"Customers Are Spoiled for Choices"

How did you enter into the food business?

Hospitality has always been my passion as I’m a big foodie. I always use to visit different restaurants and try different cuisine. The thing which I wanted to create was a unique concept which has never been done before. Wherever you go, there are all speciality restaurants or QSRs and people are really tired of going to the same place again and again. That is how I followed my passion of food in executing something out of the box.

How is your restaurant different from others?

If I ask somebody that why are they visiting a restaurant then they might simply say for food. Definitely food is the core and it has to be at par but what is the next thing which brings back the customer. There has to be some novelty factors. That novelty factor came from our tie up with MTV which is one of the greatest entertainment providers. So by having an alliance with MTV, we make sure that we get best of the talents to come over and show their talent in front of the world. We’re not only promoting vocal talent, we are trying to align a bridge for the people who can’t make it to the television.

How about customer’s response?

People initially had not so much of expectations because they thought it was only borrowing name of the channel and nothing much. But our restaurant was very serious about the concept so for the food we hired celebrity chef Ranveer Brar as a consultant; he gave us ideologies about the cuisine, menu and other important factors. We are very proud to say that he’s on the boat with us now; he owns shares of the company. It speaks volume in itself that Celebrity Chef like Ranveer Brar also firmly believes in our venture.

Tell us something about your journey? How did it happen?

I’m from a business family and we don’t know anything else than business. My father used to organize lottery and there was a point in time in 1992-93 where we were India’s no. 1 lottery organizers. That trade was massive that we never thought of getting into something else. Unfortunately, after sometime Government banned lottery business and by 2000 we were out of trade. At that time, we had our hotels and offices in many regions of India and there were employees for whom we were answerable. Although, we had wealth but we didn’t have business at that time to support them. That was the time when I took a decision that whichever business I’m going to run, I’ll diversify it so that my family and staff do not have to face those tough situations which I had to face. That was a call taken.

How do you think changing market segments affect the food industry?

More people are bringing more ideas which are good for India. Also, we take competition as healthy. Customers today have no choice, they are spoiled for choices and as a restaurateur we must spoil them with choices. There is a loop in the market which we restaurateurs need to fill.

Where could we see all that money investing? What are your expansion plans?

We’re the first one to tie up with an entertainment provider MTV with one of our Group Companies, i.e., Funbars Hospitality Pvt Ltd. Funbars has planned its outlets on PAN India basis, we have our restaurant in Delhi and we’re planning to extend to Mumbai in next coming years.

 
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