"Our Vision Is To Be Top-Of-Mind Recall"

The Vision

Koldplay’s driving principal is to bring the most indulgent ice-cream experience to the Indian market at a value proposition that is undeniable. Our team has spent the last two years perfecting the right blend of products, packaging, pricing and marketing to create a brand that enjoys high recall and is respected and loved by high street customers and HORECA professionals alike.

The Menu

Our menu include both best sellers such as hazelnut madagascar brittle, peanut butter nutella etc but we keep delighting our customers with unique flavours such as miso, honey wasabi amongst other. This constant innovation is our USP. For example, India is becoming health conscious and we do not want those consumers left out. Therefore, we are also planning to manufacture health candies or health ice- creams.

The Response

Our stores attract extremely high footfall and have become a happening destination among consumers in the locations that we currently operate at. Our constant innovation and persistent media presence keeps our customers coming back for more. We take every effort to create magic at every new store we open and are consistently profitable. We are even in the vendor list of reputed brands like Taj and St. Regis which speaks volume in itself. Essentially one needs to gain the experience of 5-10 years to get into that list but we as a brand have build ourselves as a reliable brand.

The Packaging

Our packaging and outlets both come with a premium look and feel. We undertake annual up gradation of our products, packaging as well as branding plus our in-store staff is highly trained and are carefully and individually selected.

The Infrastructure

Our outlets require an area of 100 to 200 sq ft. Our outlets are designed to be highly flexible depending on the available layout and also our stores do not need an exhaust plus they do not create any aroma/smell. Our stores have fast turnover and the layout is designed to enable service of up to 40- 60 customers an hour. We operate from an ISO 22000:2005 certified 15,000 sq. ft. state of the art manufacturing facility at MIDC, Navi Mumbai with manufacturing capacity of over a million litres of ice-creams, frozen desserts and sorbets per annum. We make over 175 popular international and local flavours. Unlike traditional manufacturers, we are delighted to offer our customers the benefit of our flexibility in creating new flavours. The support of our in-house R&D centre enables us to customise existing products and exclusively develop new flavours to precisely meet the ever changing requirements of the Indian palate.

Beating the Competition

Ice- cream industry is on rise and there are only few organised sectors which are introducing new concepts with ice- creams to impress the Indian sweet tooth. So, of course there is lots of competition around and innovation is the only thing to be in the market. Our focus is to give customers a delight with the ice cream. We want to bring smiles on their faces.

Expansion Plans

We have three outlets in Mumbai for now and are planning to open the next one in September at Nariman Point in Mumbai itself. Then we have other outlets planned in Bandra West and Navi Mumbai. We are also planning to expand in premium malls in the city.

Suved belongs to a hardcore family business background who loves making people happy. He was doing events since the age of 18 and realised that hospitality industry is his calling. He is a student of life who learns from people.

How do you see hospitality at HopScotch?

At hopscotch it’s about being honest and I actually think that one’s attitude towards patrons should be honest. Hospitality and hopscotch both are all about service after all and by being honest one can create a niche’ in this competitive business. Restaurateurs can’t afford to have a bossy attitude because at the end of the day, customer is the boss in hospitality industry.

How much efforts you have put into it?

I’m thirty five and still putting efforts into it.

What are your expectations from this brand?

My expectations are undoubtedly very high as we have started looking for expansions already. The whole idea behind hopscotch is nostalgia. We are the generation who were introduced to Internet rather than being born to Internet. We have been through that time when going out, playing and enjoying was fun, hopscotch brings that time back. It makes people dwell into nostalgia and my expectations with hopscotch is when people think to eat out for having a quality time without any noise and drama then hopscotch should be the first name to be clicked in their minds.

How do you see your restaurant?

Hopscotch brings the food which we have grown up eating i.e., butter chicken, thai curry, et cetra. Therefore, we have introduced all the time favourite dishes of customers which also fetch back the nostalgia. The service which we are giving is impeccable, we always assure to be there for our customers and we also have the speciality to serve the order in five to seven minutes. We try to please our customers in an ambience where they get good food in couple of minutes, have quality time with their loved ones and can be nostalgic at the same time.

Which is your special dish to bring an instant smile on customer’s face?

We are specialised with ‘tadka chicken’ and ‘butter chicken’ which is in the hot favourite list of people.

How do you see the competition?

Competition is assuredly tough. We are trying to create a niche’ but there are places opening every second day. That is why I keep saying that one needs to be honest with the product and of course one should keep the Indian price sensitive market in mind because. If you are not creating a value for money product with stupendous service experience and alluring ambience then you are over. Earlier it was about reinventing the restaurant yearly but now it’s about reinventing daily to maintain that upper hand in the market.

