Here are three articles related to each other.
The first one talks about how 40% of restaurants in India will probably not re-open because of the Pandemic and after effects.
The second one talks about the global trends on how many restaurants survived past 1 year and 5 years in an era before the Pandemic.
The third one provides solid inputs from India’s most respected Business newspaper on the survival of restaurants in India, again, pre-Pandemic.
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Please take time out to read all three in an unbiased manner. Preferably without emotions and then proceed further. But do also consider:
Q) Who starts new restaurants in India, given the high entry levels in not just costs, but also complications of documentation, compliances and adherences?
A) Only people who are already well-versed in working and oiling the “system”, because restaurants in India are much more than just food served to customers.
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The Pandemic rolls on globally, and if you talk with people in the lobbying industries in India, which is what keeps the mainstream media flowing, then you would get the impression that all industries in India are at a standstill or on a downward path. Reality is that there is enough going on, not just with infrastructure and manufacturing, preparing for a boom once all this Pandemic induced fear is over – but much of it is in silent growth mode.
There are some businesses, however, which have had a capability of making more noise and attracting more attention than they really deserve, and one of them is the high-end restaurant industry in India, the sort where selling corn-on-the-cob ends up costing 1500/- rupees plus tax, even if it is cooked on LPG cooking gas and not on charcoal. This industry was and is still trying to use its now dried up prowess with page-3 puffs and that is why you read articles about how it is at risk.
Truth be told, the high-end restaurant industry in India was always at risk, but it also proved the adage that new fools were born relentlessly and regularly to take the place of other fools. Open secret in most cities and towns of India were and are that the costlier food industry was pretty much a result of ill-gotten wealth, usually derived from Mummy or Daddy being in a position to generate a wet income, that had to be put in use by the offspring. Usually loaded with educational certification that meant nothing and zero work experience of any sort anywhere.
These are the restaurants which are likeliest to vanish.
If you look around you, value-for-money restaurants and food suppliers, take-away as well as home delivery, are back on track. The neighbourhood veg Sweets and Savouries outlets as well as South Indian veg outlets near where I live, which is so-called high-end South Delhi, are back to 100% of pre-Pandemic levels if not 120% according to my conversations with them. Non-veg is not doing so well, but the reasons there are different, and complex.
All you need to start a profitable restaurant now is FSSAI and local certification, a decent kitchen, and minimal seating space. In addition, you need knowledge of the food business, best gathered by a combination of standing behind the stove or oven, and sitting behind the cash register. After you’ve learnt how to keep the place clean and in good shape, that is, and handle workers as well as customers.
Want to start a restaurant in India, this is the best time, but please learn the ropes bottom up first. And stay away from the whole publicity gig. Let the food you sell do the talking instead.
Veeresh Malik was a seafarer. And a lot more besides. A decade in facial biometrics, which took him into the world of finance, gaming, preventive defence and money laundering before the subliminal mind management technology blew his brains out. His romance with the media endures since 1994, duly responded by Outlook, among others.
A survivor of two brain-strokes, triggered by a ship explosion in the 70s, Veeresh moved beyond fear decades ago.
