Leading with Perfection-Mr.Tanupam Pahari

With an experience of around 10 years with leading International brands, Mr.Tanupam Pahari is leading the Edesia restaurant at Crowne Plaza Today, New Delhi. Under his leadership restaurant has crossed many milestones, recently Edesia has received international recognition by winning Best Digital Marketing Campaign at IHG IMEA (India Middle East Africa) Commercial Learning Event 2019 that was held at Muscat. In his conversation with HospiBuz, he shared various insights of the restaurant industry.

HospiBuz:-  According to various reports, millennial spend more money on restaurants. What offers you provide to millennial at Edesia and while planning the offers what is the main thing you keep in mind?

Mr.Tanupam Pahari:- Millennials are undoubtly the biggest food spenders if we analyze the food and beverage trends in the past 10 years. Frequenting trendy restaurants and fancy coffee shops has become the new clubbing. This trend can be attributed to multiple factors such as high disposable incomes, increased frequency of working couples, social events and get togethers, great deals and offers at multiple online platforms, foray of international brands & novel cuisines in the market and access to internet which means information.

All these elements encourage millennials to step out and splurge more. In a nutshell, millennials love hospitality but are always on a look out of attractive pricing. Keeping these aspects in mind, we offer thoughtful experiences and packages-

Dip and Dine promotion: Delicious breakfast and lunch buffet at a special price of INR 1100 AI and 1299 AI respectively along with access to pool, steam and sauna at Edesia

Corporate Lunch Offer: Lavish lunch buffet for the corporate employees at a special price of INR 1600 AI at Edesia (on valid corporate id)

Happy Hours: 1+1 offer on IMFL between 11 am to 7 pm at The Copper Bar

For the month of July, we are running two interesting promotions Dawat-E-Biryani and Beer & Burger Blast for our guests.

HospiBuz:-  What special you organize on weekends for your Diners.

Mr.Tanupam Pahari:- At Edesia, we run Theme Nights, one of its kind promotion where every dinner at the restaurant is dedicated to a unique cuisine. During the weekends, our themes are Punjabi and International cuisine. Hence, we are able to offer a lavish buffet for both regional as well as international cuisine lovers. Edesia boasts of one of the largest buffet spreads in Delhi-NCR, hence the guests are spoilt for choices.

HospiBuz:-  While setting up a budget for your restaurant, which is the key element, on which you focus more?

Mr.Tanupam Pahari:- Budgeting depends on number of factors such as how a particular restaurant fared vis-a-vis last year, competition analysis, new entrants, market growth trends and studying consumer behavior patterns. There are lot of external factors such as growing popularity of home delivery business, Outdoor catering opportunities which tends to impact the business. We create a SWOT grid which means tapping prospective business (for example new corporate offices in the vicinity) as well as competition (new standalone and five star property restaurants). Keeping these points, we forecast our budget and align our sales and marketing activities.

HospiBuz:-  The chef plays a key role in designing the menu. What contribution is been made by a Restaurant Manager in designing the menu?

Mr.Tanupam Pahari:- As a Restaurant Manager, Menu Engineering is one of my major job responsibilities. I am responsible to keep a track of top sellers as well as bottom sellers from a menu, analyze guest feedback and preferences, compare our menu vis-à-vis competition set and gauge market trends basis which kitchen team modifies the menu and curates short term promotional menus.

HospiBuz:-  Eating habits of the population is turning towards healthy and nutritious diets. How you manage to serve a diet with the combination of nutrition and taste both at the same time? How you manage the kitchen hygiene of your restaurant?

Mr.Tanupam Pahari:- In the modern world, guests are conscious about clean eating and hence as Food and Beverage team we need to keep evolving with changing lifestyle patterns and demands. Our kitchen team has introduced multiple gluten free and sugar free options in our buffet menu. Also, our team has curated a unique Wellness Menu for all the health enthusiasts.

HospiBuz:-  What was the USP of your Digital Marketing Campaign at Dilli 6, which has been awarded as the Best Digital Marketing Campaign?

Mr.Tanupam Pahari:- This year we celebrated 9th year of Dilli 6 food festival. We worked closely with our kitchen team as well as marketing team to devise an interesting campaign #BeyondJustChaats to showcase a story of Dilli 6 travelled through time, generations and dynasties. Our key USP was to create a visual story of Dilli 6 via set up and installations, aligning it with culinary finesse and getting the experience captured via digital platforms, food bloggers & media.

HospiBuz:-  Being the in house restaurant of the esteemed Crowne Plaza Today New Delhi, what is the USP of Edesia and how it is different from other hotels of the city?

Mr.Tanupam Pahari:- Crowne Plaza Today Delhi Okhla is a part of IHG Group, a leading international hotel chain. Hence, our endeavor is to maintain culinary finesse along with international standards of hospitality. We boast of one of the largest buffets in the city with huge number of vegetarian options in the menu. We also offer concepts such as Theme Nights where we serve a different cuisine each day. Another USP is inclusion of gluten free and sugar free options in the menu which is receiving a great response.

HospiBuz:-  Hotels and restaurants keep organizing festivals and various events for the guests. How do you strategize these events?

Mr.Tanupam Pahari:- Edesia at Crowne Plaza Today New Delhi Okhla is the first restaurant in Delhi-NCR to curate a food festival themed on Old Dilli (called Dilli 6) back in 2011.This year we successfully organized ninth edition of the festival. We have received a great response from our international guests as well as local diners on how we transported them to the bylanes of Chandni Chowk in terms of food & experience.

Another major festival which caught the eye balls of guests and media alike was Dawat-E-Peshawari. While food remains the top most priority in any food promotion we do, these festivals also encompass beautiful set ups, music & dance performances to make it memorable for the guests.

Looking at the bigger picture, culinary festivals are a great way to showcase our hospitality and culinary finesse to our guests which has the potential to convert into big banquet business.

HospiBuz:- You have been into this industry for a long time and worked with the giants of the industry. What changes you have witnessed in the working style of the pioneer brands of the industry?

Mr.Tanupam Pahari:- With globalization, a lot of international brands have forayed in the Indian Market and vice versa. Right from new cuisines to experience based activities, from innovative marketing activations to exciting deals & packages, brands are leaving no stone unturned to lure the guests owing to high competition.

As a brand, we are also going all out to connect to our audiences at different digital platforms. Our outlets are present on multiple platforms such as Gourmet Passport, Zomato, NearBuy & DineOut to entice the guests with special offers. Social Media has changed the way we connect to our regular as well as potential guests. It is not just an information dissemination platform anymore. We are actually able to generate leads and convert them to business.

Another interesting aspect here is the growth of MICE events and corporate bookings which has positively impacted Food and Beverage revenues. Taking a step further, we also offer Theme Breaks to such clients to make their meetings & events more engaging.

HospiBuz:- Nowadays Social Media is being used as the best connecting tools for the business. How social media helps to boost the sales of the restaurant?

Mr.Tanupam Pahari:-Initially, social media was only about sharing information, promotions, offers to create online visibility for the restaurant. But now, with lead generation campaigns, options like FB Events, call to book, social media has become a business tool. Since social media is an interactive medium, it’s a great way to connect with our regular as well as prospective customers & add the element of personalized attention.

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