How changing market segments affect food service sector?

I think if restaurateurs be less pretentious about food and concentrate more on flavours and taste; it’s going to stay then. At the end of the day, Indians want something fruitful and as long as restaurateurs maintain that flavour, people will keep coming back to them.

What are your marketing plans?

It’s a database that I have created over the time as I have been in this industry from last 7 years. It’s kind of networking over the years. We use digital media as one of the strongest tools to market our product and at the end of the day we make every customer feel special and then words of the mouth play the game.

What are your expansion plans?

Yes I’m opening bars but I’m focusing on small restaurant chains for now because food will never go out of fashion. And if it’s about hopscotch, then we are thinking of opening another outlet in Andheri, Mumbai in the next three months. 

Small Restaurant Business Plan

Every foodie, more than once in his/her life, has decided to open a café or restaurant, where he/ she can spread the magic of taste in and around the locality.

People from different areas, regions have different taste, some like spicy, some like sweet and some like a mix of both spicy and sweet, one cannot just compromise with the taste, when one is paying his/her hard earned money in it.

NRAI IFSR 2016 estimates that the total contribution of the restaurant industry alone will contribute 2.1% to the GDP of India by the year 2021.

Riyaaz Amlani, President, NRAI has said, "The total food services market today stands at INR 3, 09, 110 crores and has grown at 7.7 % since our last report in 2013. This is projected to grow to INR 4, 98, 130 crores at a CAGR of 10% by 2021."

Here are a few points to help aspiring restaurateurs and entrepreneurs to start a restaurant business:

Restaurant Business Plan : Decide what to offer

Food is one thing, which holds the power to make people forget all the tensions of work or life. And there are plenty o restaurants, where one can find the authentic local cuisines or regional delicacies.

You have to decide before hand what you are going to offer to the customers, who already have their favourite dishes being served in their favourite restaurant. You ought to have something unique and the best to offer or else the customers would not find any reason to visit your restaurant.

Restaurant Business Plan : Thorough Planning

A well begun thing is half done, thus if the concept as to what kind of restaurant you want to open, should it be a high-end fine dine restaurant or for casual diner or cuisine specific or microbrewery or pub or simply quick service restaurant.

Moreover the proper planning with estimated future goals, expected profits and expansion plans will be help the banks in developing trust on your business, where the loans and financial aids come into play.

Restaurant Business Plan : Discover the Location

One can find a number of restaurants in every busy street, which serve from continental to Asian to French to Indian food. Thus look for a location, which does not get lost in the herd of restaurants in that locality.

It should not be far from the herd, neither should it be in the centre, but somewhere near the entrance or ground floor.

Restaurant Business Plan : Look for Investors

Opening a restaurant is no child’s play; it requires a lot of money. Opening a small QSR will cost around 1.2-1.8 crore, that too only to set it up, excluding the production cost and staff salary payments.

Thus look out for investors, who will fuel your dreams to take the first leap. There are plenty of investors and banks ready to help you, provided authentic documents, honest intentions.

Restaurant Business Plan : Licenses and permits

The required documents, licenses and work permits should be kept ready before opening the restaurant.

Obtaining business licenses is the doorway for any business industry to roll.

Proper legal procedures about taking the lease area and license to serve alcohol in that area and proper ventilation in the kitchen, safety standards in case of emergency should be taken care of even before laying the foundation stone of your business.

Restaurant Business Plan : Hire smart staffs

Ultimately, restaurants are known for the kind of food they serve, the hospitality and aura of it.

Thus a chef, who is master in his skills, staffs, who are not just educated robots but smart in their work are important for a restaurant to run smoothly.

Accountant, who will take care of the bills, salary of staffs, profits earned, losses bore and every money related matters.

Feeding a hungry soul is the noblest job on this planet. So go ahead to do a noble job and earn profits out of it as well, doesn’t it sound like a perfect plan!

वॉक एक्सप्रेस कब शुरु किया गया ?

वॉक एक्सप्रेस 2015 के मई में साकी नाका में शुरु हुआ था और पिछ्ले 1 वर्ष में हमने लोखंडवाला, चर्चगेट और बीकेसी में विस्तार किया। बाजार में ये संकल्पना नई होने के कारण लोगों की प्रतिक्रिया बहुत ही अच्छी रही है और इसीलिए, हम सिर्फ एक वर्ष में 5 आउटलेट्स संचालित कर रहे हैं।

ये संकल्पना शुरु करने के पीछे आपका क्या विचार था?

