt for choices, when it comes to non QSR Dining. The user seeks a unique dining experience every time he goes out. And his search horizon is huge. And this is exactly where we help him out, doubling it with savings. To quote any specifics in terms of user demands, would be incorrect, since every user is repeatedly coming to us with a unique expectation each time. For example, the queries can vary from locality, to cuisine, to the dining occasion etc.

Talk to us about your business rivals and if you think the category is getting somewhat crowded today.

This is an emerging market, and it is expected for many to enter this space. However, as the ones who started this industry in India, Dineout is the only one with a national presence, strength of fabulous relationships with restaurants and a unique reward and loyalty programme which ensure that people stick to us because of our service quality. The category will take a while to get occupied, let alone crowded. 

What do you have to say about the changing trends in online food marketplaces?

The reason consumers prefer online over traditional (phone or in-person) means of searching restaurants is because it offers instant gratification. It’s all about being able to have the convenience to go online, look at a menu, look at the pics etc on the go. Plus, the social shareability and ability to chronicle experiences is what makes the online food industry so dynamic. So, I just see this trend rising at a tremendous velocity proportional to the rate of increase of smart phone users. 

Are there any new initiatives being launched at dineout.in?

As I mentioned, we have just revamped our app on android and iOS. Apart from that, the following; but not limited to them-

• Paytm integration- This is part of the Dineout loyalty programme, where users get the advantage of having a table reserved, discounts and additional savings in the form of cashback and loyalty points credited as points to their DINEOUT WALLET, which is transferrable to their Paytm wallets.

• Carlsberg Zone- Along with Carlsberg Club Glasses and Timescity, we have categorised some of our partner restaurants as per their service delight rating into a special Carlsberg Best Rated Restaurant Zone. This enables people to choose the right place to eat from a curated list. There is also an introductory promotion where Carlsberg Club Glasses serves our diners who book through the Carlsberg zone, complimentary refreshments. Going back to our basic goal of serving the user with exactly what he desires and expects.

• Host App- We have built a very innovative app for our partner restaurants, where he can manage his entire guest list and the establishments promotional communications through a single platform. The restaurant also has the means of tapping customer data and manage the entire CRM.

• Uber Integration- Now the user can book an Uber through our app whenever he books a table through us. This is our endeavour towards spreading more consciousness of ‘dine, drink but don’t drive’ philosophy. With the uber integration, the diner doesn’t have to go from one app to another – it is all done seamlessly, and the payment through paytm (which is a partner) completes the loop.  

• Luxury Dining- We have got most of the 5-star properties onboard with us with fantastic discounts for the diner only looking out for a luxury dining experience. The properties which are part of this programme are our giving us exclusive discounts.

Think it’s your day off...wake up late, have late morning breakfast and lie on a couch reading a good book or watch a nice movie. And if you are too lazy to cook at home or get out of the house for food, or don’t want to order food that comes to be expensive for you, no worries. Here is another remedy, a novel concept that is gaining weightage in Bengaluru. For most of the young crowd, “Cookass” has seemed like a remedy. Cooks at your service, who will carry groceries to your doorstep and cook it at your place and the cuisine you like..........that’s Cookass for you.

What is cookass all about?

Sameep: Cookass is a personalised kitchen management solution. We provide cooks for one meal or on a monthly subscription. All a person has to do is go to our website, cookass.in. He will have to tell us what he wants, when he wants it and how many people the food has to be cooked for. Once he has done that, a trained cook will reach his place along with the groceries in and around 45 minutes time and Rs 30 will be charged minus the grocery expenses. We have cooks who are specialised in Chinese, American, Continental, Mexican, and Indian cuisines.

How does your cook work?

The groceries will be only as much as the person has asked for and will be charged on the actual retail price. The person can also tell us his preference e.g. whether they want it cooked in less oil or they prefer garlic or not. The cook will reach the place and will take care of the kitchen entirely. We also design meals for a person depending on their health standards. If a person is diabetic or has cholesterol problems we look into all of this. Our cooks will offer a complete healthy food package.

Why the name Cookass?

We wanted a name that would stand out, that people would remember. We also wanted it to be rather kick-ass. Hence, we went with the name Cookass.

How did you venture into Cookass?

“Having lived with our parents during childhood and in hostels during college, we never really had to think about food. But when we started working and were living by ourselves that is when we had to worry about what to eat for the next meal. Food from hotels and restaurants was unreliable and expensive. Hence, me and my other friends sat, brainstormed and came up with this novel concept.”

Are your cooks certified?

Yes .We have about 15 cooks who are well versed in Indian and International cuisines.

How has been the response so far?

The response has been tremendous and, quite frankly, very heartening.

Who is your main target customer?

Every house with a functioning kitchen is a potential Cookass customer.

What about transportation charges?

Rs 30 per person per meal and the actual grocery cost are all that we charge.

Why didn’t you try to open it in Delhi?

We wanted to open it in Namma Bengaluru itself. Here there is young crowd and hence I feel there is lot of scope for food start ups. Besides, here people come from different cultural backgrounds and hence, there is variety in the food that people prefer to have. All international cuisines we are catering to is also in demand.

Why do you think the investors are actively investing in start ups?

Well, we have no investors. Our start-up is currently self-funded. However, here people are quite experimental. They work hard and like to experiment on new things. Here, there is growth for start-ups and scope for innovation. People like to experiment with the variety of food here. This gets reflected in the high interest shown by VCs investing proactively in this food-tech space.

What are your future plans?

We want to present eating at home as a better alternative option to people. The kind of personalisation and transparency on quality and hygiene that you get with Cookass cannot be warranted with restaurants. We are happy to come up with a first-of-its-kind concept in Bengaluru. We want to extend our services to entire Karnataka and then to the rest of India.  

Drums Food is an upcoming new age FMCG start-up which was launched a few years back with its first brand, Hokey Pokey ice creams. The company is now all set to launch its 2nd brand in the dairy space, Epigamia, and has focused on healthy Greek Yogurt. Drums Food has recently been featured as part of the New FMCG Brigade, which is disrupting the traditional FMCG space in India.

You claim to serve ice cream manufactured from pure buffalo milk. Have you tied up with local players or are you getting it from retailers in the segment?

We source all the milk from dairies based out of Kolhapur. We work with the local distributors in Mumbai and they get it sourced from Kolhapur.

You have tied up with retailers like Godrej Nature’s Basket and Foodhall. How are the responses so far?

The parlours are more revenue generating if they have the right location, right people to work with and they are more exciting than these FMCG players with whom we have tied up.  But presently, we see the scale coming from FMCG players.

You have so far 20 parlours spanning multiple cities in mall as well as high streets. According to you, which location gets the better revenue?

For us, both malls and high street locations are equal contributors. We look at locations where we see opportunity coming in.

You have about 7 parlours under franchisee format. How difficult or easy it is to manage a franchisor-franchisee relation for you?

Franchisee is a very tough thing to do and that’s why I am very selective in choosing the right partner. We do not believe in giving franchisees to everyone because we believe in selling the same quality product and hence, we want to sign a franchisee with the one with whom we have a good relation or with someone we know in the business.

What is your expansion plan? Are you planning to enter global markets as well?

Our next plan is to enter the yogurt space by launching our brand ‘Epigamia’ and to focus on pan-India expansion rather than expanding our business to global diasporas. We want to grow in the cities where we are present; Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Chandigarh. And we are looking at strengthening our distribution channel by partnering with over 1,500 distributors in the country. 

Are you selling your product through e-commerce partnerships?

We are very active on e-commerce platforms as well, we have tied up with LocalBanya, BigBasket and we are one of the best ice cream brands. And I think the e-commerce customers are very niche customers and we are really finding e-commerce as a great channel for us.

Tell us about your brand Epigamia?

It is a Greek yougurt which is essentially high in protein and low in fat. Being an ice cream brand, we think we should launch something in healthy dairy segment and we planned to launch ‘Epigamia’. It is available in six flavours namely, Mango, Strawberry and plain yogurt. Keeping in mind the Indian customers, we have  also launched yogurt in Imli chatni and mitthi chaat flavours.

You recently raised Rs 5 crore funding. From where can we see the investment happening?

We would like to use the fund raising in future production capacity, launching our brand Epigamia and for more inventory systems in the brand.  

How did the idea of KhauGaliDeals come up?

KhauGaliDeals.com was started by me and co-founder (Supriya) in July 2012. As we both are big foodies, we decided to make a domain for all foodies like us, wherein users can get all the list of restaurants in their city along with great discount and deals on them. Thus, it becomes a win-win situation for users. They can enjoy food plus save a lot on restaurant bills. We divided Delhi Restaurants in different classes on the basis cost of two and area and started visiting them personally and get the deals from them.

KhauGaliDeals.com is a place that lists all kinds of food joints that are willing to offer customers a discount on their restaurant bills.

Currently, we are present in 9 cities of India – Delhi-NCR, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

In January 2015, we launched our Mobile App for the Android market and within three months, we got 4000+ download. Our App has a new technology and feature as Vid-View (Video Review). Now customers can upload a Live Digital Audio-Video Review on restaurants they visit and upload it on our portal.

How did you convince the restaurants and the food outlets to come under the discounted roof?

Restaurant industry is a very competitive sector. Each and every restaurant wants more business, customers, advertise for their brand. Hence, giving discounts is the most safest and attractive tool for putting your bids upon. We ask our partners to provide an eye-catchy discount deal so that users get attracted towards the same and thus, it results in getting more sales for them. Today, in Delhi-NCR only, there are more than 14K+ Restaurants and thus we can map with this that competitiveness is there in the market and as an old saying goes, ‘Indians are most attracted towards Discounts’.

How easy/difficult it is to get the discounts done from them?

It was easy to get discounts from the restaurants, but it was difficult to get exclusive discounts from restaurants. As a Food-Portal, we always look at getting exclusive discount deals from restaurants. To get an extra-edge with our competitors and provide something new to our customers, it was always a bit difficult and challenging to get the best and exclusive deal from the restaurants. Currently, we have managed to get more than 500 plus exclusive deals from restaurants across cities we operate.

Is there any revenue sharing model with the restaurants? How does it work?

No, there is no such revenue sharing model with the restaurants. Our partners need to pay a very nominal registration fees to get on board with us. The charges depend upon what services they are taking from us and time period. We have designed different packages with different services for the restaurants looking close to their requirements and market demands.

As the company was initially self funded, are you looking for any external accruals?

Yes, we are now looking for external fundings to expand our reach in more cities of India along with promoting our Website & Mobile App to get the maximum reach.

How can a customer avail the food coupons at your site?

