Author: P Krishna Kumar

Mizoram’s move to open its doors to locally produced wine could provide the trigger for the Northeast to emerge as India’s next major wine-producing region, with abundant tropical fruits, favourable policy changes and growing demand for softer alcoholic beverages creating new opportunities for farmers and entrepreneurs. Speaking to HospitalityBiz India, Francis Lalmalsawma Sailo, Coordinator for Northeast India, All India Wine Producers Association (AIWPA), said the region has the raw material and growing policy support to build a distinct fruit-wine industry, rather than compete directly with established grape-wine markets such as Maharashtra and Karnataka. Sailo, who is also a member of…

“At Madhubhan Resort & Spa, environmental sustainability is inbuilt. We have been practicing it for the last 18 years,” Manohar S Gurung, president of Madhubhan Resort & Spa,  a standalone luxury resort in Anand, Gujarat, said setting the tone for the conversation. The resort’s green initiatives have been recognised recently by the FHRAI, when they bestowed the resort with the Best Luxury Resort category for Green practices, at its Varanasi Convention.   Situated in Anand, the milk capital of India,  Madhubhan Resort & Spa, has the distinction of being the first 5-star-deluxe resort of Gujarat.  Although the hospitality landscape of…

Two years into its operations, The Qualia Resort Club & Brewery is seeking to strengthen its position as a differentiated hospitality destination in Udaipur, bringing together a luxury resort, craft brewery and nightclub under one roof. Located in Debari at the foothills of the Aravalis, the property was conceived around a proposition that is still relatively uncommon in the City of Lakes—a destination where guests can stay, dine, experience freshly brewed craft beer and party at a dedicated nightclub without having to move between venues. “We wanted to set up a restaurant and a brewery with a nightclub,” said Neeraj…

Suryaveer Singh, newly elevated Chief Executive Officer of Trance International Hotels & Resorts, plans to take the hotel management company’s portfolio to around 30 properties over the next five years, with a strategic focus on the largely underserved four-star resort segment outside major cities and towns. Singh, who co-founded Trance International Hotels with his father and veteran Taj Group hotelier Veer Vijay Singh in 2015, said the company sees significant opportunity in developing and managing quality resorts in markets that have traditionally received limited attention from large hotel operators. A graduate of École Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) and a qualified…

Veteran hotelier and VW Hospitality Consultancy founder and CEO Vijay Wanchoo has called for a rethink of the hospitality industry’s work culture to align with the aspirations of the younger generation, while urging hotels to adopt a more rigorous and proactive approach to food safety and hygiene. Wanchoo was speaking to HospitalityBiz India ahead of the formal launch of his book ‘A Journey of Hospitality: Checked in by Fate’, to be hosted by The Park Hotel in New Delhi later this week. The book, nearly a decade in the making, and soft-released a few months ago, chronicles his journey through…

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…