Last year was undoubtedly annus horribilis for the hotel industry and fine dining restaurants through the country, especially Mumbai and Goa. Recessionary pressures were already surfacing towards the end of ’08 when the Mumbai attacks occurred, sending the industry into a violent downswing. Just as business was starting to pick up in the latter half of ’09, a 100 per cent increase in the price of raw ingredients cut profit margins to shreds. Restaurateurs are looking at 2010 with a palpable sense of gloom and a desperate optimism. The only segment that has not experienced a significant drop in business last year was the mid-level restaurant, though rising prices have been a concern.
It’s quite clear that menu prices across the board will be raised early next year by at least 30 per cent. With large restaurants being occupied by servicing bank loans and repaying investors, there are going to be very few big-ticket restaurants opening next year.
However, we will see the launch of a number of new chains as well as the expansion of established ones into new cities. The most famous of these and the most eagerly anticipated is the world’s largest premium speciality coffee bar, Starbucks. The caffeine king is set to kick open its first outlet by mid-2010 at an upscale mall in central Mumbai. Lamborghini, the guys who make fancy cars, are launching a cafe and a line of high-end branded chocolates in Mumbai, probably at the same mall.
Ice ice baby
Häagen-Dazs, the super-premium ice-cream brand, which recently opened its first outlet in Delhi, will probably also aim at opening in Mumbai. The other chains that have India in their sights don’t have the cache of a Starbucks, but even a small slice of the pie is a substantial serving for them. Dixy Chicken, a UK-based fast-food chain that offers a variety of chicken burgers, burger meals, chicken tortilla wraps, nuggets and peri-peri chicken, is preparing to set up 10-15 restaurants by 2010. The Pizza Company, a Thailand-based pizza and pasta restaurant chain, is preparing to launch dine-in restaurants, take-away outlets and delivery units in India.
Chain reaction
But international chains aren’t the only ones in expansion mode. Nirula’s, beloved by Delhiwallahs, is hoping that Mumbai will embrace it with the same enthusiasm when they open up next year. The chain also envisions 140 outlets across Goa, western, southern and eastern India.
Brewberrys, a small Vadodara-based cafe chain, having tasted success in Gujarat and MP, is gearing up to bring its interpretation of a cuppa joe to Maharashtra and Karnataka. On the anvil are at least 10 outlets with an additional 25 in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Cochin, Pune, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Lucknow.
Meanwhile Barista Lavazza will take its menu forward in Bangalore and Mumbai by including wine and beer by March 2010.
With small to medium-sized restaurants being the leitmotif for 2010, no new cuisines are likely to emerge next year. Italian and Japanese will continue to dominate and at best we’ll see newer dishes or products being introduced. Extra virgin olive oils from specific regions in Italy and top-quality dry pastas will become available while menus will start reflecting more seasonal and regional dishes. Though the re-introduction of Mexican is bandied about, there is still scepticism about its viability and one or two small restaurants might see the light of day. More dishes from cuisines like Vietnamese, Korean, Malaysian and Indonesian will be introduced into pan-Asian restaurant menus, but full-fledged restaurants are out.
Supermarkets however are looking at introducing ready to cook and packaged foods from Australia, Turkey and South Africa and extending their offerings of Thai cuisine. Heat and eat Pad Thai noodles, Thai sauces and Thai curry pastes have proved to be popular as has baklava and Turkish Delight. Many European producers have turned their attention to India. Chocolate sticks that can be dissolved into hot milk and pre-prepared cocktail mixes are on the cards.
Plated Indian food and molecular gastronomy have being doing the rounds but everyone agrees that neither offers much scope to base a restaurant on. At the banquet level, plated Indian meals have found tentative acceptance with corporates. Caterers believe that they might see more orders for plated Indian and Asian meals next year.
Published HT Brunch 27/12/2009
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