We have a secure payment gateway integrated on our website and mobile app. Customers needs to pay us a nominal amount for a food coupon which is credited from their debit/credit card, net banking or cash card. Once the payment is done, we instantly send a coupon code on their registered mobile number and email id. Customers can then show that coupon code at the restaurant and can avail the discount. It is simple, easy and fast.

Tell us about your Loot Lo and Hot deals section? How is the response so far in last two years?

Loot Lo is one of our very attractive features wherein we organise contests, run lucky draw contests so that customers can get great deals at the lowest and best price. Winners get the prize and rest participants get 100 per cent cash back, which they can use to purchase deals from the portal.

Hot Deals is a section wherein we list all the restaurants that provide discount deals of 50 per cent and above. It becomes very beneficial for customers to find the best deals available in their city and grab them.

What is the ROI for the website?

As we are a start-up company, we are very particular in selecting channels to advertise. We make sure that whatever medium or channel we select to advertise for our brand or partners, the return of investment should be the maximum.

Which according to you is the most traffic generating period and why?

Weekends are the most traffic-generating period for us.

Tell us about your expansion plan?

We are looking at getting external fundings into our venture so that we can boost up expansion plans in current year. We are planning to include more cities under our domain, getting more traction on our mobile app and improving our service in terms of technology and customer engagement.

You have launched restaurants in different categories. Which according to you is the most revenue generated model and why?

The food and beverage industry is one of the most exciting and challenging sectors to be as the overheads and government taxation changes every year with the introduction of the budget. The QSR segment, which was earlier known as fast casual sector (Loco Chino) is our most profitable venture keeping in mind the quick turnover, economies of scales and less overheads with the increasing outlets.

On an average, every outlet caters to about 250-300 orders a day wherein an average spend per consumer is about Rs250- Rs300. It generates good volumes and thus provides efficiency in the area of economies of scale.

We see that these days, investors are keen on investing in casual dining chain. What is your opinion?

According to an independent survey, the fast casual dining segment is seeing an annual growth rate of 21 per cent, which constitutes to about 42 per cent of India’s 75,000 crore restaurant industry. The change in demographics with working families who have at an average two meals out on a given week has seen this industry grow at a booming rate and it will only grow on from here. Mobile application and Internet-based ordering has only helped boost the takeaway model for such outlets and thus increased the volumes of business.

What are the essentials that you incorporate in all your restaurants to serve authentic foods?

We solely believe in serving the highest quality of food at the most affordable prices. Around 75 per cent of our ingredients are imported to maintain the authentic taste buds. We also believe in serving fresh and healthy food and thus we are very stringent on our standards. We use no artificial colour or preservatives and also use no MSG (monosodium glutamate) in any of our ingredients. We have also set up an in-house Research and Development Team to cater to the new trend of progressive molecular gastronomy.

How important is design in a restaurant business? How have you incorporated design in all your restaurants contrasting it with the cuisine?

The most critical and vital key in this sector is to be clear on your concept and to get it right. Once we build the concept of the restaurant, the look, feel and the vibe caters to delivering it out in a clean and fresh environment. For example, with Loco Chino, a revolutionary concept serving the best of a Live Tex-Mex station and Chinese, we have used bamboo dim sum boxes as lights and our walls are painted with lively Mexican Characters and Sombreros are worn by our service team. With Asado, being Mumbai’s only Latin American Restaurant, we have transformed the place into a street in Argentina, with three dimensional paintings giving you the vibe of Casa Batlio (street in Buenos Aires) in Argentina. The sky has been painted with clouds, we have birds perched on the lights and the street lamp posts all around to give you the cosy ambience of a lively street and coupled with great Latin music specially curated for the place.

What is the supply chain process at your restaurants?

We believe in centralising our supply chain systems and believe in leveraging with the local vendors. Around 75 per cent of the ingredients are imported from quality suppliers and vendors throughout the world through a systematic supply chain network created in-house. Even with local vendors, we have yearly contracts with approved FSSAI vendors to maintain the quality and to counter any price fluctuations that may appear for a period of 12 months. Centralised ordering, quality checks and then the dispatch to outlets help us maintain the consistent quality in all our products. Centralised ‎inventory along with par stock for all perishable and non-perishable items has helped us in the successful execution of our supply chain systems.
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What is the marketing strategy you incorporate to promote your brand?

Customer is king and customer satisfaction is very imperative. Building a customer database is the biggest asset for us. After successfully building a great customer database coupled with some critical information such as birthdays and anniversaries, we make every customer special and a part of our ever- growing family. Coupled with technology and the growing social media, customer rewards is the most important key to have, not only to repeat and satisfy consumers, but also to keep building the database. We are soon launching a ground breaking loyalty programme where the consumer can garner points on any of the outlets and this can be redeemed at any of our outlets.

What was the initial investment that you made? Are you looking for external accruals?

Balu Hospitality is a self-funded hospitality company. We believe in adding value to every restaurant we launch. We believe in complete growth of not only our external stakeholders, but also the most vital internal stakeholders which will drive us forward and a complete all round development of our large Balu family together.

What is your expansion plan?

We are very aggressive with expansion in all our formats. We look at having about 50 Loco Chino outlets by the end of 2017 which will not only include the metros but also Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities.

We have placed considerable attention to keep the model scalable and at the same time increasing our customer database day in and day out with expansion across geographic territories. Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru will be lined up this year followed by the other metros and cities in the next year.

We shall expand all our formats in the Indian Metros. This is just a stepping stone and yet we have miles to go before we can compete with some of the leading F&B Companies in the country.

Sumit Maheshwari, a chartered accountant by profession together with Alok Mishra and Romil Kumar were talking about venturing into food segment for two years.

After much research they came across a fact that what is missing in society is quality food or the non-availability of restaurant to serve them the home cooked food especially for singles, working professionals and couples in cities like Mumbai.

Finally, the concept of ChatpataChef surfaced which they thought can address the needs of targeted segment.

Alok and Romil were earlier associated with food ventures whereas Sumit is a PE investor. Meanwhile, the entire menu was decided by Upasana Shukla, nutritionist and wife of Sumit.

In the new role, Romil takes care of kitchen operations, Alok looks after customer relationship, Upasana helps as in-house nutritionist and also help developing new menus and Sumit looks after overall strategy and corporate relationships.

ChatpataChef is focused deliver food which is tasty and of high quality. ‘The three things which we are focusing are taste, taste and taste,’ says Sumit.

The customers can go to the portal, chataptachef.com, select the five meal options that they offer, select the days (five or six) depending on their convenience. And select an option of COD as of now, but they are in the process of integrating payment gateways as well.

The starting price ranges from Rs 90 a meal to Rs 180 and the brand has tied up with Dabbawalas to deliver food in Mumbai. It covers about 60 sq km in the city. From Colaba Navy Nagar down south to malad goregaon in the north and Bandra, Khar, Andheri (E) are the some areas where people can taste the food delivered by chatpataChef.

The start-up is in no mood to expand soon as their vision internally is to become a regular food provider. It is also planning to come up with QSR model outlets across city.

We see a good number of restaurants been launched in the last two years. What has brought this trend in the Indian F&B industry?

The trend is linked to multiple factors, like growing Indian economy, global outlook adoption of Indians due to increased foreign travel in the last few years with high disposable income among youth. People are now more pro-active in social gatherings over a business discussion or just catching up with friends.

Zu Tisch’s team are alumni of IIT and IIMs. What got you started in this venture?

Our technical background and managerial experience only adds to the advantage of us being more in sync with a corporate outlook in running and growing the business. Our motivation, on the other hand, has been to feed the insatiable need that is not very uncommon among IITians – which is to learn new things, take risks and innovate.

Besides, the love for good food and the known fact that there is so much innovation possible in this industry, we felt compelled to start a place of our own, that could someday be a benchmark for service, food and the overall experience for customers.

What kind of tie-up and revenue sharing arrangement you have among your partners?

That information is privy only to potential investors and our financial partners through non-disclosure agreement and we cannot comment on that publicly.

What made you to start a German restro-bar? How do you ensure quality?

German people are one of the most chilled out people in the world and this could be observed across German bistros and bars. We wanted to build a place exactly like that. Beer is the first thing that you would associate with Germany and the love for beer is overwhelming in India as well. Hence, a mix of these factors attracted us to choose this theme. Also, there are not many places in Delhi that offer you a German cuisine or experience.

To ensure quality of raw material, we have partnered with some of the best meat providers who also import some of the items for us. Our kitchen works on high quality ensuring mechanisms and special attention to hygiene. Our staff is highly trained and share the ideology that quality cannot be compromised in any scenario.

You are currently present in Delhi; do you plan to enter other cities as well?

We are planning to enter other metro cities and also establish ourselves in some other parts of Delhi, as a part of our expansion plans. Some Tier II cities would also expect to have a Zu Tisch of their own in the coming years.

What is the investment so far? Who funded the same?

We cannot disclose investment information. The current venture is completely funded by Managing Partners out of their personal fund. Our venture does not has any third party financial liability.

How is your marketing strategy different from others in the race?

It is essentially not different from others at a macro level. At present, the idea is to let your food and service speak for itself. On a micro level, we do put in efforts to stand out.

We do AB testing on every strategy that we implement and measure business impact of every strategy. There are a lot of multiple small tactical plans in pipeline that we still need to try and measure.

We are striving to stand out and not blindly following others. One such example would be the introduction of phone driven services to order and pay and we have already tied up with entrepreneurs in that area.

You are also in talk with VCs, when can we see those investments happen?

Yes, we are into preliminary discussion with VCs currently. As said earlier, all those investments would be towards growing our footprint and reaching out to more taste buds everywhere.

What made you enter into food business inspite of having a successful real estate business?

Food is my passion. Experimenting with new flavours and trying different cuisines was something that always managed to capture my interest. Even though I had a strong inclination towards real estate, I knew that food industry is the ultimate destination for me.

What business plan you made before starting a restaurant? How is it different from the real estate facility?

Real estate involves a lot of numbers and legalities. All a restaurant requires is the right combination of flavours and an acute knowledge of customer preferences. They both are very different fields, with the only common thing being that both need a lot of planning and right research.

What did you keep in mind while designing the menu for your restaurant?

Definitely the customer! I try to make the flavours as exciting and internationalised as possible because I feel that now the Indian market wants to try something new, something different.

What is your expansion plan?

I definitely want to take Torrp-It-Up pan India and open as many outlets as possible.

Tier-II and tier-III cities are much experimental in tasting a new food. What is your plan in expanding your reach to these cities?

After Mumbai, I want to step into tier –II cities like Pune, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Hyderabad etc. Thereafter, I will look at other metro cities like Delhi, Bangalore, etc.

How do you ensure the healthiness of food at your restaurant?

We make sure that we use the freshest of ingredients and keep the calorie count minimum whilst designing the recipes.