‘मेकिंग योर ओन वॉक’ एक ऐसी संकल्पना है, जहाँ ग्राहक अपनी पसंद और तरजीह के अनुसार अपना भोजन खुद बनाता है। आप पहले अपना पसंदीदा बेस (स्टीम्ड राइस, व्हीट/ रैमन/ सोबा नूडल्स)  चुनकर या बेस न लेना तय करके फिर, अपनी पसंद की सब्जियां या मीट चुनकर और आखिर में परम्परागत तेरियाकी से लेकर अधिक साहसिक मस्सम्मम करी या ब्लैक बीन सॉस तक की श्रेणी में से अपनी पसंद के सॉस मिला कर अपनी विशेष रूप से कस्टमाइज़ की हुई डिश बना सकते हैं। हर पसंद को विशेष रूप से डिजाइन किया गया है, ताकि आप वॉक एक्सप्रेस में हर बार नया कुछ ट्राइ कर सकते हैं।

इस नई संकल्पना को लोगों की प्रतिक्रिया कैसी रही है?

ग्राहक बहुत ही खुश हैं, उनमें से कई बार-बार वापस आ रहे हैं और हमारे वफादार ग्राहक बन चुके हैं। हर आउटलेट के साथ हमारी 40 प्रतिशत के दर से वृद्धि हो रही है।

आपकी प्रेरक शक्ति क्या है?

प्रेरक शक्ति ये है कि अच्छे माहौल में कोई चाइनीज़ क्विक सर्विस रेस्टोरेंट नहीं है और मुझे लगता है कि उसके लिए जबरदस्त गुंजाइश है और हम वही हासिल करने जा रहे हैं और हम बहुत जल्दी विस्तार करना चाहते हैं, ताकि भारत को अच्छे, वाजिब दाम वाले चाइनीज़ रेस्टोरेंट मिलें।

भविष्य के लिए विस्तार की क्या योजनाएं हैं?

हम आज से 5 वर्षों में खुद को भारत के 125 लोकेशन्स पर देखना चाहते हैं। 20-25 रेस्टोरेंट्स तो मुंबई में ही हो सकते हैं। हमारे सारे प्रयास रेस्टोरेंट विस्तारित करने के लिए हैं। हम कॉर्पोरेट हब्स और उसके पड़ोस के इलाकों की खोज में हैं।

आपका प्रमुख आकर्षण बिंदु क्या रहा?

इस वक्त हमें जो भी बढ़ावा मिल रहा है, वो सब जुबानी तारीफ तथा ऑनलाइन और सोशल मीडिया मार्केटिंग के जरिए मिल रही है।   

When is Wok Express started?

Wok Express is started in May 2015 with Sakinaka and expanded to Lokhandwala, Church gate and BKC in last one year. The response is very good as it is a new concept in the market and today we are operating 5 outlets in just one year.

What was the thought that made you start this concept?

The concept is making your own wok and the customer makes his own meal with his own preference and choice. You can customize by first choosing your own base (steamed rice, wheat/ramen/soba noodles, or skip the base), then choose your favourite fresh vegetables or meats and lastly the sauces, which range from traditional teriyaki to more adventurous ones such as Massamam curry or Black Bean. Each preference is uniquely designed so that you will always have something new to try at Wok Express.

How has been the response?

The customers are very happy and good number is coming to us with a loyal customers making to our restaurant. We are growing at 40 percent growth rate per outlet.

What is the driving factor that keeps you going?

The driving factor is that there is no Chinese QSR in good environment and I think that is a tremendous scope and that’s what we are bringing to the table. And, we want to expand very quickly so that India can have good affordable Chinese restaurants.

Going forward what is the expansion plan?

In five years down the lane we want to be at 125 locations in India. We can have 20-25 restaurants alone in Mumbai. Our entire effort is to expand the restaurant. We are looking at areas like corporate hubs and neighbourhood areas.

What was the unique marketing strategy?

Right now what traction we are getting is all because of word-of-mouth and online and social media marketing.

The one who falls and gets up is much stronger than the one who never fell. Here is a saga of a young chef-cum-entrepreneur, who made it big in culinary business, starting from scratch.

In 2007, Chef Ashish had to come back India, leaving his studies in UK behind because of the sudden demise of his father. Ashish had to leave his dream behind and focus on family responsibilities. With an aim to support his grieving family financially, the young guy took franchise of an Indian restaurant which didn’t work wonders for him, instead made him bear huge losses. He had to sacrifice his house to recover the losses.

Dreams vanished and shoulders burdened with big family responsibilities, Ashish decided to seek help from a childhood friend Dr. Sumit, who not only understood his situation, but also backed him inside out. With a meagre amount of Rs. 7000 in hand, that too lent by his only support Sumit, the chef once again opened a kiosk in Ambala and started serving Lebanese cuisine to the foodie Punjabies which was a new cuisine in the region. And, as they say, where there is a will, there is a way. Fortunately, Ashish got selected in reality TV show Masterchef India season 4 and rest is history.

