Food & Hospitality World

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PANJIM

EDITOR’S NOTE

April 16-30, 2014

FOOD & HOSPITALITY WORLD4

Responsible committment

If one has to analyse the deliberationsthat take place at most India specifichotel conferences, the picture seemsto be similar both in content and con-text. The idea exchange on develop-

ment and investment, the importance of midscale, upscale and upper scale is still doing therounds rather strongly. Whether these de-bates reach a logical conclusion or it adds tomore areas for discussion the point remainsthat the industry is still looking for answersfor these crucial subjects. There are investorswho are looking to the government for busi-ness friendly policies as there seems to bemany doors behind single window systemsimplemented by few state governments. In-dia needs a well balanced investment and de-velopment plan with the government lookingat the sector with increased commitment.The recently concluded adventure tourismconference also highlighted the need for theright hospitality investments in sensitive devel-opment zones in the state of Uttarakhand. Re-sponsible investment and development is theneed of the hour keeping in view the

issue of carrying capacity. The Eco Tourism Society of India too held

its maiden conclave in Manipur, which alsohighlighted the importance of hospitality in-vestments in the state and it was encourag-ing to know that the state has finally wokenup to the importance of attracting the rightkind of hospitality investments to the stateespecially in the three-star category. At theconclave it was mentioned that the state isready for development and is looking for in-vestors on a PPP model. The state ownedhospitality group has also outsourced theirhospitality management to a local hotel chain.

Our cover story this issue brings to lightan interesting aspect on what happens withrespect to the weekend business in the hos-pitality space. F&B and spas leads the way forthe weekend business. When it comes to busi-ness over the weekend, the rules are beingrewritten to attract the right clientele which issustainable and definite.

“India needs a well balanced

investment and development

plan with thegovernment

looking at the sector

with increasedcommitment”

HEAD OFFICEFood & Hospitality WorldMUMBAI: Rajan Nair,Dattaram Kandalkar, Manish S.Global Fairs & Media Pvt. Ltd2nd Floor, Express TowersNariman Point, Mumbai-400021. India Tel: 6744 0000 / 22022627 Fax: 022-22885831 E-mail: [email protected];[email protected]@fhwexpo.in

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Important:Whilst care istaken prior to acceptance of advertising copy, it is not possible to verify its contents.The Indian ExpressLtd cannot be heldresponsible for such contents,nor for any loss or damagesincurred as a result oftransactions with companies,associations or individualsadvertising in its newspapersor publications.We thereforerecommend that readersmake necessary inquiriesbefore sending any monies orentering into any agreementswith advertisers or otherwiseacting on an advertisement inany manner whatsoever.

REEMA LOKESH

Editor

As the weekend market continues to grow,hotelbrands are upping their offerings to provideexperiences that will give them an extra edge overtheir competitors

Vol 2 No.15 APRIL 16-30-2014

MARKETS

06

07

(24-27)

YOUNG CHEFS

CHALLENGE 2014

HOSTS AWARDS

08 BRIGADE

HOSPITALITY

PLANS TO SETUP

VOCATIONAL

TRAINING CENTRE

P16: PRODUCT TRACKERAxis Communications

P36: LIFESoap stakes

P37: MOVEMENTSHyatt Regency Gurgaon

P45: WEEKENDScene and heard by Marcellus Baptista

EDGE

34 DELIVERING VALUE

BETTING BIG ON

THE INDIA

MARKET'S HVACR

INDUSTRY, LENNOX

INTERNATIONAL

HAS INVESTED

OVER US$ 10

MLLN IN R&D

IN INDIA

CONTENTS

INDIA NOW AN

INTERNATIONAL

PROCESSING HUB

AND PREMIER

SUPPLIER OF

QUALITY SPICES

Food & Hospitality World

Published for the proprietors, Global Fairs & Media Private Limited, by Vaidehi Thakar at Express Towers, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021,and printed by her at Indian Express Press, Plot EL-208, TTC Industrial Area, Mahape, Navi Mumbai. Editor : Reema Lokesh* (*responsible for selection of news under PRB Act). @ 2012 Global Fairs & Media Private Limited. All rights

reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in whole or part without the Publisher's permission is prohibited.