According to you, which location is best to place your brand- high street or malls?

High-street

We see a lot of foreign chains entering in Indian market. Do you think that you will be able to meet the same parameters as the global chains do?

Global chains are in a completely different league. With their power and outreach, people invest a certain amount of ‘trust’ in that particular brand. We started our brand not a very long time ago, but we are positive that with our unique menu and quality of food, we will definitely reach that level very soon.

Manish Goyal, an IIT graduate who left his job in October 2013 to start his venture helping people to choose what to eat. Goyal who usually find it difficult to find what to eat while travelling, invented a concept of online platform providing photos of the menu to help people decide on what to eat. Talking to Restaurant India, Manish shares his journey at FoodiesCompass.

What made you start FoodiesCompass? How does it help customers decide what to eat?

Travelling has always been my hobby. On many of my trips I realised that finding out "what to eat" at local restaurants was difficult. While travelling to South East Asia, I observed that due to language barriers, most of the restaurant menus had food pictures. That is when I first thought of an online platform for the purpose of food photographs and user reviews. Few months later, I left my job in October 2013 and started working on this idea.

Once a user enters a restaurant, FoodiesCompass provides food pictures and user generated reviews of all items on the menu that provides a visual, mobile and credible solution to users to help them make an informed decision.

Do you think that eating with eye is more important than what you taste?

To improve decision making of the customers before placing any order, the pictures form an integral part of the decision. The customers will always form an opinion of a restaurant based on what they choose to eat, not the rest of the menu. FoodiesCompass simply helps them choose wisely. It is like a sneak peek into what can be expected if you order an item.

How many restaurants are presently listed with you? How do you categorise the listing process?

There are around 200 Delhi-NCR based (mostly Gurgaon) restaurants listed on our portal. Our only aim is to help customers find ‘Online Food Picture Menu’ of each and every restaurant.

What is the operation process at FoodiesCompass?

FoodiesCompass follows three processes:

Step 1: Cold Calling/Initial Pitch: Sales Team reaches out to the restaurant mangers/owners and explains them about the concept.

Step 2: Conduct food Photo-shoot of Menu: Most restaurants prefer to prepare dishes especially for professionally conducted photo shoots. Others take their own pictures and directly provide it to us.

Step 3: Restaurant Listing and Login Access: Restaurants are listed on FoodiesCompass and they are provided login details to access their photographs and also ability to edit/add new photographs.

For every restaurant to be highlighted on our portal, it takes an average of 10 working days with a team of photographer, sales manager and marketing manager involved in every deal with restaurant.

FoodiesCompass is self funded presently. Are you planning to take funding in recent times?

Yes, we are planning to raise funds in the near future to expand to seven major cities in India in the next one year. 

What kind of challenges you faced in starting FoodiesCompass? How has been the journey in one year?

One of the critical challenges we faced in the early days was to convince restaurants to perform photo shoot of food items to be covered on our portal. With no prior knowledge or experience in this sector, it was quite a difficult task. 

Another challenge was to get right people at the right time. For every startup, creating a good team in early days is very critical. We needed a team of photographers, sales and marketing people for each restaurant. Covering over 150 restaurants required resources to get it done and the entire team juggled roles to get the job done.

You are present in Gurgaon. What are your plans in expanding to other cities in India?

We are working to expand to Delhi in next couple of months. Expansion to seven major cities will be completed over the next one year.

They say ‘you are what you eat’ and the adage fits well for the Kolkata Callin’ founder-Sanjay Mukherjee. A desperate craving for home-food has inspired the entrepreneur to think of Kolkata Callin’-a fine dining restaurant in Mumbai serving authentic Bengali food among other meals.

Congratulations on completing your first month of running Kolkata Callin'! How has been the experience of serving Bengali food in Mumbai? How much satisfying is the response?

Thank you so much. The first month was an extremely satisfying experience with hard work and full involvement to establish our first restaurant concept. It is really good to see Bengalis love their food and culture so much. We had a gala time serving our customers during our Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year). We had a weeklong event that started from 15^th April till 20^th April’14, and we have received very satisfying response.

Apart from craving for authentic Kolkata food in Mumbai, what other elements worked for you to think of Kolkata Callin'?

The craving is a valid point. We all Bengalis who are away from Kolkata have a strong craving for authentic Bengali food and we have a strong nostalgia for our motherland. These were the reasons enough for me to think of Kolkata -Callin’. The idea behind creating Kolkata Callin’ in Mumbai was to bring a slice of life from Kolkata to Mumbai and to ensure that we Bengalis have a little home away from home. And I’m proud to say that my guests second that. We wanted to bring different aspects of ‘Kolkata Culture’ to Mumbai.

In Kolkata, there is a local custom where groups of people get-together to eat, meet and greet at a rendezvous point called “adda”. Thus, the idea behind launching Kolkata Callin’ is to bring such attributes of Kolkata culture to Mumbai by creating a warm and cozy place where people would love to come and sit, chat and enjoy food. We also ensure that there is something new for customers every season, be it New Year or any other special event in the year!

What was the initial investment required to set up your venture in Mumbai and how did you manage that funding?

Generally for any start-up specialty restaurant, taking into account all the fixed and variable investments, it would approximately be between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore. Our Mumbai outlet of Kolkata Callin' has just opened a month back (in March 2014), so we are still in the process of evaluating our exact figures, since investments are an ongoing process for a restaurant even after its opening.

Who come to your place? Who are the target group for Kolkata Callin' in Mumbai?

Primarily, Bengalis. But if you ask me honestly, the target group is anyone who has a liking and a taste for Bengali cuisine or someone who wants to try the cuisine. People in Mumbai are generally very open to trying out new cuisines. We welcome one and all. And hence, even in our menu you will find a spread of North Indian and Tandoor items, just in case of someone come to Kolkata Callin’ and doesn’t want to try a new cultural food. We don’t want the customer to be disheartened and go empty stomach at any cost.

What inspired you to decide the menu designing? 

The designing is based upon the time zones of both the cities. Mumbai is a fast paced city, rugged and hardworking, whereas Kolkata is a slow paced city, tranquil, a lot of food choice, and they have a culture where they take a lot of time out to meet each other, chat and enjoy food.

We managed to create a menu that has a mix of both the cities. Our menu consists of a plethora of items, starting from a detailed Bengali menu to North Indian and Tandoor as well. Our guests go through the menu in detail; all the items are written with their detailed captions on taste, look and ingredients. We take the extra effort to explain our guests exactly what they have ordered or would be interested in ordering.

About the Menu:

Kolkata Callin’ serves an array of mouth watering dishes that truly represent the east land. The spread includes gravies – chicken, mutton, prawns and fish, Kolkata style biryanis, variety of street food snacks like rolls, cutlets, chops and mughlais, desserts like the Paayesh (Bengali Kheer), and various unique Kolkata style vegetarian preparations. The la carte menu is an assortment of vegetarian and non-vegetarian starters, main course and desserts. Other than Bengali dishes, the restaurant also offers variety in Indian, Tandoor and selected Chinese preparations. The chef also delights the customers with a “Chef Special Menu”.

How do you keep the typical taste of Bengali food intact in your serving? Are the cooking staffs brought from Kolkata or they are trained to cook such typical dishes? 

Bengali food generally has a typical combination of being - sweet, tangy and spicy, intriguing the eater and making him relish the mouth watering food with joy. Right from the smallest ingredient to our produces, it all comes from Kolkata. Even our restaurant’s Chefs are from Kolkata. This helps in the achievement of the typical taste of Bengali food items and maintains the same authentic taste.

How do you source products like banana blossoms & fish? 

We have a list of about 5-6 vendors, who get us all the ingredients we need from Kolkata. And that is the only reason, why we are able to bring on table absolutely fresh and authentic products and preparations for our guests.

Do you have any plan to tie up with online food serving portal?

Web provides detailed information. Today, all businesses are dependant directly or indirectly on the Internet. Our clients are technologically savvy and so we are present in some of portals which are the best names in the industry including portals dealing in providing information of restaurants online.

 As of now what are your marketing strategies? 

It’s too early to disclose any of these strategies. But we are extremely pleased with the kind of response that we have got so far. And our guests are extremely pleased and happy having discovered Kolkata Callin. We believe brand successes happen because of customer satisfactions and repeat value. Our baby step number 1 is to ensure customer satisfactions and their wholesome experience. If we are able to satisfy one customer, the numbers will naturally multiply through word of mouth, good publicity and the goodwill gained from our customers.

What are your plans for next two years?

We would want to grow steadily. Hence, after establishing Andheri East as a hub, we would focus on expansion. City wise also, we would first cater to Mumbai and then look at expanding in other cities.

Talking to Restaurant India, Vivek Kapoor shares about his online table reservation venture Dineout, his marketing strategies and the challenges he has faced in building his business.

How does Dineout work? Tell us about the marketing strategies you have adopted.

Dineout is a table reservation website.  Being a start-up, we have struck the right balance between online and offline marketing. In online marketing, we have focused more on redirecting traffic by working on our SEO/SEM and also having a very interactive social media platform – approximately 30,000 diners following us on Facebook and Twitter.

In terms of our offline marketing, we do a lot of college activities by creating stalls. We do a lot of banner campaigns. We are in strategic alliances with many brands, like trip advisor, buzzintown and cashkaro.

What prompted you to select the industry?

There were two primary reasons for us to select this industry and product, First is huge market size and growth potential in coming years, and secondly, real need of customers who want to dine out and explore new places in an easy and convenient manner.

Who are your target audience?

Our target demographic is urban population in Tier 1 cities where dining out has become fairly common. In Phase 1, we intend to target Delhi and Mumbai, as there are more than 1,000 top notch dine in restaurants with one million people dining out in a month.

What challenges do you face in building up your business and how do you overcome them?

The biggest challenge that we faced while scaling up was from the unorganised restaurant industry. There was a lack of information flow in the restaurant hierarchy. On top of that, we were fighting a resistance, as we were trying to bring about a behavioural change of accepting technology. Technology solution that we are providing is going to revolutionise the booking structure in restaurants.

The second biggest challenge was hiring/building a team, which is in sync with your ideas and vision. Getting the right crowd, who is as mad as you in chasing that ultimate dream, is hard.

What is your expansion plan in near future? Who all do you think as your competitors in this segment?

We are planning for pan-India presence of Dineout. There is no service currently which I would say is a direct competition to us in the market. If people think we are competing with Zomato, it is not true. Zomato is more of a search engine but we are into table reservations and bookings. We have a totally different business model.

Do you think that mobile technology will create a new norm in the food industry?