When and what made you enter into the food business?

I started my first restaurant in 2013 before I participated in Master chef from a small town Ambala which is my home town. When we started it was just a small kiosk. We were the first restaurant serving Lebanese. We were also doing Burger and Sandwiches at Ambala to attract customers because for them Lebanese was not known. After few months we were a hit and we got a place at the mall itself. I participated at Masterchef and I was among top four finalists. After coming back I planned Gurgaon along with my friends.

What is the total investment you put in to start this brand?

We invested around 24 lakh to start the outlet and in just two months we expanded the outlet investing another 10 lakh.

Who is your partner in the business?

We are five friends who are my partners in the venture. We thought to give a try and within two months we realised that we need more space to expand the restaurant. Currently, we are at 4.5 rating at Zomato. We are getting good customers review.

How is the response so far?

The response is very good and we are one of the top restaurants in Gurgaon as per reviews. We have a varied customer base and delivery orders. Every week we are seeing 25 per cent rise in the customer base.

Who are your target customers?

We are not targeting any particular group. Every person who is a foodie, willing to try new food and cuisines is our target.

How varied is your product categories?

We have got very limited menu- Shawarma, Falafel, Paneer roll and platters which starts from Rs 100 and goes up to Rs 500. We have also got our specialised drinks and we don’t serve any drink or soft drinks from the market.

From where did you source the raw materials?

We are sourcing everything from the local markets. We make our own sauces.

How often do you experiment with menus?

We will add some new products in our menu this June since it’s been six months since we launched our outlet. I am planning to come up with something from Soya. Also, I am planning to come up with healthy breads. I am trying to cater to people who are wheat allergic.

How are you marketing yourself?

So far we have not done any advertisement. It is all customer recommendations.

What about expansion?

We are working on franchisee model. Every day we are getting 3 calls for franchisee. But we want to focus on our food. We want to make a strong hold on it and then want to expand. We are looking for Delhi-NCR next year and then we will go pan India.

What made you start Jiyo Natural?

The need of having healthy food is growing every day. We are trying to balance health and taste without compromising on food quality. We don’t use any colour, no preservatives, no colour enhancer anything. Whatever we use is completely natural and that’s our core philosophy to use complete natural ingredients. For example, we make bake vada pav. We make sure food is healthy and today people are looking at healthy meal, which they get at home which is free from any kind of chemical. We are on a ride to make food balance and healthy. And, that’s the need of the people who are more and more health conscious today.

Do you have special meal plan for special people?

We also can take care of the people who are a patient, for example if somebody is diabetic we can provide a wholesome customise menu for them- if somebody has high level of sugar we would normally try to know what are the conditions they have so that we can customise the kind of food, quality of food and the quantity of food as well.

We think people get bored of the same food every day. How often do you customise your menu?

One thing that People want to look for is variety these days, even at home we look for variety every day. So, we keep changing our menu every 4^th week.

What are the different kinds of cuisine you are serving?

We are serving North Indian, South Indian, and we occasionally do Chinese and Continental food. We are not a food start-up, though we are serving food and our core is food but we are a wellness start up on a ride to provide healthy food.

Who are your target customers?

We are catering to the IT companies because that’s where customers are and in Bengaluru we have majority of population from north who are working at these hubs.

You have raised funding from IAN in September. Where can we see those money being invested?

We invested them on marketing and advertising. We acquired another company called Sangeeta Aahar more from the capacity purpose to increase the number of orders. And, with this we have now capacity to do 5000 orders a day.

What are the orders that you do today?

We are doing around 3500 orders daily, our funding has actually helped us grow the business. We are growing at 20-25 per cent month on month.

How about entering to other cities?

Next round of funding we will be using on two slabs- there have been a lot of demand from other cities so we will be looking at three cities to enter and now that we know how to expand, R&D and all is in place we will cater to more customers.

Which are the cities in your radar?

In next three months we will enter into cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune to begin with. And, why we don’t want to do Delhi and Mumbai market because we will do that in second phase and there are already quite a few layers in these markets so there is tough competition.

When can we see the next round of funding happening?

We are talking to VCs and angel funding companies. Hopefully, we should get some funding in next two months but we will reveal it in next six months.

What are the plans other than expanding geographically?

We are also going to other healthcare providers to get their customers on board. Companies who are into healthcare, they have a clientele who need good food as per the meal plan given to them and we will now focus on them.

What is your average ticket value?

Indian customers want value for money meal. We have an average ticket size of Rs 100- 150 per meal. 

