With homely food and friendly atmosphere in place, mini restaurants are redefining the city’s popular culture, says Pallavi Gupta
Amit Panda, a young marketing professional, while presenting one of his clients at the NH7 weekender, ended up his own food stall at the music fest in Noida. His couple of friends pooled in and called the chotu (small) canopy as Matchbox. Just to be different, they served bacons, hot dogs, sausages and pork burgers. After ensuring tremendous success for two years at the fest, they took Matchbox recently to Hauz Khas Village. “Three of us — Mahavir Mohanty, Siddharth Suman and I — quit our jobs and took big risk by opening this small outlet which we believed would become big soon,” says 25-year-old Panda. A quick glance tells us that the place has been divided into several sections like music, games, movies and bar. “We want to serve something to everybody. The place is a sure hit in just couple of months,” beams the young owner.
A quick walkthrough the Hauz Khas Village lane shows how ‘mini eateries’ are reaping ‘mammoth profits’ and are thronged with young crowd with a waiting list of even hours. The ‘food district’ of the city gives a changing landscape of the hospitality industry across the NCR where small has clearly become big. “A lot of young people with diverse professional backgrounds are jumping on the bandwagon. They come with limited investment but have creative ideas. So while a number of restaurants are opening up each day, a few of them are surviving and thriving in the market,” says food blogger Pawan Soni.
UNIQUE IDENTITY CARD
Interestingly, these boutiques like restaurants are offering ‘friendly atmosphere’ accompanied by customised food. The attempt is to provide homely and comfortable set up where people can get cozy, comfy and get relieved. A lot of attention is being paid to privacy, distinct décor and hospitality by the staff. Vatsala, a DU student and a regular at Big Yellow Door says, “One surely cannot overlook this place because you can always find a bustling crowd outside this ‘cute’ yellow door. The inside is dim but cozy. BYD’s bricked walls are plastered with multicoloured paper slips written over by the dedicated customers. Coming to the food, it is high on quantity and higher on taste. Though the service is little slow, it is a perfect place to catch up with mates without digging too much into the pockets.” Being small doesn’t signify any sort of compromise on food. l’Opera brings authentic French food to its outlets. “People want to be at a place which is a novelty for them. We felt that there was an opportunity to bring authentic French cuisine here and provide a complete Paris experience to our customers. One needs to ensure that the decoration, atmosphere and service are perfectly married,” says chef Kazem Samandari from l’Opera.
SMART GROWTH PlAN
The maximum number of mini restaurants can be found at DU’s north campus area which has some of the prestigious campuses of the city. The student community is sharp and well-informed when it comes to shedding moolahs. They are known to crack the best deals. “So the area is obviously flooded with small outlets which offer the pocket-friendly dining experience,” says Neha Puri, a varsity student. Manika Pawha, owner of Wood Box Café says, “Hanging out is a favourite pastime of students here. Small restaurants at rushed in places get them a good deal keeping their budget in mind. We have targeted young folks for our café. We opened about eight months back and the earnings have been enormous. We are in planning to start two more outlets soon.”
Take away business is also one important part of their business cycle. The limited number of footfalls due to confined area has led to many more ways of generating revenues. “For money, we are not dependent only on the dining income. Our major revenue comes from take aways. Since we cannot afford to lose customer base, we encourage them to get it packed for homes,” said Amit Bagga, owner, Faarsi.
A decent investment with smart planning can lend wings to your dreams. Sushmit from Pinxto said, “Given the opportunity I would open five more small restaurants than a big one. I would like to spread my business in different parts of the city rather than keeping only one outlet.”
GRABBING EYEBAllS
Small restaurants thrive at locations rushed in by people. The trend traces back to the need to have a location advantage. The streets of the north campus, Khan market, Hauz Khas village or Greater Kailash and many thriving places offer the best opportunities today.
“location plays a very important role. Our restaurant offers a Spanish cuisine. And for our joint to work we needed to educate others of our concept of Spanish dining. For customers to walk in for a taste of our themed cuisine, we needed a rushed in location in order to be noticed. Until you educate the customers, they would be oblivion to what you serve,” says Sumit. Choose a small space at a crowded location helps keep costs down while still giving one an opportunity to robust the business.