Mobile technology will be new norm in the coming months. We at Dineout have seen a significant increase in our numbers since, we launched our App on IOS and Android. We are getting almost 30 per cent of our traffic through our mobile channels. People are looking to book tables and cash on the localised deals.  We have partnered with many restaurants on the platform called Electronic Reservation Book (ERB). This is going to be the game changer. We have already had a pilot of this ERB with almost 20 restaurants in Delhi. It has been received pretty well.

Despite of the fact that restaurants are adopting technology, online table reservation did not really pick pace, and Indian market still prefer calling for table reservations. What is your take on this?

I do agree that to bring about a shift to online booking is going to take time, but we are surely moving towards it. Today, Dineout has been successful, because we have incorporated online and offline channels. We have tried to make it simple for the diner as per his convenience. Today, my traffic through online channels is almost 40 percent, which is quite significant. In fact since the time we have aligned our online channels, we ourselves have seen a shift in user behaviour. Diners who used to call prefer to book through their mobiles.

What is the key of success for Dineout?

It’s a team effort!

Dineout has grown after you received funding last year. Share your number where you are now.

We get approximately 18-20 thousand diners per month and we have over 450 restaurants listed on our site.

What are your parting words for the budding entrepreneur in this field?

Faith in your product and patience are the pillars. But the engine is your team. The core team, is much important than the idea. Without a good team, a good idea will be of no use.

Restaurant industry in India has opened the biggest business opportunity so popular brands are gaining ground in the Indian food market. Cuisines like Italian, Chinese, American and Continental have already hit the restaurants here, but now, it’s the right time to explore something new and exciting. And hence, in the last one year, the industry has seen cuisines like Japanese and Lebanese entering the market.

Meanwhile, India and Japan have signed an agreement to double Japan’s investment in India over the next five years, as well as to boost bilateral trade and investment. According to the recent FICCI report, food is the major item in the consumption basket when measured on the distribution of routine expenditure. In rural areas around 55 per cent and in urban areas 45 per cent of the total expenditure of people is on the food segment. The logic behind the improved business environment is the increase in the value of investor’s investment, followed by substantial growth. 

And with these opportunities, India has already seen Japanese chains like Inakaya, Sushia, Tamura, and Benihana already performing well with a little tweak in their menu. And the expansion doesn’t stop here, more brands from the country are willing to explore the hungry Indian who are craving for more experimental and new cuisines. A Dubai- based chain like Sumo Sushi & Bento is one among the race.

“We are always after the young and upcoming Indian, the world travelled people, and technology has given this country a lifeline unlike before. And because they are knowledgeable, they are willing to try and experiment,” shared Alpha Maiava, Franchise Sales & International Growth, Franchise Department, Sumo Sushi & Bento.

Meanwhile, the country which has seen the Japanese cuisine hitting the market as either into a fine dine model or a QSR, is now looking after casual dining opportunity wherein people could share some moment while eating at a restaurant.

Commenting on the same, Diljeet S Bindra, General Manager, Benihana India shares, “These days edo–style of Japanese food is gaining ground in India, especially raw food, means the dishes are served with uncooked ingredients. However, there are a few countable exclusive Japanese restaurants, but these days, a lot of cafes and restaurants are introducing Japanese cuisines in their menus. With even Japanese burgers coming into the picture, the number of exclusive Japanese outlets is expected to rise in the coming days especially in the big cities like Mumbai and Delhi.”

Locations for unlocking the opportunity

Although in the last few years, only Mumbai and Delhi have tasted the global cuisines, but these restaurants chains are open to sharing opportunity in even tier-II cities as they believe that these cities have better opportunity and much more advertised customers as they are the ones who are in search of experimenting something new.  Cities like, Raipur, Vadodra, Ludhiana and North East market could bet on healthy growth of this cuisine.

“I want to give the locals a different experience. Delhi doesn’t have an affordable and quality outlet serving authentic Sakae and Sushi, whereas, burgers could be seen at every nook and corner. I believe that Japanese food is the healthiest of all the cuisine. Moreover, an increase in the number of people preferring healthy food encouraged me to introduce the chain in Indian market,” shares Chandrima Agarwal, CEO, TCI Apex Pal Hospitality, which owns Sakae Sushi restaurant.

Hence, we could say that it is a promising call for potential entrepreneurs who not only can start a Japanese food business, but also get a franchise of a Japanese restaurant for hard-to-believe returns.

Like previous year conferences, the Indian Restaurant Congress 2015 was a successful one too, which was well accepted and witnessed huge participation from the restaurant guild. Eminent Speakers, Policy Makers, food service professionals and consultants, as well as food ingredient and raw material suppliers  had come together on a single platform to discuss the change of the hour, the biggest ‘Disruption’  which the industry is experiencing today.

Chaired by Sunil Kapur, Chairman, K Hospitality Corp, the show was rewarding in creating awareness about the biggest trend in the industry with a focus on the four major points of Disruption (Bizruption+Foodruption+Youngruption+Techruption).

The inaugural session started with a welcome note by Ritu Marya, Editor-in-Chief, Franchise India Group. Other speakers who were part of the healthy debate on issues in restaurant industry included, Riyaaz Amlani, President- NRAI & MD &CEO, Impresario Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and Amit Burman, Chairman, Dabur India & Vice Chairman, Lite Bite Foods. Themed under the title ‘Economics of Indian Restaurant in 2015 & Beyond; the inaugural session set the tune for the two-day event.

Other major topics of discussion at the congress included factors which have brought the biggest-ever change in the Restaurant industry with boom of sectors like technology, innovation, consistency, food policies and law and proficiency amongst others.

Sharing insights on the same, Kapur commented, “Howsoever successful the concept may be you have to always keep the value. Nobody today believes in eating the same food, we have to introduce that change, whether in terms of menu change, recipe change, design creation, or improvement in technology. But the thing is, innovation is a must. There is no rule today where we can survive in the fast growing market without innovation.”

Likewise, speakers were also of the view that the government policy has become like a big gorilla in terms of hindrance it is creating in the growth of Restaurant Industry. The industry which is 25 times bigger than the Bollywood industry in India has to go through 30 or more licenses to open one single restaurant which in itself is one of the biggest blockage for the smooth run of any restaurant business in the country.

Restaurant thought leaders also discussed about the consumer eating out behaviour in general.

Healthy food consumption is growing in the world with global brands like McDonald’s rolling out new items in their menu featuring lettuce leaves instead of buns around a meat patty and burger toppings.

"'Lettuce' introduces you to our famous #lettuceburgers," a McDonald's store in Queensland, Australia wrote on Instagram. "All the same ingredients packed into a couple of large lettuce leaves!"

According to the burger chain, the new item looks like mostly lettuce.

The lettuce burger is part of Create Your Taste, a customizable menu that most McDonald's locations in Australia offer.

Create Your Taste, which lets customers order their hamburgers from touch-screen kiosks, started rolling out in the US this year.

McDonald's often tests new menu items in foreign markets like Australia before bringing them to the US. For example, in addition to Create Your Taste, the brand's coffee line, McCafe, was tested in Australia before coming to the US.

Not only this, restaurant chains like Pita Pit is already serving lettuce options in countries like India and Canada amongst others.

Thus we can say that with people becoming more addicted to healthy eating and with the food safety waves that is driving the food industry today, more and more brands are going to come up with healthy food options in days to come.

In a latest update, the Punjab government has banned 16 samples of other food brands who have failed to meet the food safety standard of the state authority.

The government has banned over 16 brands of other food brands in Ludhiana which are being used by the locals in the state as a replacement of Maggi after the two minutes noodle haul.

According to the statement, the food products have been declared unsafe for consumption and packaging termed as misleading and misbranded by the State Food and Drug Laboratory.

After direction from FSSAI (Food Safety Standard Authority of India), the health department took samples of noodles from other brands, including Yippee, Knorr, Ching's and Top Ramen on June 8. "It was important to check the different varieties as some brands claimed to give flavour like that of manchurian, schezwan, Singapore curry, which are supposed to have ajinomoto or MSG. We took action following complaints," said Dr Kumar.

All the 16 samples failed the test and have higher content of monosodium glutamate (MSG). Also, their packets mentioned. No MSG added', which turned out to be misleading and misbranded. However, lead has not been reported in either of the reports. Pasta samples were also taken from different places, but their reports are awaited.

Earlier, on June 24, test reports had declared four samples of Maggi and its variants for containing high MSG content.

Dr Kumar said action will be initiated under Food Safety Act against the operators of these brands in city and the manufacturing unit.

One month after the ban of Maggi, instant noodles sales in India has hit over 90 per cent to just about Rs 30 crore from Rs 350 crore a month earlier, according to industry estimates, reported PTI.

With the key category facing an uncertain future, food processing industry players are worried that this could have an impact on their overall investment plans, while companies are now facing 'increased harassment from safety inspectors', according to a senior official of industry body Assocham.

"In the last one month the instant noodles category has suffered a massive drop in sales to about Rs 30 crore a month. Before the Maggi ban this category was around Rs 4,200 crore annually, which is about Rs 350 crore per month. There is a fear psychosis among consumers," the official said.

Last month central food safety regulator FSSAI had banned Nestle's Maggi saying it was "unsafe and hazardous" for consumption after finding excessive levels of lead and violation of labelling regulations on taste enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG). Nestle India had recalled Maggi from the markets.

With FSSAI cracking the whip, HUL withdrew its Knorr Chinese noodles and Indo Nissin Top Ramen noodles which were pending for approval with the food safety regulator.

In the aftermath of Maggi controversy, there has been "increased focus" on packaged food companies, the official said, adding "there is a lot of harassment going at lower level. The industry is very scared of being subjected to more harassment".

Seeking government intervention, the Assocham official said: "There is no standard protocol for testing in different states and manufacturers are not given enough time to take remedial measures."

At least on the issue of MSG, the government should clarify that it was misbranding and not a safety issue.

On the impact of the controversy on the food processing industry, the official said: "If there is a feeling that all food companies are rogue and consumers stay away from packaged food, who is going to invest?"

Currently, investments proposed in food-related projects is about Rs 90,000 crore which can have a multiplier effect, the official said, adding even employment could also be affected to an extent if the uncertainty over noodles category remained.

Around 1,500 workers of Nestle India involved in manufacturing of Maggi have been impacted by the stoppage of production.

Indo Nissin, a subsidiary of Japanese firm Nissin Foods Holding on Monday announced the withdrawal of its Top Ramen noodles from market.

According to the statement issued by the company, the noodle product is pending with Food Safety Authority of India for approval.

“On June 8, FSSAI had come out with an advisory on product safety testing of all instant noodle products in India. At that time, we had sought clarification from FSSAI since Top Ramen product approval is pending with the regulator. They have requested us to withdraw the product until they give the product approval. We hope to get the approval soon from FSSAI and be back in the market,” shared Gautam Sharma, MD, Indo Nissin Foods.