How was the idea of starting a super food brand popped up into your mind?

We created the product for ourselves because whatever we are eating on daily basis is not healthy for us. When we made and tested the product amongst our friends it was a hit. And, that’s when we realised there is market for this space and there is nothing happening in the space. We started it three months back.

Who is the investor into the company?

Fyne Super food is started by me and my two co-founders, Rishi Siddhu and Anand. We all have invested in the company and as of now the company is bootstrapped. We will look into investments after sometime.

What about your presence in the market?

We have started with Delhi-NCR especially to serve corporate, start ups and are also talking to gyms as a major potential. We are talking to every potential target location and customers between 20-45 years. We are also looking at retail destinations, modern trade as a major business area. We are taking small steps in the right directions.

How is the market for you till now?

We are doing it completely online but eventually we are going to do a contract, tie up specific units whose focus lies on our kind of products. On an average we get 50-60 orders daily. We have made the pricing in two ways- firstly the subscription based model which is for Rs 2500 and for per order it is Rs 100.

How did you entered into the food business?

All three of us have one venture before this, I come from marketing and branding backgrounds, Rishi Siddhu and Anand are engineers and all of us had the enthusiast about creating a product which was not very common in the market. We are trying to create a space for healthy eating and will be able to reach out to more people. We will take one step at a time.

How is the response so far?

We have seen 100 per cent growth as of now.

What is the challenge that you faced while entering into food business?

There are quite few challenges- certainly the investment- putting money but how long would it do. There is more effort to make single window clearance to start the business in food. In India people are waking up to the fact about why nutrition matters. Lack of knowledge is also a hindrance but can be an opportunity.

What is the expansion plan?

We are planning to take Delhi first and then will expand to Bengaluru and Hyderabad. In terms of product we started with one product and very soon will have two different varieties. Creating more product line would remain our focus. Meanwhile, we want to make people impact and connect with them. 

Replying back to the HSBC report that halved Zomato's valuation, Deepinder Goyal, Founder & CEO of Zomato has written a mail to its 2100 employees globally saying that they are market leaders in about 18 countries today.

Citing that the investors are bullish about their company and willing to invest in the company further, Goyal also shared that there company is growing at (>50%) of business to some of the biggest restaurant names in the country.

“The report claims that we have low market share. Our internal data shows that we drove a large percentage (>50%) of business to some of the biggest restaurant names in the country. Our traffic in India, our home market, also grew 8% in April 2016 over March 2016. We have over 8.5 million monthly unique in India alone – very few Indian companies can claim that much traffic share in a single category. Also, we are currently present in 23 countries, and we are the market leaders in 18 of them,” Goyal added.

According to the HSBC report it also mentioned that the company needs to invest in their online and delivery business, but Goyal disagreed to the report claiming that the restaurant search engine site has hit 33,000 online orders yesterday – at their average order values.

“We already are profitable in the order business at a unit economics level, and the overall online ordering business will hit profitability when we get to an average of 40,000 orders a day. We should get there in the next 3-6 months. Also, there isn’t any food delivery company in the world which owns its last mile logistics fleet, operates at scale, and is profitable. These assumptions and statements in the HSBC report make it look like they’re coming from someone who doesn’t – and hasn’t bothered to – understand the space well,” Goyal added further.

Citing about the US operations it said the US is an overcrowded market, and we will not be able to make inroads into the US. HSBC, because it never spoke to us, doesn’t know that we didn’t acquire Urbanspoon for its US presence.

“We acquired it for Australia and Canada, and our traffic is kicking ass in these two markets. We are monetising the traffic in Australia already, and Melbourne and Sydney are already in the top 5 revenue generating cities for us across the world,” Goyal clarified.

Going forward Goyal also claimed that revenue has doubled over the past 9 months. Costs have been rationalised. “Burn is down 70% from the peak – it was high because we were experimenting with various business models and geographies, which we have cut down drastically – and we are now focused on the large opportunity in front of us in our core business and core markets,” Goyal elaborated. 

How do you see the cold pressed juice market growing in India? What is the per cent?

The market is growing at a very fast pace with consumers warming up to the product. The key is customer education and our efforts over the last 2 years that is paying off. We have grown over 300% year on year.

When and how did you decided to enter into the segment?

We started working on this product way back in July 2013. In one of my trips abroad, I picked up these juices from the local supermarket and over a few weeks it did make a difference to me. I found my cravings for junk food coming down, energy levels increasing and found myself getting fitter. I thought what a wonderful product it would be to introduce to consumers back home. That’s when we started working on it and entered this segment.

What was the learning factor?

