Author: P Krishna Kumar
Chef Fanny Lopez Ruano. Head Chef – R&D at Frozen Fun Gelato, an Italian Gelato brand based in Delhi NCR shares her experiences being in India and her approach to fusion food. Italian gelato may still be a niche category in India, but for Chef Fanny Lopez Ruano, the country has become a playground of flavours and learning for her. She has created some interesting fusion Gelatos using Indian ingredients, which have really been liked by connoisseurs of frozen desserts during Diwali. “I came with an open mind to India and I am really loving it,” she said opening the…
Co-founded by husband-wife duo – Varun Kapoor and Deepthi Nair, the frozen momo and dimsum brand, Happy Monk is leveraging its five-year B2B credibility of working with luxury hotel brands and premium restaurant chains to build a strong presence in the retail consumer space. After five years of supplying gourmet frozen momos and dimsums to leading hotels and restaurant chains, Mumbai-based Happy Monk is now accelerating its retail ambitions through a dedicated D2C platform and a newly launched retail partnership with Bombay Gourmet Market. Despite this expansion, co-founder Deepthi Nair says the company’s B2B business remains the “backbone” that funds…
Arjun P Gupta, founder & CEO of Smart Joules, a one-stop energy-efficiency partner for commercial buildings including hotels, speaks about the myths surrounding global building rating systems; where the hotel industry stands in terms of energy-efficiency benchmarks; and how Opex-based partnership models can drive energy efficiencies and enhance profitability. While building rating systems like LEED and others have helped raise awareness about energy-efficient design and environmental sustainability over the last decade, Arjun P Gupta — a civil and environmental engineer by training and the brain behind Smart Joules, a Delhi-based climate action company — believes that the vast majority of…
Anirudh Lakhotia, director of Ivory Destinations, which owns and operates two boutique resorts in the highly sensitive ecosystems of Uttarakhand – Corbett and Mukteshwar – talks about how they try to conduct business differently because of their family’s attachments and deep roots in the region. After 13 years of operating their flagship resort – The Golden Tusk – in Corbett, Ivory Destinations had expanded to Mukteshwar early this year, opening The Chamomile Estate, an all of 7 suites resort in a 2.5 acre land tucked away from the mainstream inside a tea-growing village. As in The Golden Tusk, a nomenclature…
Dekye Lhamu Bhutia, director of Norbu Ghang Hotels, Sikkim, talks about family’s latest hotel— Norbu Ghang Retreat, Pangthang, Gangtok built as a heartfelt tribute to Sikkim’s Buddhist architecture and cultural heritage, even as market realities make survival harder for local entrepreneurs. The premium 38-key retreat, Norbu Ghang Retreat, Pangthang, Gangtok operational for less than a year, was constructed in phases by the Bhutia family with a lot of passion and Dekye Lhamu Bhutia, an IHM graduate and an avid painter with a passion for Buddhist art and symbolism, leads the operations of the hotel from the front. Her deep personal…
Kolkata’s Ballygunge has no dearth of restaurants, yet in just a year-and-a-half, Bonne Femme has managed to carve a unique position for itself, something founder Moushumi Sircar attributes not to glamour, but to relentless commitment, constant presence, and a knack to lead from the front. Sircar, an electronics engineer who spent more than a decade in senior roles at TCS before turning entrepreneur, says the transition into the food business was a reality check. “It looks very glamorous… but trust me, it is just the opposite. You need to be hands-on. You need to be there everywhere basically.” Having grown…
The maiden FPO–Hospitality & Farmers’ Benefit Summit, organised by the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) in Delhi, resolved to build strong linkages between the country’s farming community and the hotel and restaurant industry to enable inclusive economic growth. Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, said that the government will encourage closer partnerships between Food Producer Organisations (FPOs) and the hospitality sector to enhance farmers’ income. He emphasised that no other industry has the power tourism has to redistribute income to underdeveloped regions of the country, and urged FPOs to leverage…
Home-grown burger chain Burgrill is gearing up for its next growth phase with a North India densification strategy, a sharper focus on company-owned outlets, and a targeted fundraise. With demand rising across metros and emerging markets such as Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, the brand sees strong headroom for controlled, profitable expansion. Burgrill, the Chandigarh-born burger brand founded in 2016, is preparing to shift gears as it eyes faster yet disciplined expansion across India. Shreh Madan, co-Founder of the QSR burger chain, said the company is now focused on strengthening its corporate-owned outlet footprint even as it retains its…
Miten Shah and Abhilash Menon, co-founders of home-grown sports bar brand, Studs Sports Bar & Grill, who relaunched one of their flagship joints at Andheri East Mumbai with a new design, ambience and product offerings recently, shared the rationale behind the re-design and the road ahead for the brand. Studs Sports Bar & Grill, one of India’s fastest-growing homegrown sports bar chains, is preparing for a global leap, with its co-founders Miten Shah and Abhilash Menon convinced that the world is ready to be surprised by a sports-bar concept that originates not in the US or Europe, but in…
Sumit Mitruka, CEO & Founder of Summit Hotels & Resorts, a hotel management company with strong footprint in northeast India, talks about his vision for the company as he opens the first company owned 5-star hotel asset in Siliguri in West Bengal followed by a marquee asset in Darjeeling. In the mountains of the Eastern Himalayas where tourism potential has long battled infrastructural limitations, Summit Hotels & Resorts has quietly become one of the region’s most dominant hotel companies, and its CEO & Founder Sumit Mitruka now wants to use that foundation to create a sharper, more segmented brand identity…