Top Ramen is one of the largest noodles brand in the country after Maggi and Yipee noodles with sales estimated at close to Rs 150 crore.

However in the last one month this is the third noodle brand to go off the shelves. Earlier Nestle India has to recall its Maggi product and Hindustan Unilever which manufactures Knorr noodles discontinued production and sale of its noodle brand until the FSSAI approved its product application.

Meanwhile, Top Ramen is selling in since 1991, but after the food safety authority formulated fresh product approval guidelines in 2012-end, Indo Nissin had applied for approvals which it said haven't yet been cleared by the regulator.

"Our product has been extensively tested over the last few weeks after product safety concerns arose in the category. We have tested at two FSSAI accredited independent laboratories and shared the results with FSSAI a few weeks ago," added Sharma.

Adding to the same lines, he also added that the company is open to help all State FDAs and the FSSAI to address safety concerns and complete the testing process. Top Ramen was launched in the market about 24 years ago and is available in variants such as atta noodles and cup noodles.

As the food safety concern is increasing day by day, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has asked states to increase surveillance and act against entities selling contaminated packaged drinking water as well as adulterated milk and edible oils, reported PTI.

Following the Maggi fiasco, the authorities have started clamping down on those entities which are found to be non-complaint with the food safety norms.

"States have been asked to enhance the surveillance activities in respect of packaged drinking water, milk and milk products and edible oil. If required, the state food safety commissioners can also take action," a source said.

Packaged water, milk and edible oils came under the lens of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) after it decided to strengthen surveillance activities on such products.

Earlier this year, in a meeting with state food safety commissioners, the FSSAI CEO Yudhvir Singh Malik had shared concerns raised by the Parliamentary panel on consumer affairs regarding widespread incidences of milk adulteration.

"The milk, water and edible-oils were three big ticket items which were consumed by almost all sections of consumers and there is a need for increased surveillance of the safety of these items across all the states/UTs in the country," Malik had said.

FSSAI has also asked the commissioners to create awareness among the consumers regarding the standards and labelling requirements for packaged drinking water.

Earlier this month, the food safety watchdog has formed a 11-member panel for regulating salt, sugar and fat in food products sold or served at eating joints in the country.

On June 5, the FSSAI had banned Nestle's Maggi saying it was 'unsafe and hazardous' after tests found presence of lead and Monosodium glutamate above permissible limits.

Nestle India had also withdrawn the instant noodles brand from the market.

Later, FSSAI also ordered testing of noodles, pastas and macaroni brands such as Top Ramen, Foodles and Wai Wai sold and manufactured by seven companies, to check compliance with the norms.

Nestle India, which has been facing safety issue for over a month now has moved Bombay High Court by filing a case against the food safety authority of India, FSSAI.

The food major which manufactures Maggi instant noodle has taken the step after FSSAI has banned the production, distribution and sale of the instant noodle in India.

Nestle on Thursday approached the Bombay High Court raising issues of interpretation of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2011, whilst seeking judicial review of the Order dated 6th June, 2015 passed by the Food and Drug Administration in Maharashtra and the Order dated 5th June, 2015 passed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Commenting on the same Nestle India statement clears, “We are continuing the withdrawal of MAGGI Noodles products. This action will not interfere with this process. And we shall proceed further as per the order passed by the FSSAI.”

The issue started boiling in the Indian market when UP FDA in May has found high lead and MSG content in Nestle’s Maggi noodle found around the state, banning the product immediately.

On 5th June, FSSAI had asked Nestle India to "stop further production, processing, import, distribution and sale" of all nine variants of Maggi with immediate effect as they had been found hazardous to health and unsafe for human consumption.

According to the food safety authority, three major violations are, excessive presence of lead beyond the maximum permissible levels of 2.5 parts per million (ppm); misleading labelling information on the package reading 'No Added MSG' (monosodium glutamate); and release of a non-standardized food product in the market, Maggi Oats Masala Noodles with Tastemaker, without risk assessment and grant of product approval.

While, Nestle said the order to test the cake and tastemaker separately was "erroneous and liable to be set aside", and denied any "health risk or misbranding or violation of packaging and labelling regulations'' as alleged by the food safety division.

Nestle also went to the newly formed law firm of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and its partner Ameya Gokhale to fight its case and engaged senior counsel Iqbal Chagla to appear in court. Additional solicitor general Anil Singh, who now holds additional charge as the state's advocate general, will appear on behalf of the government authorities.

Meanwhile, the India issue is also affecting the other global markets as earlier Singapore has tested the lead content in the Maggi noodles, clearing sales of Maggi noodles imported from India after its own tests and now US FDA has ordered to test the instant noodle in the country.

However, Nestle does not import, market or distribute Maggi noodles in the United States. According to an Spokeswoman who told Reuters in an email query “We have been made aware that the FDA has taken samples of Maggi noodles manufactured in India from third-party importers' containers for testing, and we have asked the importers to advise us of the outcome of the FDA tests.”

Nestle India contributes to over 4.5 million retail outlets through its distribution channel, of which it gets to only a million stores directly.

Nestle India is recalling around 25,000 tonnes of Maggi noodles, adding up to 200-300 million packets and has asked its 4,000 distributors and sub-stockists to send back all Maggi noodles packets within 15 days, from the day of the FSSAI order on 5 June, according to the Confederation of All India Traders.

Not only this, Maggi issue has also brought several other brands under soup, as HUL’s Knorr is now next in the row to withdraw their product from the market. HUL has stopped manufacturing of its Chinese noodle under Knorr brand which remains pending with the FSSAI for quality approval.

““We have started the process of withdrawal and will complete the same at the earliest. The consumer can return the unopened & sealed pack to retailer who will return the money,” said HUL Spokesperson in a query.

Hence, we can see that ever since the Magii issue has heat the stove, many noodles, pasta and macroni brands are feeling the waves including HUL’s Knorr, CG Foods’ Wai Wai, ITC’s Yippee amongst others.

Recovery may be a long haul for Nestle India with its flagship product Maggi noodles having been banned by food regulator FSSAI over safety concerns, according to analysts.

Not only the sales of noodles but other Maggi food items like pasta, ketchup and other ingredients will also be impacted with company hitting majorly across India.

Maggi is estimated to contribute 20-25 per cent in Nestle's total sales, and its monthly sales are estimated to be around Rs 200 crore.

Prabhudas Lilladher analysts Amnish Aggarwal and Gaurav Jogani in a research report said Nestle India recovery will "be a long haul" after the Maggi episode, which "will have far reaching consequences for not only Nestle but entire food processing and FMCG industry".

"We expect sales impact on other Maggi branded items like pasta, ketchup and cooking aids also. Maggi brand accounts for 30 per cent of sales while Maggi Noodles account for nearly 23 per cent of company sales," added the report.

"Maggi Noodles is a cult brand which has created an USD 500 million category in the past 30 years and it would require considerable media spends and consumer interaction to bring the product back on rails,” said the analyst.

An analyst with a leading brokerage, who did not wish to be identified, said: "With the ban and subsequent withdrawal of the product from the market by Nestle, this controversy will not only have material impact but also has hurt goodwill of the company."

An analyst with Motilal Oswal tracking the company said the controversy around the product has impacted the brand's iconic status.

"Maggi Noodles contributes 20 per cent of revenues and 25 per cent of the operating profit. Besides the obvious impact on sales, the crisis could also hurt the operating leverage of Nestle as prepared dishes and cooking aids was the only segment during year 2014 that was growing in volumes," he said.

"The impact on brand equity is more devastating because Maggi is widely consumed by kids and restoring consumer trust could take time," Motilal Oswal said in a research report.

Suggesting a way forward, Prabhudas Lilladher analysts said: "We believe that Nestle will have to reformulate the product, improve production processes, change packaging, claims and communication, and seek approvals for re-launch of product." I) Continuing to fall for the fourth straight session today, shares of Nestle India tumbled nearly 8 per cent following more trouble for the company over the Maggi noodles row.

Nestle's stock has plunged by over 25 per cent since May 20, when the controversy started. The company's stock today declined by 7.63 per cent to settle at Rs 5,539.80 on the BSE.

In last four trading sessions, the stock has lost nearly 19 per cent, wiping out Rs 12,221.62 crore from its market valuation, which now stands at Rs 53,412.38 crore.

Leading food group Nestle India stands to lose advertising inventory of about Rs 10 crore due to Maggi recall despite its move to air commercials of Nescafe or KitKat in all advertisement slots booked for the instant noodles brand, broadcasters and media planners say. "The channels have been told to subtly replace Maggi ads with Nescafe and KitKat commercials," a senior media planner said. "But despite this attempt to recover as much inventory possible, Nestle will have to let go of advertising inventory worth Rs 8-10 crore," the person said on the condition of anonymity. On Saturday, Nestle notified broadcasters and other media houses in India to stop publishing Maggi ads from Sunday. While the Swiss company has stopped digital advertising for the brand as well, it is using various social media platforms liberally to sell its side of the story to Indian consumers. A Nestle India spokesperson said that while the firm has taken action to stop Maggi ads, "you may see a few since changing the programming pipeline could take a little longer". Nestle is one of the biggest advertisers in India, spending over Rs 400 crore on advertising a year. Its ad spend on Maggi brand alone is estimated at over Rs 150 crore, according to industry insiders. Publicis Worldwide is Maggi's creative agency, while Zenith-Optimedia handles the brand's media buying and selling activities. The digital mandate of Maggi is handled by GroupM's Maxus. Sources in these agencies said that Nestle stopped airing Maggi Oat Masala noodle commercial featuring actor Madhuri Dixit right after the scandal broke. In February, Maggi had launched a campaign, 'Khushiyon Ki Recipe', which was on air till Saturday despite Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) dismissal of Nestle's defence about the brand embroiled in controversy over excessive lead content and mislabelling on MSG. Nestle has now instructed channels to take these commercials off air. Meanwhile, Ahmedabadbased Consumer Education Research Centre (CERC) is contemplating legal action to push Nestle to do corrective advertising across print and television space. "Considering Nestle advertisements have been misleading the consumers, they ought to engage in corrective advertising to tell the consumer in as many words about what is factually correct," said Pritee Shah, chief general manager at CERC and a member of an inter-ministerial monitoring committee for misleading advertisements under the ministry of consumer affairs. G Gurucharan, additional secretary (consumer affairs), too, had recently stated that Nestle could be asked to put out corrective advertisements. Shah said that considering Nestle has been misleading the consumer about the health aspect of Maggi, it should redo its commercials. In addition to lead and MSG, the firm needs to clarify that one helping of Maggi is not equivalent to three chapatis as claimed by one of its ads, he said.

