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PLAYING WITH
FOOD
Restaurateurs
add quirky touches to meals for that
out-of-the-ordinary
experience
Funky
funnels, toilet paper to wipe your hands, plastic bags and
Pac-Man
style servers for your drinks these are the newest ways
in
which restaurants are appeasing their consumers and
reinventing
their image. Concept eating-out joints like Social,
Mamagoto,
Monkey Bar, The Hungry Monkey, Zingo Star and
more
have started to use quirky food and beverage-serving
techniques
to lure young customers.
Be
it a fad or the need of the hour, but this trend is here to stay ,
say
young restaurateurs. Sohrab Sitaram, who owns the upscale
gastro-pub The Hungry Monkey in south Delhi,
confers. On his
international
travels, Sitaram was deeply inspired by the Albion
in
London. Elements of exposed brick walls and others can be seen
throughout
the restaurant with dry-ice cocktails in funnels and burgers
served
on wooden platters.
And
it costs very little to restaurateurs, who are targeting the young,
`trend-hopping
consumer'. Mamagoto owners, who are now reinventing
parts
of their five-year-old Asian restaurant in some cities, are adding
zing
to their service style at affordable costs.
These
tactics don't necessarily bring more clientele to restaurants,
but
help create an out-of-the-ordinary experience for them.
A
company called AlphaQ in Delhi, which had less than five restaurant
clients
when it started out in 2012, today supplies quirky designs to some
leading
restaurants in the country . Even five star hotels want part of the
action now.
“There
were no takers for such products earlier. But the trend is catching
on
fast, because restaurateurs want to reinvent their food and beverages
in
a very different ways, using material like acrylic, copper, etc. which
aren't
just cheaper, but also breakage free, helping with bottom lines,“
says
Anirudh Singhal, founder of AlphaQ, the hotel vending machine.
Singhal,
who supplies to restaurants like Playboy bar, Mamagoto Social,
Monkey
Bar and more, says restaurants owners are taking inspiration
from
the West and are keen to present their food with that drama factor
attached
to it.Recently , even hotels like Taj Mahal in Delhi and Zone by
The
Park have bought products from them.
Monkey
Bar partner and executive chef Manu Chandra says eventually
customers
come back for the food and drink, but a little zing on the table
never
goes unnoticed. The restaurant serves french fries in baskets and
burgers
on thalis. “I think, we, as restaurateurs, are inspired by what is
happening
in the West and are delving into the playful forte of the food
and
beverage side. The upwardly mobile demographic or young customers
are
whom we want to connect with, since they are aspirational,“ he says.
According
to the National Restaurant Association of India, the Indian food
services
industry has seen a steady growth in the past few years and is
expected
to grow at over 11% in the next five years. Currently , the size
of
the in dustry in India is approximately `2.5 trillion and is projected
to
reach `4.1 trillion by 2018. And one of the key factors propelling
restaurant
growth will be experimentation with new formats, themes
and
menus by innovative, entrepreneurial ventures, says the association.
Chandra
adds that this isn't a value-driven process, but the visual appeal
tends
to put restaurant-goers at ease. They serve pickle stakes in a
traditional
Indian-style pickle `barni' and Nutella chocolate spread jars
for some of cocktails.
At
Delhi's Raasta lounge, a huge hit with patrons are `Bongtails' or
cocktails
severed in glass bongs in flavours like Purple Haze, Hawaiian
Skunk
and White Rhino. Zorawar Kalra's Farzi Cafe serves a bacon, lettuce,
tuna
(BLT) pav in a wooden dumpling steamer and cocktails in mason jars
with
handles.
Mamagoto,
for instance, will have new crockery in its Delhi restaurants.
Kabir Suri, co-owner of the restaurant,
calls it a `fad' and a `talking point'
to
have such styles in restaurants.
“There
is a paradigm shift in the market and that trending shift is happening
for restaurants in India. Everyone wants to
target the younger customer and
we've seen a shift in metros the younger
crowd really wants something that
both tastes and looks good. Social media
plays a big role too. We are
changing
things in our older restaurants by innovating our menus and
service
styles,“ he explains.
The
cost for such styling can range from affordable to somewhat expensive.
“It
depends entirely on what kind of material you use, though it can be done
at affordable prices and costs under 10% of
the entire project cost of a
restaurant.And
naturally , it isn't as much as setting up a top-notch
restaurant
with white linen and fine cutlery and glassware would,“ adds Suri.
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