"Co-working cafes will gain popularity post Covid era"

Whiz Café entered the Indian market with a premium co-working space, Whizdom Club in GK2 in August 2019. Towards the end of 2019 the group soft launched Whiz Café, a premium café as an extension of their co-working facility. “We began hosting with a few people who visited not just for our eclectic menu but also for the vibrant ambience combined with collaboration opportunities,” shared Chulamas Jitpatima (Amy), Country Director, MQDC India. Excerpts from the interview:

Tell us about your journey?

On 22nd February, 2020 we officially launched Whiz Café which is centrally located and provides space to hold official meetings, fun reunions or a quite coffee date.The wall art, floor to ceiling windows and our in-house merchandize store, Whiz Exchange make Whiz Café a space that people want to keep coming back to.

Whiz Cafe

Due to the pandemic, the ensuing lockdownwe had to shut down the club for 2 months and café dine-in for almost 6 months. Post Unlock 1.0 we reopened our café delivery services via Zomato and Swiggy and welcomed our members back into the club. As soon as the delivery was launched, our patrons were quick to order again. We ensure that the food is prepared and delivered with the highest hygiene standards in place. The café was reopened for dine-in on 25th September with an exclusive menu consisting of a wide variety of options such as salads, signature desserts, hot and cold beverages, small and large plates as well as a breakfast menu.

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You are known for building wellness and sustainability, in the residential space. How are you trying to adopt the same in building a food business?

For every space that MQDC has built across the world,the spaces are designed not just keeping in mind the aesthetics but also ensuring well-being for all. Our focus remains on creating a sustainable facility, where people thrive in their personal and professional well-being.We offer an eclectic menu for Whiz Café that has both gourmet as well wholesome options, like the special immunity drinks and salads. We also ensure zero wastage and regular deep cleaning in our kitchen and take all necessary precautions for the health and safety of our employees and customers. As we have opened dine-in, the staff and customers have mandatory temperature checks, wear masks and practice social distancing.

Whiz Cafe

What is the speciality of Whiz Cafe? Tell us something about the menu design?

We wanted Whiz Café to be an ultimate hang out spot for young professionals, business owners and residents in the vicinity for work meetings as always casual brunches making Whiz Café a place for all. In order to ensure we attract more people we created a diversified menu that would encompass some of our favourite comfort foods as well as options that could be eaten while on the go. Our menu includes breakfast items and sandwiches to accompany the early morning calls, sides and fresh bakes options to satiate the mid-day cravings and then options of full meals like Sandwiches or risotto. As part of our focus on health we also offer a wide-range of salad options and coolers or fresh fruit beverages. For our sickly-sweet lovers, we have an array of desserts, from which the classic chocolate cake is one of our most loved dishes.

Co-working in cafe and restaurants have grown in India over the years. Do you also offer the same at your café?

We have a unique model where our co-working space has the café as an extension. Hence, it’s a place for our co-working members and also open for walk-in customers making it a perfect place collaborate, work and unwind.

Whiz Cafe

Who are your regular customers?

Our regular patrons include professionals/freelancers who visit Whiz Café to conduct business meetings or work on projects. Some of our regulars also include residents who meet up with friends for lunches as well as college students who enjoy a good cup of coffee coupled with desserts.

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What do you think would be future of such concepts going forward?

We believe, in post Covid era, co-working spaces will gain popularity in order to help organisations de-densify, along with that the concept of cafes such as ours that are well-lit, with great ventilation and spaced our seating arrangements will become important as well. The concept of a café culture coupled with a co-working space will gain more traction as it will allow for a heterogeneous blend of ideas and conversations in a safe and controlled space.

Whiz Cafe

What is your expansion plan?

We are very optimistic about the India market and even in these volatile times we intend to expand to more places across Delhi-NCR to begin with. We are constantly on the look-out for new spaces and are in conversation with owners while weighing in the pros and cons. While we have some major expansion plans, we shall also have to wait and watch and consider the how the present situation pans out.

 
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