Ten ways to run a successful restaurant in Delhi
Few people know more about what Britain is dining out on than Jeremy Wayne, who has been the restaurant editor of Tatler for a decade and half, if not more. As I took him around the city on a food whirlwind tour to give him a taste of what’s cooking in India, we talked a lot about London restaurants, which seem to be booming after a succession of rough years.
Jeremy said you’ve got to be really bad at what you’re doing to be running an unsuccess-ful restaurant in London, which reminded me of our own backyard. Restaurateurs may complain their lungs out about the regulatory hurdles that stifle growth (which is a fact), yet Delhi-NCR hasn’t seen a better time for the dining business, and if some establishments have shut down, it is because they had no business to be there in the first place. Such has been the success rate of the Cyber Hub restaurants in Gurgaon their owners are regretting having signed up revenue sharing deals with DLF. Ironically, they did it because they were convinced they would have to pay more if they agreed to a monthly rent formula because they hadn’t anticipated the kind of footfalls they’ve been getting.
At the other big dining destination, Select Citywalk, Saket, it’s a rare restaurant that earns less than Rs 55-60 lakh a month. That may seem like peanuts when compared with the earnings industry benchmark-setters, from the established Bukhara to the new but popular kid on the block, Social at Hauz Khas Village, but we are talking about modest square footage here. A Select Citywalk restaurant, spread over 770sqft, could be earning Rs 70 lakh a month, or Rs 90,000 per sqft, more than the market value of that piece of real estate.
The success story keeps repeating itself – from Hauz Khas Village to Connaught Place, from Mehar Chand Market to Punjabi Bagh. Will it be overwhelmed by a higher number of failures? I doubt whether it’ll happen because the restaurateurs powering the boom have learnt from the mistakes of those of their predecessors over-extended ambition. And the winning formula of these restaurateurs can be reduced to ten points:
1. A restaurant isn’t a hobby, but a 24-hour business that you can’t delegate to others. Successful restaurant owners aren’t afraid to get their shirts stained.
2. Delhiites relate to food first, so invest in a menu that sparks people’s interest and be served with consistency by your kitchen.
3. Maximise your revenue per square foot by minimising space requirements. Modestly proportioned restaurants earn more.
4. Your guests won’t eat your décor, so invest minimally in expensive embellishments. Instead, go for a quirky, low-cost décor that can be changed at a minimum expense when it ceases to be, well, quirky.
5. Trust your gut instinct. If you have a good idea, run with it. Don’t lean on a phalanx of advisers and keep entertaining second thoughts.
6. Sweat your asset. A café model seems to work best for a restaurant – run it for 12 to 16 hours to maximise your revenue.
7. Invest in the takeaway and home delivery side of your busi-ness. Make it earn at least 20 per cent of your revenue.
8. We’ve developed an adventurous palate for "unfamiliar" cuisines – and it keeps evolving. Last season we were enamoured of Soda Bottle Opener Wala, now Rustom’s Bhonu by Kainaz Contractor is the flavour of the season.
9. Delhi and Gurgaon are demanding markets, so don’t claim to offer an "authentic" anything till you’re quite sure of your research. It’s better to serve a well-made murgh malai kebab than an "authentic" shish taouk!
10. Finally, word-of-mouth marketing and peer endorsements seem to work best, so create a buzzy Facebook community around your restaurant – incentivise your satisfied guests to express their views and share them with the world.