Learnings are huge. The Indian consumer is very different and the Indian palate is very different. The price points are very different in India too. We worked extensively in getting our flavours and quality right. Initially, right from sourcing the best raw materials to ensuring the product was delivered to the customer at the right temperature was a challenge. Fortunately, over the last 2 years, our hard works is paying off and are looking now expanding at a fast clip.

How was the funding done? Are you looking for any external accruals?

Currently we are bootstrapped and are looking for the right partner to help us take JusDivine closer to more people.

What is your expansion plan?

We plan to expand to Delhi and Bengaluru by the end of the year.

What is the distribution network and presence?

We are available in all the leading modern retail stores like Natures Basket, Foodhall, HyperCity, Westside Gourmet, BigBazaar, StarBazaar and many others.

Are you also selling online? Tell us about your retail presence?

Yes, we are selling online through our website www.jusdivine.com, bigbasket.com and foodesto.com

How about taking a franchise route as this product is growing tremendously?

Currently we are stocking in most leading modern retail outlets. We do not have any outlets as of now and therefore the franchise model will not work for us at this point of time. However, in the future, we may look at opening standalone outlets which is when we may adopt a franchise model. 

How the idea of starting a cold pressed business was came?

We all were very addicted to drinking packaged juice and the sugar content in these juices is very high which is not good for us. I have lived in the US and used to have these juices over there. When I came back and it was not available here I did a research in Kolkata and saw a gap in the market. We brought the technology, nutritionist and dieticians into our boards and after 4-5 months now we are doing good business.

How about the funding?

Right now we don’t have any external funding; all our investment is done by the family and me. We are only operational in Kolkata and we are growing at 15-20 per cent month on month.

How are you supplying these juices to people?

We are selling it through our web portal directly to the households. We recently tied up with Spencer’s at Quest Mall and South City Mall.

What is your view on the growth of the segment?

It is an honest product, no sugar, no preservatives. Our shelf life is three days. And manufacturing plant works at 23 degree temperature and 45 degree humidity.

What is your unique Marketing Strategy?

We are trying to create awareness towards sugary drinks and benefits of Cold Pressed Juice. So far, we are relying on word of mouth and digital marketing for marketing purposes.

What is your future expansion plan?

We plan to sell To sell 10,000 bottles in a day. We are also working towards making ourselves available at all retail and commercial spaces, have a Pan India presence and brand building

Are you looking for any external accruals?

To grow our brand pan India we are looking for VC / PE Funds.

Who is your target audience?

Our target is anyone between in 15-60, anyone who want to eat healthy food. We are selling habit and not a product.

How about sourcing the veggies and fruits?

The product is such that we use certified food and vegetables, vendors who are certified, veggies and fruits which are pesticides free. We have tied up with local suppliers and farmers.

We wanted to offer people a different kind of theme, a theme which was sufficient on its own. Therefore, we decided to go ahead with the idea of opening a country pub with pastoral look. We started working on this project from June 2015 and finally everything got into place by December 2015. The reason for choosing Connaught Place as the spot was because of the underlying motive of making our brand more accessible to our customers and to be connected with youth. CP has eventually turned as a quite happening place and most preferable hangout zone among youth. The other reason of choosing CP was that it has a colonial effect set up by Britishers. So, we wanted a place which has a traditional effect.

Tell us about your journey to become an entrepreneur?

We shared a common passion of opening a restaurant, but we were not sure of what to open, where to open and its implications. We took inspirations from various legends in this industry, who are doing well and then we started strategizing things one by one. We finalized the theme and then started short listing articles and pointers, which will help us to distinguish from others. We started looking for a place in or around inner circle of CP from December 2014 and finally chose our spot in M block outer Circle by June 2015. We started our journey in July 2015 and went through various challenges in terms of permissions from authorities, finalizing the contractors for civil works, consultant for kitchen and bar, furniture style and vendors etc. Bringing all that together, we created ‘House of Commons’. It is a success story which is difficult to put on papers, but we think it was our ‘Passion and Zeal’ towards opening a Gastro pub.

What cuisines you have in your product line?

Menu is extensive featuring from Salads to Pastas, wraps to noodles, biryani to tikkas, we have all. We have also taken inspirations from England and created our food and drinks accordingly. Our menu is a world cuisine including Italian, Continental, Indian and Chinese. We have kept a separate section of “quickies”, if you are looking for a quick meal specially to cater the corporate crowd during lunch hours. The food is meaty and comforting, includes the Gastronomic experience. The menu is shaped to maintain the balance between the typical Gastro pub food, best of Indian and International fusion.

What is your marketing approach to survive in this market?