Chairman of the Board

Viveck GoenkaEditor

Reema Lokesh*Assistant Editor

Steena JoyAssociate Editor

Sudipta DevCONTENT TEAM

Mumbai

Kahini ChakrabortyRituparna ChatterjeeKolkata

Joy Roy ChoudhuryDESIGN

National Art Director

Bivash BaruaDeputy Art Director

Surajit PatroChief Designer

Pravin TembleSenior Graphic Designer

Rushikesh KonkaLayout

Ratilal Ladani Kiran ParkerScheduling & Coordination

Rohan ThakkarPhoto Editor

Sandeep Patil MARKETING

General Manager

Sachin ShenoyMarketing Team

Dattaram KandalkarRajan NairManish Shringarpure Ashwani Kumar ShuklaSreejith RadhakrishnanPranshu PuriYoginder SinghAjanta SenguptaMarketing Coordination

Darshana Chauhan

NATIONAL FOOD & BEVERAGE SALES

Chandra ShekharSasi Kumar GKeshav Barnwal

INTERNATIONAL FOOD &

HOSPITALITY SALES

Soumodip GhoshRahul Bisht

PRODUCTION

General Manager

B R TipnisManager

Bhadresh Valia

HIGH SPIRITS

22 GIN FOR THE LADY,

PLEASE!

IN EARLY FILMS THE

ACTOR USED TO

ORDER SCOTCH FOR

HIMSELF AND GIN

FOR THE LADY. THIS

FILMY FAME - NO

DOUBT BOOSTED THE

GIN MARKET, BUT

ALSO CREATED A

MISCONCEPTION

P14: NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCKKeys Hotel Templetree

CHEF’S PLATTER

20 A TASTE OF SRI

LANKA

A SRI LANKAN FOOD

FESTIVAL ORGANISED

BY THE CONSULATE

GENERAL OF SRI

LANKA IN MUMBAI,

SHOWCASED THE

GASTRONOMY OF THE

ISLAND NATION

Kahini ChakrabortyMumbai

UK-BASED budget hotelchain Premier Inn is looking attwo-three strategies of acqui-sitions as part of its growthplan in India. For the same, the

company could look at an out-right purchase or joint ven-ture and management con-tracts. Presently, the brandhas three properties opera-tional in Bengaluru, Pune andDelhi, and it has two proper-ties in the pipelinein Goa and

Chennai which will open in De-cember 2014 and mid nextyear. Speaking exclusively toFood & Hospitality World,

VV Giri, regional director-op-erations, South Asia, PremierInn said, "All these projectswill be called Premier Inn andwill be a 100 plus room inven-tory. The company is commit-ted to the India market and aspart of our growth plans weare looking at two-threestrategies of acquisitions. Forthe same, we are looking atthree-four projects which arein the focus currently and weare in various stages of discus-sions on the same." Giri addedthat the company is makingsure that the India growthstory continues, hence it islooking at establishing itspresence in the metro/Tier Icities as part of phase one ex-pansion and in the second

phase it will focus on Tier IIcities. "If there are opportuni-ties for the brand in Tier IIIcities then we will considerthose opportunities as well inthe future," he informed. Thebrand has established its pres-ence in Dubai, Southeast Asiaand India. Talking about thegrowth of the Indian hospital-ity sector, he opined, "PremierInn has seen a steady growthand the fact that we are invest-

ing in another two hotels tellsabout our commitment to-wards this market. Howeverhaving said that, in generallike any other business, thereis a cyclical strategy for everyregion and country. I believethat in the next two-threeyears India will be back ontrack and will become a moremature market as people arebeginning to understand whatservices are all about."

In the next two-three yearsIndia will be back on track andwill become a more maturemarket as people arebeginning to understand whatservices are all about

MARKETS

April 16-30, 2014


India now an international processing huband premier supplier of quality spicesRituparna ChatterjeeMumbai

FOOD SAFETY, sustainabilityand traceability have evolved asthe buzzwords in the world spicearena with major importingcompanies coming up with strin-gent quality and food safety stan-dards for import of spices. Tocater to this demanding market,the Spices Board India, ministryof commerce & industry, Gov-ernment of India has taken vari-ous initiatives that has posi-tioned the country as aninternational processing huband premier supplier of qualityspices and herbs. The initiativeincludes - setting up of spiceparks at major spice productioncentres; establishing QualityEvaluation Labs (QEL) at major

ports for quality assessment ofspices exported; promoting non-conventional application ofspices like spice garments, cos-meceuticals, nutraceuticals,spice chocolates; promoting or-ganic cultivation especially innorth east region; promotingprocessed, value added, brandedand innovative products throughBrand India Campaign; settingup CODEX committee on Spicesand Culinary Herbs (CCSCH)for formulation of internationalstandards for spices and culi-nary herbs; carrying out capac-ity building exercise among var-ious stakeholders underCollaborative Training Centre(CTC) jointly with CII- FACE,JIFSAN and USFDA; setting upof Spices India signature stalls inIndia and across.

