PAVAN LALL

Mumbai, 29 january

Like many nature-lovers,Aditi Dugar and her hus-band head to Ladakh

once a year. Except they don’tjust visit for the snow-cappedpeaks, spectacular vistas, or themythic motorcycle trails.They’re there in the main tosource seabuck thorn, yakcheese, lavender and thyme,all ingredients that end up ontheir tasting menus at Masque,a stand-alone restaurant whichlaunched in 2016. Similarly,brothers Ryan and KeenanTham, who run a string ofrestaurants that include Koko,The Good Wife, and night clubTrilogy across several cities inthe country are also looking atideas that toss up a uniqueoffering to diners.

Kapil Chopra, chairman ofthe board of Eazydiner.com, anonline reservation platform forrestaurants says India has 640million millennials, and in thenext five years, more peoplewill be eating out than at home.So just how much do dinersspend? A Nielsen study saysthat urban Indians spendaround ~6,500 a year on eatingout. That’s barely enough tocover a night out for three peo-ple at Masque but the poten-tial lurks in spending habits ofmillennials (aged 18 to 34 years)who earn more than a millionrupees a year and spend 13 percent of food-expenditure oneating out. That’s five percentmore than Generation X’ers(ages 35-50 years) who earn the

same amount. The result is a changing

landscape for the country’s eat-ing-out business where brand-ing was once nothing morethan sending out take-awaymenus to local businesses andhouseholds. What was once alandscape of restaurants thatcould be neatly segregated intoIndian, Chinese, and continen-tal cuisines has given way toexperiments with concepts thatplay with fusion cuisine andfood from around the world;experiment with menus,design and service to providean experience that keeps cus-tomers coming back for more.

The big shift according toRiyaaz Amlani, CEO ofImpresario Entertainment &Hospitality which started SaltWater Cafe, the Social, and theSmokehouse Deli says thatrestaurants today are closer tofiguring out what customersreally want as well definingwhat he terms “mood-spaces.”

If restaurants ChinaGarden, Olive, and Indigodefined mainstream yesterday,then it’s about razor-sharpen-ing that focus into what theflavour of the day, figurativelyspeaking, today is really about.“The real Indian consumerlikes their food saucy, with bigflavors,” Amlani adds. Hepoints to restaurants that havetailored their offerings to thatsensibility—The BombayCanteen, Monkey Bar areexamples of the transition fromclassique to nouvelle with anIndian twist

Fundamentally, there are

two models at play in diningconcepts. There’s the low capexand high volume model andthen there’s the low volumeand high capital outlay version,so while Amlani has a pointabout the emergence of freshnew tastes, there’s also estab-lished success with restaurantsthat throw up what’s popular.

Tham’s Koko for example,has a full-servicebar on one endand a reservation-style restaurant onthe other whichserves an eliteclientele. Here,the customer isbeing lured for alunch-cum-busi-ness deal unlikespaces where freewifi is the bigdraw.

Of course, there’s an audi-ence for that as well. Social, astring of open-style casualcafes with no-fuss food, andtons of space is Amlani’s mod-el for getting youngsters in tospend time there. Browse ontheir computers or chat ontheir phones for hours on endeven if they just ordered onebeer. There are 18 Socials thusfar and he plans to launchanother ten. At the other end ofthe spectrum Dugar says shehas no plans to start anotherMasque in a different city. “It’sa business that’s driven by achef, which you can’t duplicateas easily,” she says.

While the private equityand venture capital communi-ty does look at the restaurant

business, investments over thepast few years slowed downbefore again gradually pickingup in recent months. InDecember last year, Rabo Bankbought Aditya Birla PE’s stakein AD Singh’s OliveRestaurants, L-Cattertonbought a majority stake inImpresario, and the JituVirwani led Embassy Group

bought a majoritystake in JSM Corpwhich operatesHard Rock Caféand CaliforniaPizza Kitchen.

SachinBhartiya, partnerat LighthouseAdvisors India thathas invested ~460million to set up150 locations ofWow! Momo, a

grab-and-go fast food offering,says “there’s sufficient interestfrom investors when the mod-el is capital efficient, scalable,and exciting enough to keepcustomers coming back againand again.” Experience mattersand restaurant owners areturning over every plate tomake sure they deliver a mem-orable one; one that steadiesthe bottom line as much as itappeals to investors.

If there’s a word of caution,it comes from Chopra. “This isultimately a very tough busi-ness, there are nine failures forevery one success.” Food maybe the new buzzword in townbut building a brand out of arestaurant, that is not for theweak-hearted.

“There's sufficientinterest frominvestors when themodel is capitalefficient, scalable,and excitingenough to keepcustomers comingback” SACHIN BHARTIYAPartner, LighthouseAdvisors, India

Brands for every palate4 BRAND WORLD HYDERABAD | TUESDAY, 30 JANUARY 2018>

A new breed of restaurant entrepreneurs bets on experiential dining to builddifferentiated brands in a cluttered and fast evolving industry

(L to R) In Mumbai, close to a dozen restaurant brands vie for space on the facade of a building in Kamala Mills compound inWorli, (top) Koko and (bottom) Masque are newly opened spaces in the city that are looking to create a loyal customer base

PHOTOS: KAMLESH PEDNEKAR

ACROSS

8 About to go into action sodouble up (6)

9 Big dread of being cut short(8)

10 Indulging in exceptionally

large gin (8)11 Storm container? (3-3)12 Enter private auditorium,

opening covered area on theside (6)

13 People as in USSR afterdissolution (8)

14 Hacks virgin Bob to pieces (7)16 Record one path, ordering

words to be set in stone (7)20 The way he walks when

transport is provided,? (8)23 Bent over like a bridge (6)25 Clerical work done by a metal

worker (6)26 Discouraged man get up and

went wrong (8)27 As predicted (8)28 Barber is a youngster (6)

DOWN

1 Marriage without a hitch?(4,4)

2 Father phoned for Malayknife (6)

3 Force to raise dictator’s wifein outlet (8)

4 Wary about turned egg, thesame being a source of thismischievous drollery (7)

5 Deserter held by soldiers isnot charged (6)

6 Dreamer is first, followingone play of cards (8)

7 In the South-East, one of fivehas glittering ornament (6)

15 Notes kept by more positive

thinker (8)

17 Force open to admit law topursue … (8)

18 Takes the lead, but quietlydrops back later (8)

19 We'd send grids designed forvery special attire (7)

21 In casino, Sri Lanka turnedaway this woman (6)

22 Presented from the viewpointof England, perhaps but notthe north (6)

24 Breakfast food not all nice,really (6)

> BS SUDOKU # 2412

SOLUTION TO #2948

SOLUTION TO #2411

EEaassyy::

Solution tomorrow

HOW TO PLAY

Fill in the grid so that everyrow, every column andevery 3x3 box contains thedigits 1 to 9

Max/min temperatures inOC

NNAATTIIOONNAALL

Ahmedabad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rain 34/25Aizawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 29/22Bangalore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 28/20Bhopal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 26/22Bhubaneswar . . . . . . . . Thundery 31/26Chandigarh . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 30/21Chennai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 35/27Delhi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 33/26Guwahati . . . . . . . . . . . .Partly cloudy 33/26Hyderabad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 32/24Imphal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 28/20Indore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 28/23Kochi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 29/25Kolkata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 32/26Lucknow . . . . . . . . . . . . .Partly cloudy 32/27Mangalore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 29/24Mumbai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 31/25Pune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 29/21Srinagar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rain 29/12Surat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 30/26Thiru’puram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thundery 31/25

> WEATHER TODAY’S FORECAST

> THE BS CROSSWORD # 2949