We as a team wanted to offer our customers pleasure of having quality food and drinks. With this underlying idea, we have used the concept of Gastronomy, which is a law of regulating stomach. We give special attention to our food because we have noticed that most of the Pubs are not focusing on the same. Drinks are more or less same in almost all the outlets, but food is something, which makes a place special to revisit.

We are keeping our marketing approach in line with special focus on foodies. We are trying to pair food with excellent range of cocktails such as Drunken Tea Master and Deconstructed Sex on the Beach. Our marketing approach includes pitching corporate for get-togethers and parties and entertaining the walk-in youngsters. We also putting special focus on sports events such as English Premier League and inviting football lovers to watch the screening on our Big Screen.

Who are your competitors in the business?

Frankly, we do not believe in competition. It’s a small market, small place with a limited crowd. At present, we are trying to put ourselves apart. We are offering our guest something unique in food, music, drinks; football matches screening, moments and fun. We believe such moments spent at HOC will be the trigger to visit again.

What are the major logistics challenges faced by start-ups like you?

Since we are new in this industry, we encountered many challenges in terms of designing interiors, technical, music setup, furniture, Bar and Kitchen. We have taken help from various consultants at all stages to see them off. Once the place is functional,   we still face issues in terms of vendors, quality of food, ingredients to be procured and of course the costing in terms of operational expenses.

According to you, what are the top trends that will drive the industry in 2016?

We feel that the customers must feel special when they are visiting any outlet. So, service delivery in terms of TAT and promptness, attitude of stewards and managers towards the guest, offerings in terms of food and music will be the distinguishing factors in the industry. Apart from the above, customers also look at various innovative things that the outlet is doing for serving their food and drinks. Molecular technology, which is used these days, will remain for years to come. 

What is your expansion plan?

At present, we wish to focus on running this outlet successfully and gain some recognition in the market. However, we also plan to venture with the ‘upper house of UK parliament’ by the coming year.

How is the response so far? What is your USP?

We have only completed six months and over 60-65,000 people came to our restaurant. Because of our unique concept, we can extract more people towards our restaurant.

The USP is that United Kitchens of India is a standalone restaurant in India, which has seven state cuisines under one roof. It is a standalone restaurant in India with a separate coffee shop and lounge bar at our outlet. We also have good parking space, which is not present in any other restaurant in Hyderabad. 

How did you design your menu?

As Hyderabad is a growing city in India because of cooking. People across the country travel to Hyderabad and we have design the menu accordingly. Cuisines, which are included in our product line, are Telangana, Andhra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bengali, Punjabi, Rajasthani and continental. 

How’s your concept different from others?

We maintain the authenticity and urgency of a product.   Like, Bengali food is made by Bengali people only.

Who are your target customers?

We mainly target corporate people and people who travel from different states. 

Do you feel threatened by your competitors?

At least, in Hyderabad and Pune, I don’t feel any competition. As many restaurants only serve Andhra food, North Indian food, Bengali food, but my restaurant serves all these cuisines.   

What is your average footfall?

The average footfall during weekends is 500-600 and for weekdays is 350.

What is your marketing strategy?

We didn’t do any marketing. All our responses are completely from mouth to mouth publicity.

What is your expansion plans?

As of now, we have not decided in terms of expansion. But definitely, we want to expand in Bangalore. And for Hyderabad one restaurant is sufficient.

How was Swiggy born?

The driving principle behind Swiggy is to revolutionize the restaurant-takeaway-delivery business in India. Food delivery in India is fraught with problems both on the consumer as well as the restaurant end. The problems on the consumer end range from reliability and consistency in service, restaurant unavailability and high minimum order values etc. On the restaurant end the overheads pertaining to the maintenance of a fleet of delivery staff, high rentals and marketing costs lend credence to disruption. Since then Swiggy has evolved as a leading marketplace connecting customers to their favourite eateries with the motto of “No customer goes hungry”.

Swiggy is planning to set up kitchens jointly with restaurants for higher revenues. Share about the plan?

Swiggy intends to work with the best restaurants in creating delivery-first restaurants or cloud kitchens. The mechanism is still under discussion but the core idea is to help restaurants with generating demand and managing the logistics for them while the restaurants themselves can focus on the preparation of food. There are multiple means to achieve higher revenues-investing in these kitchens is one of the options.

What are the challenges you are facing in the operation?

Food delivery in India is a pretty nascent industry, having just taken off in the last year. Initial challenges include familiarizing restaurant partners to the business model, gaining customer traction to scaling the delivery fleet with individuals who understand the nuances of food delivery. We have come a long way since then and the traction we are receiving in new markets we are entering stands testimony to the fact that the restaurant delivery business is undergoing a major change.

On what basis do you provide recommended menus to customers?