By Invite: Ajay Shetty, Managing Director, Myra Vineyards

Wine in recent times has grown in popularity and has in many ways become the drink of choice in many circles. The number of people travelling abroad is at an all time high and with it has come immense lifestyle exposure and awareness.

This is a fallout of greater disposable incomes and has led to a younger India adapting to wine drinking while following their counterparts in the West. Keeping the current scenario in mind and the fact that consumers today need to know the source of their products, India is primed for the next big logical step – wine tourism.

Wine or enotourism is a form of tourism that involves the tasting, consumption or purchase of wine at source and that isn’t a passive indulgence. It usually consists of visits to wineries, tasting wines, vineyard walks or even taking an active part in the harvest. India needs to take a serious look at investing in the positive wine sentiment to develop and promote the country’s wines mainly because a few regional Indian vineyards work in isolation in this area.

Over a short period of time, this promotion has seen popularity growing rapidly for tours and tasting rooms which help wine enthusiasts closely explore wines first hand and is often completed with the experience of staying over at vineyards. While Nashik, around four hours northeast of Mumbai in Maharashtra has been garnering attention, there are also some reputable wineries scattered chiefly in Karnataka and a few in other parts of the country as well that needs to be supported and encouraged.

The world over, wine tourism though relatively new, has exhibited a focused approach that has borne fruit. In places such as the Napa Valley, it saw heavy growth once a concerted marketing effort was implemented in 1975 while other regions such as Catalonia, Spain have only started marketing enotourism in the mid-2000s, primarily focusing on how it is an alternative form of tourism to the beach for which Spain is overall known. In the United States 27 million travellers, or 17% of American leisure travellers, engaged in culinary or wine-related activities. In Italy the figure stands at approximately five million travellers, generating 2.5 billion euros in revenue. Cellar visits are heavily promoted in countries such as Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Portugal. In North America, the first Wine Tourism Day was established for May 11, 2013 with events scheduled throughout the continent.

In the Indian context, while Maharashtra has taken the lead in this aspect over the years, wine tourism could become a big tourist draw in the south and Bengaluru in particular if tapped wisely. Nashik, at 600 metres above sea level, makes it India’s northernmost region where wine grapes can be grown easily. Plus, the Maharashtra Government has rolled out a conducive wine policy to simplify wine regulations, and make it easy for wine producers to focus on quality winemaking. As a wine tourism market, there is similar if not greater potential in Bengaluru for several reasons. First and foremost is Bengaluru’s pleasant climate through the year that is conducive for grape cultivation. Located on the Deccan Plateau at a height of over 900 m (3,000 ft) above sea level, its elevation is the highest among the major cities in the country. Currently, over a dozen vineyards dot our landscape making the region a perfect getaway for wine buffs. The Nandi Hills, Kaveri Valley and Krishna Valley are just a few key wine producing regions that are making wine producers and tourists alike take note of Karnataka’s huge potential.

Bengaluru, the most cosmopolitan of South Indian cities, is blessed with benevolent climate and vies with Mumbai for the nation's most progressive city. Known chiefly for its booming IT industry, Bengaluru is also a burgeoning wining, dining and shopping hub. The city today is a cultural melting pot and with this has come an appetite for experimentation. Be it with food and drink or general lifestyle choices. Therefore, by positioning Bengaluru and Karnataka as a wine tourism market would in-turn make the State an international travel destination that one must visit and not just the business destination that it is today.

In the last decade, the Karnataka Government had promoted investment in wine production by establishing a number of integrated wine parks as an economic development tool and made offers of incentives for new units like a 100 per cent exemption from excise duty for 10 years, relief in sales tax levels and subsidies for production duties. While wine parks provide basic infrastructure facilities and endorse viticulture as an economic development tool, a lot more has to be done in the area of tourism. The industry needs to be promoted the way it is promoted internationally to ensure more international travellers visit India thereby benefitting both the government and industry.

While the more promoted vineyards and wineries in India like Sula, Zampa, Fratelli, York, Chateau d’Ori and Charosa are mostly scattered around Nashik in Maharashtra, some of the sought-after wine tours in and around Bengaluru in my opinion are Grover Vineyards on Devanahalli Road, Alpine Winery in Holesalu and Soma Vineyards at the foothills of Maakli Hills.

A visit to any of these wineries set amongst natural beauty affords you the experience of some of the finest Indian wines right at the source, while learning the intricacies of wine making. Each of these wineries with its distinct characteristics has accentuated the face of wine tourism in Karnataka, however, the experience can only evolve from here on.

Positioning Bengaluru as a wine destination is something that’s very unique and close to my heart. Personally, I have been inspired by the Yarra Valley as it indulges life’s great pleasure of food, wine and scenery.

As producers, I feel we must embrace and learn from international vineyards where if we follow similar standards then that could give our consumers an unforgettable wine tour experience.

This is something that cannot be done alone. Only by the coming together of all those involved in the domestic wine market in Karnataka can a ‘Destination India’ on the global wine map become a reality.

Food business in India is estimated to grow to Rs 5.05 lakh crore by 2020 at a compounded annual growth rate of 11 per cent year on year. And with such big growth waiting ahead in the market, the industry has seen companies like Zomato, foodpanda, SpoonJoy, Grab, Indulge Beverages, Dazo and Hokey Pokey amongst others raising funds to expand services in the ever-growing food market in India.

Zomato, the online restaurant search engine, which has entered over 14 countries globally, has recently raised $50 million from info edge and has entered among the 16 global companies that have entered the $1-billion valuation league this year. With the series F round of funding, the restaurant discovery platform has become one of the largest players in the segment with an announcement of entering into the food delivery space ….more.

foodpanda, the global mobile food delivery marketplace has raised $100 miilion in a new financing round led by Goldman Sachs. foodpanda, together with its affiliated brands, focuses on emerging markets, operating in 40 countries across five continents and market leading in 32, among them India and Russia. foodpanda is active in over 580 cities around the world, operating in 12 of the largest 20 metropolises, and partnering with over 60,000 restaurants…more.

SpoonJoy, Bengaluru-based weekly subscription-based online platform that delivers healthy and delicious meals right at customer’s doorsteps, has raised $1 million from SAIF Partners. The funds will be used to expand its services to Delhi-NCR and Mumbai...more

Grab, Mumbai-based food delivery start-up Grab.in has rasied $1 million from Oliphans Capital and Haresh Chawla (former CEO of Network 18). This round of funding will enable Grab to expand in markets such as Pune, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru ...more

Dazo, India’s first and largest curated meal marketplace has raised an undisclosed amount from some of the country’s most respected industry veterans including CommonFloor and TaxiForSure.  The group has also rebranded itself as Dazo, earlier called as Tapcibo...more

The figure shows the deals cracked in the month of April

EazyDiner, founded by food critic and journalist Vir Sanghvi has also raised a seed funding of undisclosed amount from early age investors DSG Consumer Partners and Gulpreet Kohli, former MD of PE firm Chryscapital...more

Drums Food International, owner of the Hokey Pokey brand of ice cream, announced that the company has closed additional financing of Rs 5 crore led by Vish Narain, Country Head at TPG Growth, and Fireside Ventures, a private investment firm floated by former Helion Ventures MD Kanwaljit Singh. The group will use the raised amount to expand the company’s production capacity, and introduce its 2nd product, Epigamia, India’s first-ever range of Greek Yogurt...more

In a deft move to capture the nascent but high potential premium beverage market, industry stalwarts, Kanwaljit Singh (Ex Co Founder and Senior Managing Director, Helion Venture Partners), Shripad Nadkarni (Director, MarketGate Consulting) and Sarvesh Shahra (Business Head, Foods, Ruchi Soya Industries) have invested $2 million in upcoming beverage start-up, Indulge Beverages...more

On the other hand, there are many deals that have been on ground of merger and acquisition, FKS owned by Khalil Ahmed, former promoter of Shantha Biotechnics (now owned by Sanofi), has acquired Hyderabad House famous for its Biryani and Kebabs, Hello Curry, Hyderabad-based Indian QSR delivery service has acquired its rival Paratha Post, Zomato has acquired NexTable and MaplePOS.

India being rich in culture and festivals has given restaurants a reason to celebrate each and every occasion. With festivals like Baisakhi and Poila Baisakh on the way, restaurants have come up with exciting delicacies in both Punjabi and Bengali offerings.

Restaurant like The Mix by The BrewMaster in Delhi is celebrating Baisakhi by organising Baisakhi Food Festival starting from April 13 and going on till April 25. The customers can celebrate the festival of harvesting in famed Punjabi spirit by treating themselves at rich Punjabi fare.

The twelve-day food festival will serve both vegetarian and non vegetarian delicacies during dinner (7:30pm to 11:30pm) with the meal for two costing around Rs 1,200/- plus taxes.

The festive offerings include soups like Palak Cheese aur Tamatar Shorba ((Palak cheese and tamatar broth with pepper and exotic Indian spices) and Tandoori Murgh aur Pudine ka Shorba (Light chicken broth with cilantro and exotic spices) and the list goes on.

“Baisakhi marks the harvesting season in India, and what better way to celebrate the festival than with a special food festival. I am sure it shall be a hit with food connoisseurs and our regular guests alike,” said Santosh, Sous Chef, The BrewMaster.

On the other hand, global Pizza chain, Domino’s is giving Rs 100 off on Domino’s Baisakhi Offer, where a customer can avail this on a minimum bill of Rs 400 on online ordering at any nearest outlet.

Not only this, Baluchi, the pan-Indian restaurant at The Lalit, Chandigarh, is offering a special Baisakhi menu designed by its  Sous Chef, Chef Rajeev Kumar,  who has come up with Baisakhi Special Thalis in both Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Punjabi delicacies.

The restaurant has been designed to showcase a spectacular view of forests and the Shivalik Mountain Range, along with live music and live kitchen.

The sumptuous indulgence starts with Meethi and Namkeen Lassi followed By Lambi Katti Gajjar Te Muli, Kale Cholley Di Tikki, Panner Butter Masala, Amritsari Kulcha in Veg. and enjoy Tari Wala Meat, Butter Chicken in non-veg Thali. To end the lipsmacking affair, the chef has crafted Punjabi sweets like Kadhya hoya Dudh and Jalebi te Rabri.

On the other hand, Bengali joints in the country have come up with a wide variety of traditional Bengali cuisine. Restaurants in and around Kolkata have crafted their menu to welcome the New Year. The Buddha Bites Restaurant is offering an array of Chinese platters to celebrate the Poila Baisakh Day. The food fest which started from 10th April will go on till April 30th.

