Inside FoodService

The Way To An Indian’s Stomach...

You can never penetrate the Indian market without making an effort to understand the country’s culture and mindset, writes Yohann Setna

Although ‘fast food’ is ingrained in the culinary culture of India, the passage of time has not really resulted in any sort of evolution in the manner in which our traditional fast-foods are prepared or served. It’s still very much a ’cottage industry’ with street vendors accounting for almost all the sales. Personally, I cannot imagine a day when the street-side ‘vada pav’, ‘chaat’ or ‘sendvitch’ stall in Mumbai will disappear. Nor would I ever want that to happen. It’s such an integral part of who we are as Indians. This brings me to the point of writing this article. As an entrepreneur in the food and beverage industry, I have had several interactions with international ‘fast food’ and other ‘concept’ restaurant corporations. They all seem to be bullish about expanding their concepts in India. This is all very well, but very few, if any of them, seem to have understood the Indian mindset.

One of the dilemmas seems to be the necessity for all these concepts to have very premium locations, in order to attract the client profile they are targeting. In cities like Mumbai this can prove to be very difficult, as these up-market locations are not found ‘dime-a-dozen’. When you do find a suitable location, the rents can be exorbitant. This necessitates a high volume turn-over, which in the case of a fast food or similar concept where the average cheque is not very high, translates into covers, plenty of them. Is the market ready to support high volumes in very specific concepts, and at prices which are not really competitive with traditional Indian fast foods? I’m not so sure. Is it possible to sell hundreds, even thousands of portions of fish ‘n’ chips, or fried chicken every day? Maybe, maybe not. Many of these concepts are heavily dependent on non-vegetarian items, which dominate their menus. Indians are predominantly vegetarians. Strict vegetarians. So much so that some of them don’t want their vegetarian food to be prepared in the same kitchen in which non-vegetarian food is prepared. The mother of all fast food chains, McDonalds, has made a very special effort to set up separate kitchens to prepare vegetarian and non-vegetarian items, and they have extended this effort to educate the public of this kitchen set up. Hats off to them! I truly feel that if any concept is to succeed in India, great efforts to Indianise the menu must be undertaken. Again, McDonalds has succumbed to local eating habits by extensively Indianising their menus. I think India must be one of the only countries in the world where McDonalds do not to serve their famous ‘Big Mac’. Unlike many other developing countries, we are not infatuated with the ways of the west, at least not in the field of cuisine. We have a highly developed sense of taste. Our culinary culture stretches back longer than most other countries and races. We were eating the finest foods prepared by master chefs when the American Indians were still killing wild buffaloes on the wide open spaces of the American mid-west. In the field of cuisine, we have nothing to learn from the Burger & Fries, Fish & Chips and Hot Dog eating people of the world. Our meals are nutritious, well balanced and need no fine tuning. No ‘meal-in-a-box’ is ever going to be an adequate substitute for a freshly prepared Thali.

I have absolutely no doubt at all that we have a long way to go and a lot to learn when it comes to operational systems, hygiene, quality control and other aspects of operating in the F&B industry. The learning process continues for all of us, each and every day of our lives. The man who thinks he does not have anything else to learn, is the biggest fool in the world. In these areas, we have a lot to learn from the multinational food corporations, whose systems have been fine-tuned after years of research, and whose success is something we all wish to emulate.

When I meet other Indian hoteliers and restaurateurs, a question I often ask them is what they eat as a staple. Mind you, these are very knowledgeable, well travelled individuals, whose taste buds are highly developed. They have daily access to a plethora of cuisines and flavours. Yet, the answer I get is pretty much the same — subzi, roti, daal and rice. Most of them will reach home in the wee hours of the morning after a gruelling 14-16 hour work day. Nevertheless, they will eat at home, at 3 am, if need be.

The essence of being successful in India seems to boil down to effort. Effort in understanding Indian culture, effort in Indianising the menu, effort in creating a competitive pricing strategy and most of all, a willingness (and bank account) to weather out the storm of the slow changing eating habits of a nation.

(Yohann J Setna is director, Zeabus Hospitality Consultants Pvt Ltd)