In addition to personalized menus, users can also sort or filter based on their preferences corresponding to cost, time of delivery, rating, popularity, cuisine etc. We also have a set of recommended dishes from a restaurant along with accompanying photos which assist users in faster checkouts. Overall we are trying to optimize customer experience to enable checkouts within a minute. Besides these data-driven parameters, our visual menus guide customers through what we have picked as the best items from a particular restaurant.

How much competition do you face from Zomato, Tinyowl or Foodpanda?

Swiggy is not just a lead-generation solution but is also focused on solving the key problem of logistics in food delivery. Even the business model is different than the other players in the market. Swiggy’s objective is to integrate with restaurant partners and provide an optimal experience to our customers. Therefore, Swiggy has a no minimum order policy and is currently the only service in the market to offer live tracking of orders.

How has technology played a pivotal role in making ordering seamless on Swiggy platform?

Swiggy is a core-logistics platform and thus, leverages technology heavily in order to provide the best of services to the restaurants as well as customers. Customers currently have an option to place orders through either the website or the mobile apps (iOS or Android). We use other factors such as traffic conditions, historically determine preparation time of restaurants, location of delivery executives to “smartly” determine the delivery time promise to end customer. Customers can even live-track their order from time of confirmation to delivery on a map. Today, our service level agreement compliance is above 80 per cent and growing.

To our restaurant partners, we provide a system which not just relays orders but provides them a snapshot of the financials as well as key operational metrics. Our delivery partners are equipped with state of art mobile technology that selects the best resource to fulfil the order apart from guiding him on the routes. On the back end, our analytics engine periodically mines customer data to understand user preferences, which helps us partner with the right restaurants.

How do you see social media as a marketing medium?

During the recent past, social media has risen to prominence, especially as a vital marketing tool. Since social media is now extremely popular, with huge numbers skimming through content for a large part of a typical day, it is a crucial tool to market through, for the sake of simply reaching a vast audience. Social media also provides clever targeting for increased viewership, helping marketing land much closer to the intended mark.

What is your expansion plans?

We are already present in eight cities– Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Gurgaon, Kolkata and Chennai. Our core objective is to ensure widespread proliferation in all the cities we are currently operational in. Then, we will plan to expand to four to six more cities within the next year. Our goal is to revolutionize the way India eat and in covering all major cities.

To become a successful start-up, one has to look at many things like building a good team, to make something innovative and interesting, which customers want to see and the budget. On the same note, Kalpit Gandhi, CFO, Melt In said, “Our approach is three tiered. A continuous look out for new ideas; archiving ideas and filtering the ones, which are good and are in line with what our brand stands for; ensuring a process that sustainable product execution is possible with minimum possible variation”.

Today, funding is not an issue for start-ups. Moreover, starting a home based business is within the reach of everyone and low risk than a proper restaurant. According to founders, it's more important to serve a customer, than to build a product. And, that is the reason most entrepreneurs are building their product, than to solve problems for customers.

Mindset for a start-up

These days’ start-ups have completely different approach for their business. Start-up usually tries to pitch, which interests them or helps to make more profit out of it. After that they take new projects and build a smart team accordingly, which includes hiring those people who have a fresh approach and can handle challenges.

“Our learning from our past successes and failures have been the key to our approach. In depth market research, trend analysis, detailed projections (P & L), process documentation, marketing plan and brand communication strategy have kept us occupied, for over nine months. Over a period of time we built a team of SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) – social media, legal, financial, media, food & beverages, website development, portal development, PR, etc, pointed Abhijeet Goswami, Co-Founder, Cook'dIn.

Start-up restaurants generally focus on food. A restaurant with a grand food can be expensive, crowded, out of the reach for some people and even bad service, but still people will keep coming. That is why many restaurants even with average food attract customers through music, band performance, gimmicks and many such things.

“A mindset always starts with a goal; once you have the aim with you; it's easier to put the plan together. The method is simple-have a goal, plan it on paper and work towards achieving it”, shared Bunty Arora, MD, Doppio Bar & Brasserie.

Tech Approach

The new innovation of “food with tech” is all because of advancement of technology, social media and also online ordering. This is changing the overall mindset, product offerings, food supply and communication process.

“I'm very tech savvy. I love computers and its power. Life today is much simpler with apps, cloud drives etc. You can access your files, images and documents from where ever you are. It also helps to create team tasks, which can be monitored remotely. I feel technology if used correctly can create wonders for your organization. A simple app like Google calendar can help your entire team to schedule events and create team tasks. A startup I feel is something like a newborn baby, if nurtured correctly, it can turn into a full fledged business”, stated Arora.

Hence, there are many such strategies to start a start-up that would vary considerably from person to person.