The special menu includes dishes such as Duck with chilly plum, Duck with pineapple, Chilly butter Garlic Squid, BBQ Pork Sausage in Sizzler plates, to name a few.

Thus, Indian festivals which are considered a foodie affair, always give a reason for celebration among the food lovers.

Do you still believe in visiting a restaurant? Or do you prefer to have food at ease in the cosy confines of your home?  Know how the food delivery scenario has changed in the country over the last few months.

The food delivery segment is tremendously growing over the years, in tandem with the change in eating habits and lifestyle trends, with increasing disposable incomes clubbed with hectic schedules.

Today, people are prone to placing food orders online and capitalising this trend, a lot of restaurants are yielding good returns by registering themselves on online ordering sites like foodpanda, Tastykhana, JustEat, HyderabadSpecial etc and many local ordering websites are also following suit, inviting players like Zomato and Taxi aggregator Ola to enter the segment.

Rohit Chadda, MD and Co-Founder, foodpanda shared, “Food delivery is booming right now. We see lots of companies entering into the business. But we are focusing on creating a place for the customer where they can order food online and get delivery which was earlier restricted to the international brands.”

What's trending                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

With the growing number of more than two dozen food tech start-ups in the last one year, the food delivery scenario has garnered investors’ interest as well. TinyOwl which started its operation early in September from Mumbai has raised two rounds of funding of approximately Rs 100 crore and is expanding vigorously to other cities as well.  Meanwhile, a player like Zomato which has proved itself as the global leader in restaurant discovery platform has announced its entry into the fast growing food delivery space.

On the other hand, Ola Cabs which recently acquired TaxiForSure has also started food delivery service in Mumbai by launching ‘Ola Café’ on its mobile apps.

Deepinder Goyal, CEO and Co-Founder, Zomato said, “Zomato will act as the tech platform allowing users to select their dishes and order their meal online and the payment will be done through cash on delivery. The restaurant has to manually accept each order from a user before it is processed as compared to passing orders from users to restaurants as other services do.”

Commenting on the same, Harshvardhan Mandad, Co-founder, TinyOwl said, “Food ordering is at a very nascent stage and it constitutes less than five per cent market share in the food market as people are shifting to apps and mobile phones has become a necessity today. Everyone wants food at ease.”

The game changers

Players like foodpanda, JustEat, TastyKhana and TinyOwl has brought a revolution into the Indian food delivery system. Today, entrepreneurs target at reaching out to a larger chunk and they believe that Internet penetration of business is a better and comfortable way than starting a restaurant and then making it grow with each passing day. 

foodpanda, the largest online food ordering platform has recently acquired two of its competitors, JustEat and TastyKhana, thereby expanding its market leadership in one of the biggest food delivery markets in the world.

Shachin Bharadwaj, CEO and Founder, TastyKhana commented, “The love for food is universal and it comes with the promise of instant delivery. You may be able to apply that math to online shopping for apparels and other items, but certainly not food. In fact, it is the opposite, as soon as a city sees an online food delivery option, they are curious to try it, which they do.”

According to a latest research by Sokrati, conducted on over 70 restaurants across India, it shows that in a span of just four months, there was an increase of 300 per cent in the number of food orders generated.

Although the online food delivery is an interesting urban phenomenon, the concept of home delivery offers a two-fold opportunity in the organised food services market, but India is yet to witness how the business model proves itself in capturing the Tier-II and III cities in the days to come.
 

Enjoy Navratri Special food at restaurants across Delhi-NCR as many restaurants have revamped their menu to offer “Saatvik Menu”.

EGO 33, a restaurant serving Indian and Continental cuisine located at NFC market is offering customers Navratri special thali.

The delectable meal menu offers saatvik menu with tempting options of snacks and savouries such as Kuttu Poori served with Kaddu ki Sabzi, Aloo Dahiwale, Paneer Makhani, Aloo Saboodana ki Tikki, Ratia,Salad and Saboodana Papad.

At the same time customers can relish Vrat ki Navratra thali at The Mix by the BrewMaster.

To mark the fun-filled nine days Navratri festival marking fasting and feasting, The Mix by the BrewMaster has introduced a special vrat ki Navratri Thali.

Designed to cater to both traditionalist and modern who look to try the traditional food, it serves the pure satvik food meeting all the fasting norms.

Priced at Rs 299 plus taxes, this special Navratri Thali will be available from 21st March to 28th March and will be served both during lunch and dinner.

Thali will have complete authentic vegetarian meal comprising of Kuttu ki poori, Samak ke Chawal, Aloo Jeera, Shahi Paneer and Kaddu ki sabzi along with delicious sweet dishes like Sabudana Kheer, Rasmalai and Fruit Salad. In addition to all these; Salad, Sabudana papad and sweet Lassi will be served to complete the offering.

According to The Mix by the BrewMaster Chef, Santosh, “Earlier people during Navratri time used to avoid going out in the restaurant and now the trend has reversed as the guest is sure that they will get food meeting the fasting norm even if they go out. People have turned experimental. So with this evolving time we have introduced the vrat ki thali which both a person on fast and non-fasting can equally relish.”

The Ancient Barbeque located at NCR is also offering a nine day special menu with some tweaks.

Commenting on the same, Dharmendra Singh, Executive Chef and Owner of TAB, shares, “We do not have out of the box special dishes but we assure that by indulging in our mouth-watering options available in starters, main course and desserts, one can definitely enjoy the festival in its true sense.”

Meanwhile, food chains known for serving vegetarian delicacies like Evergreen, Bikanervala and Haldiram's are also offering sumptuous food chaats and thalis during the fest. The special Navratri thali includes samak rice, kuttu ki puri, sitaphal ki sabzi and mixed fruits.

Thus we can see that Navratri will not only keep people fasting but also feasting on these special delights.

The budget 2015 focused on bringing back the Indian economy on track without focusing how it will affect the consumption in India.

Branded as ‘Make in India’ budget, it talks of manufacturing contributing only to 10 per cent of GDP in speech. However, the major players in the country support manufacturing in India in a big way.

Commenting on the same, Piruz Khambatta, Chairman and MD, Rasna said, “At the end of almost two hours speech there are hardly any tax reforms or policy change announced to support “Make in India”. Further, taxes are the same much awaited tax reforms are pending, MAT on SEZ remain the same or increased interest cost.”

Industry also feels that there is no announcement of any reduction or special schemes for subversion, benefit for marketing brand Make in India abroad, labor law reforms are still in pipe line and across board service tax increase would only increase costs further.

However for FMCG in particular, proactive reforms to stimulate demand and drive growth will help bring growth back on track. The emerging middle class and rural India have had their consumption stymied due to their wallets getting squeezed. Increasing money in the hands of these consumers will stimulate demand and consumption of products in the F&B sector. But the increased service tax from 12.5 per cent to 14 per cent seems a hurdle in penetrating the right business by the sector as this may slow down the consumption pattern.

Sharing his view on the same, Sanjay Jain, Director, Elanpro commented, "The Budget clearly talks of a long term vision for economic growth, a vision which dreams of better amenities, infrastructure, skill development and jobs. Proactive efforts to drive demand and increase consumption will bring FMCG recovery back on track.”

Meanwhile experts believes that, service tax increase of 14 per cent would fuel inflation across the board and would affect even the common man as cost of everything would go up by 2 per cent.

Surprisingly Service Tax on freight of food stuff exempted earlier is brought back which will make all food stuffs costlier. In fact to catalyze growth and demand it was expected that excise and service tax be reduced to make it more internationally accepted levels.

“And if the Government is truly bullish on growth why it is not encouraging growth by reducing tax and increasing consumption, shared Khambatta. For example Agri Good processing industry was expecting huge tax breaks to spur rural demand. Nothing has been announced even for a sector with such importance for inclusive growth in rural areas, he added.

Sharing his view on the same, Akshay Bector Chairman & MD, Cremica said, "For the industry, in terms of reforms we need a greater push from the government in the areas of food processing and the treatment of surplus, especially in the case of perishables as it has an immediate bearing on inflation and household budgets. We have been making representations to the ministry in this regard which we hope are taken forward.”

At the same time, the industry look forward to developments in terms of food parks and factories as this will definitely help the industry make investments ahead of time to keep up with demand.

How are banks promoting the deal?

Banks are trying different measures to promote restaurant deals and are very much specific about the deals that they offer on cards. For example, banks are executing both offline and online deals and for the offline deals (the deal which a customer gets directly by showing the debit/credit card at the payment counter), banks circulate pamphlets and leaflets among the customers and also use newspapers and magazine advertisements. While promoting online, they partner with major online food delivery websites like Foodpanda and JustEat. Besides, banks are also using emailers and bulk SMS campaign for promotion.

Rohit Chadda, MD and Founder, Foodpanda, says, “In the offline market, banks are basically targeting the high spend, fine dining market because the chances of customer holding a credit card for fine dine restaurant is much higher rather than people who order from takeaway outlets or QSR.”

Discounts offered on cards

The percentage of discounts offered by the banks on their cards totally depends on a particular restaurant. The discount may start from five percent and may go to 30 percent. For example, brands like Market Cafe, Moti Mahal Delux, Havemore, Kainoosh are a few restaurants which are offering a discount of 15 percent on the purchase of food and beverages served at their restaurants using Citi Bank cards. On the other hand, HDFC bank promoted Food Fiesta deal which is valid till June 2015 is offering a 10 percent discount on ordering food using their cards.

Parag Rao, Senior Executive Vice President & Business Head – Card Payment Products & Merchant Acquiring Services, HDFC Bank, says, “The offers usually depend on the spend category, specific partners and the offer duration. It can be anywhere between 5-30 percent.”

Sahil Joshi, Restaurant Manager, Lazeez Affaire, says, “We are offering 15 percent discount on all our food and soft beverages on Citibank credit and debit cards valid till 31^st December 2014.”

Specialty restaurants

Not only the fine dine segment but the multi cuisine restaurants and quick service restaurants are tying up with banks too. Major QSR giants like Pizza Hut, KFC and fine dine restaurants like Bukhara, Pind Balluchi, Kainoosh, Dum Pakwaan amongst others are open to these offers as they are also seeing good opportunities.

“Offering discounts through debit and credit cards is the best way to promote the restaurant business as it attracts larger clientele”, says, Dharmendra Choudhary, Restaurant Manager, Pind Balluchi.

Profit margin

Rao says, “Spends are growing faster on debit cards than credit cards. It’s a sign of maturing consumer spend because people realise the core difference between a debit card and a credit card and people are exercising their choice and the banks get the maximum profit out of the deal”. He further says typically most of the discounts go to the merchant and if the profit generated out of the deal is 70 percent, 50 percent will go to the bank and other 20 percent will be shared by the online ordering portals and the restaurants.

With the increasing number of diners using credit and debit cards, the restaurant merchants understand the importance of securing credit card data. Yet to be cautious and careful while sharing personal data while ordering food online is the mandate for today’s consumers.

If you evaluate the industry by activity, you will see that the industry is going good – Yum! Restaurants are eyeing smaller towns for expansion in India, US icons McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut are doing big business in Kochi and McDonald's will be investing Rs 500 crore to set up 250 restaurants in west and south India by 2014.

Opening new doors is a straightforward strategy and usually the main driver of revenue. However, as a chain grows in size, it becomes increasingly tricky to capture benefits. And that is the truth; the sales in restaurants are on the decline and are not happening in adequate volumes in chains and they are failing to achieve their targets. Let us know why this is happening.

Sluggish Economy and High Inflation

As soon as our finance minister announced a service tax of 12.36 per cent on all air-conditioned restaurants, leading chains had to increase their prices by 5-10 per cent. When consumers struggled amidst slowing economies, the fast food chains witnessed slow business. The reason for this clearly points to fluctuating food costs. Food retail sales slowed down by 5% in the first quarter this year and prompted the industry to dole out its most aggressive promotion and value deals.

Talking about the reasons for this dip, Samir Kuckreja, President, NRAI, says, “The predominant causes for the pressure on sales in restaurants can be attributed to sluggish economy and high inflation. Due to these factors the propensity of discretionary spending on eating out has got impacted and that has created a pressure on the overall sales.” Agreeing to this, Anjan Chatterjee, Founder and MD, Speciality Restaurants, adds, “Discretionary spending has gone down due to high cost of commodities and sustained inflationary trends. Also there is a cautious outlook towards the future as the economic growth is poor.”

So have people stopped eating out? To that Chatterjee adds, “Eating out is a social phenomenon. Therefore, even if people cook at home, visiting food outlets is a part of regular social activity where connecting with family and community is an established norm.” If people are willing to eat out, what is causing the sales dip. Possibly, people have more options to choose from.

According to Vikas Arora, Executive Director, The Precious Group, the reason for low sales in restaurant chains is firstly the economy which is slowing down and secondly localisation. Thirdly, since all businesses are becoming easy for the consumer to go to, it brings in a lot of competition as people want to experiment with new things and that definitely affects sales. He further adds, “In the past people had very fixed ideas about food; today people are not scared of experimenting because options are many today.”

To counter this slowdown, Mcdonald’s took out a massive campaign that aimed to encourage people to start their day with wholesome breakfast. As part of this initiative, McDonalds India offered one thousand free McMuffins to their customers during breakfast hours at each of its restaurants serving breakfast menu in India. McDonald's called it the National Breakfast Day.

When McDonalds started initiatives to counter the price-led trends in the QSR space – in a bid to capture the heart and the wallet of consumers – other brands too adopted smart pricing. Speaking on the smart strategy adopted by McDonald’s, Smita Jatia, Managing Director, Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd (HRPL), says, “From day 1 we emphasised on Indian taste for the Indian palate which has really worked for us. The new chains which are coming are also copying the menu and the Indianisation of food. These are things which I think other restaurants are benefiting from McDonald’s.”

Domino's soon played the 'Pehli Kamai' campaign as their affordability card for its 'Pizza Mania' product selling at 44 per unit.

Playing the affordability card even further KFC launched its ‘WOW’ menu in India that offered 10 products/combos starting at Rs 25 and all under Rs 100. Pizza Hut Delivery (PHD), on the other hand, launched a national brand campaign with the focus on its new magic pan pizza selling at Rs 44. Speaking about this value offer, Niren Chaudhary, President, Yum! Restaurants, says, “Yum! Restaurants India and its brands KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are all about providing an exciting eating out experience for our consumers. By offering products/combos starting as low as Rs 25 and KFC at Rs. 44 at Pizza Hut, we intend to widen our reach to those who are looking for affordable options while eating out.”

Oriential Cuisines also introduced certain affordable value pricing. In that aspect, Narendra Malhotra, CEO, Oriental Cuisines, says “At Oriental Cuisines, we keep bringing new additions to our menus, invent and reinvent our products, and try and bring creativity at every step. Our biggest strength is in being able to bring in new products and cater to market trends and festive demands. Through working with our vendors and economies of scale, we have been able to bring products at pocket-friendly prices for our customers always keeping in mind quality with affordability.”

Talking about the affordability factor introduced by brands and its success, Kuckreja says, “Indians are value conscious consumers, so the acquisition and retention of customers is positively impacted by pricing strategies. Consequently these strategies encourage both new consumers and existing ones to visit restaurants more regularly.”

Talking about the challenges, he further adds, “Our menu philosophy was designed keeping simplicity and variety in mind along with easy-on-the-pocket prices. The overall consumer environment is also proving to be challenging and therefore we continuously focus on delivering value, building sales layers and new-unit development.” Striking a similar note, Chatterjee says, “The most successful strategy is to create surprises by way of new menu, and food festivals. The idea is to keep on top of the mind. Such activities always have positive impact though the base in recessionary trends is already shrunk.”

Speaking on the ways McDonald’s adopts to keep price pocket-friendly, Jatia says, “Inflation has been in India from many years and I don’t think this is something we have to take in reality for running any business in our country. At McDonald’s, we take the price that is half the rate than what the inflation goes, take about 2-3 per cent price rise year-on-year and try and see any inefficiencies in our business, in our supply chain, in our CNL, so that we don’t pass the increase on customers.”

 “Value pricing is the most time-tested practice used by the players to combat these challenges. Marketing efforts especially price-led promotions like promotional offers, discounts on specific days, meal combos and special buffets at happy hours, etc. help in driving footfalls,” says Kuckreja. Even though each brand emphasised on ‘value menus’ and increased their low-priced offerings like never before, the business did witness a low.

Seasonal Factors

Seasons play a very important role especially in India. In the first quarter this year, consumers felt shock, anger and betrayal over payroll taxes in addition to bad weather conditions. Speaking on the effect of seasons on the food service market, Kuckreja says, “Seasonal factors do affect restaurant sales. While holidays, summer vacations, festive seasons like Christmas, Diwali see spurt in sales, there is a decline in business during the examination periods. Further regional variations in climate also have an impact on the sales. Extreme climatic conditions play a deterrent to the eating out activities.”

On the same lines, Chatterjee says, “Hot summer days, incessant rains, very cold weather, all could affect adversely; whereas festive seasons mean better footfall.” However, Chaudhary has different take on it, “Eating out is not a seasonal business and is largely unaffected by climatic conditions. However, we do see an increase in sales during holidays, summer vacations and festive seasons like Christmas, Diwali, etc.”

How Fast is Casual?

Another aspect of restaurant sales is seen by analysing its two broad categories – fast food and casual sit-downs. Since sit-down restaurants tend to be more expensive, it makes them even more sensitive to consumer budgets and the health of the economy. On the other hand, QSR restaurants’ convenience and value make them attractive. Stating the reason for people’s inclination towards QSR/fast-casual, Harry Balzer, Market Researcher, NPD Group (which provides market information and advisory services to drive better business decisions), says, “We are using fast food more but sit down restaurants less because there (in QSRs) the focus is on the food – tasty food, fresh food, prepared the way ‘I like it’. It is half the price of casual dining because with less money person are getting what they want. Fast casual is benefitting from the ‘fast’ part than the ‘casual’ part.”

How Floating are Cafés?

According to the NRAI report, the size of the cafe market is estimated at INR 1,520 crore (USD 290 million) in 2013 and is expected to grow at a CGAR of ~20% to reach INR 3,775 crore (USD 725 million) by 2018. Speaking on how café’s are trying to tap consumers in the volatile market in order to stay afloat, Kuckreja adds, “The cafe segment is evolving and as the market is getting competitive, the players are differentiating by tailoring their offerings in terms of ambience, service and developing new products such as regional flavours, international coffee blends. Players are expanding their presence at various new terrains like hospitals, colleges, corporate houses, travel locations. Foraying into different formats helps players tap a wider customer base usually by means of enhancing the overall cafe experience through an appealing ambience, encouraging greater time-spends at outlets, using assorted menus to fulfil the need for either a small bite or a regular meal and providing interactive experience.”

Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) has been going to town with its magic priced F&B combos between Rs 49 to Rs 119. Explaining the reasons for CCD to latch on to the price-led strategy K Ramakrishnan, President - Marketing, Cafe Coffee Day had this to share with Economic Times, "An attractive price point offers to bring in newer customers who were otherwise not trying the category at all.” Agrees Chatterjee, “Café, as in QSR band, could perform better in recessionary trends as per person spend is less.”

Arora has a different take on the success of café chains. Speaking on why café’s are introducing food in their outlet, he says, “Indian consumers want something to eat. People normally go out to have food and not just beverage. That is why cafe joints are introducing foods.”

The Hard Facts

According to a research by NPD Group, the Restaurant visits among millennial have fallen 16 percent over the last four years and failed to pick up as the economy improved. Thus the effort put in by the restaurant industry seems to suggest that they are luring large numbers of consumers, caging them, and hoping that the buzz created by this large mass translates into profits. 

Before you make a business model or create a menu or go to the bank to apply for a loan, you must first decide where exactly your restaurant is going to be located. This is because selecting a location for your restaurant will come first in the to-dos of opening a new restaurant.

Right location influence’s many parts of your restaurant, including the menu. If you already have a certain restaurant location in mind, don’t get too attached to it until you are sure it has all the right requirements for bringing success to your restaurant. 
 

There are four crucial elements to consider when looking at a potential restaurant location:

Population base: Is there enough foot-fold in the area to support your business? For example, is the restaurant location in the heart of a city shopping centre or along a busy lane? It has to be an area where there are enough people or at least have population passing through the area on a regular basis to keep you busy. Most people looking at their first restaurant don’t have enough money in their budget for a professional survey. A less expensive method to determine the population base of certain areas is to use a circle graph. You can even ask the local chamber of commerce and district office for more information.

Parking: Will there be enough parking to accommodate all the seats in your new restaurant? Ideally, a new restaurant location should have its own parking lot. If that isn’t an option, look for public parking near the restaurant location.

Accessibility: There’s a reason why major restaurant chains are often located near the most populated areas: It makes them accessible for customers and most people can reach the restaurant without fighting traffic or driving out of their way. Most successful restaurant locations (but not all) are easy to find.

Visibility: This goes along with accessibility and is very important for new restaurant locations. People have to know that your restaurant is there. This is why property prices in populated areas are higher than other areas. They offer a level of visibility that can bring in a great deal of walk-in business.

So when you draft your business model, keep these things in mind. By understanding these elements in detail, you can choose the right location for your new restaurant.