Speaking exclusively to Food

& Hospitality World, Dr A Jay-athilak, IAS, chairman, SpicesBoard stated, “As a result of theSpices Board India's focused ini-tiatives for export promotion of

spices, in 2012-13, India exported726,613 tonnes of spices andspice products valued at `12112crore as against an export of470,520 tonnes valued at `5300crore in 2008-09.” The major im-porters of Indian spices areNorth, Central and South Amer-ican countries, which consumesapproximately 22 per cent of thetotal spice exports. EU comessecond with an 18 per cent share.

Among the various spices ex-ported by India, the demand forchilli has been on a constant rise.“After the implementation of themandatory sampling and testingfor export, India became theonly source of quality chilli in theworld market and the export ofchilli is on a constant rise. Cur-rently, India is exporting morethan three lakh tonnes of chilli,

which contributes 41 per cent interms of total volume of spicesexported from the country,” headded. Over the last five years,chilli remained as the most ex-ported spice from India in termsof volume, while mint and mintproducts turned out to be thetop exported spice in terms ofvalue.

Dr A Jayathilak

Premier Inn looks at acquisitions for growth

FHW StaffMumbai

THE YOUNG CHEFS Chal-lenge – 2014 which was organ-ised by the Association of Hospi-tality Professionals at the IndianHotel Academy, New Delhi, fromJanuary 20-21, 2014 held itsaward ceremony at Indian Habi-tat Centre on Feb 14, 2014. Theaward ceremony was inaugu-rated by Chef Rakesh Sethi, ex-ecutive chef at Radisson Blu,Dwarka in the presence of Rajin-dera Kumar, president of the ex-ecutive committee; G P Gautam,president, Indian Hotel Acad-emy; Chef Sireesh Saxena, ex-vice president Hotels ITDC andthe executive members of the as-

sociation. Speaking on the occa-sion, Kumar said, “It was reallyenthusiastic to see the excellentpreparations by chefs from vari-ous hotels and I suggest youngchefs to focus on continuousleaning and development.”

The culinary skills and cre-ativity of 34 young chefs from 10different hotels participating inthe competition was judged byChef Saxena, Chef Vivek Saggar,accredited judge of the WorldAssociation of Chefs Societiesand Chef Prem Ram, member ofWorld Association of Chefs Soci-ety. The results of the competi-tion were announced at theaward ceremony under five cate-gories. The winners in each cate-gory were as follows: Interna-tional Cuisine - Chef Raj Kumarfrom Country Inn & Suites byCarlson, Sahibabad; Kebabs -

Chef Vinod Prasad from HotelCrowne Plaza, Rohini; IndianSweets - Chef Arjun Singh from

Hotel Crowne Plaza, Rohini;Confectionery - Chef Ajay Ku-mar Tiwari from Country Inn &

Suites by Carlson; and KitchenArtist - Chef Jitender from TheAshok Hotel (ITDC).

Devipshita Gautam, generalsecretary, AHP congratulatedthe winners .

MARKETS

Young Chefs Challenge 2014 hosts awards

April 16-30, 2014

FOOD & HOSPITALITY WORLD 7

It was reallyenthusiastic tosee theexcellentpreparationsby chefs from varioushotels

FHW StaffNew Delhi

INTERCONTINENTAL Ho-tels Group (IHG) and IL&FSSkills, one of India’s largestskills development organisa-tions, have announced thelaunch of the 15th IHG Acad-emy programme in India, join-ing over 300 IHG Academyprogrammes globally. Thepartnership will see IL&FS In-stitute of Skills (IIS) providingIHG approved vocational hos-pitality training across thecountry as part of the pro-gramme. Following the three-month course, participants areable to apply for roles at IHGhotels in India and across theglobe.

The programme aims toprovide people with skills de-velopment and employmentopportunities and create a sus-tainable talent pipeline for IHG.The partnership with IIS isIHG’s first vocational pro-gramme in the country. It wasofficially inaugurated byRichard Solomons, CEO, IHG,who joined Dilip Chenoy, MD &CEO, National Skill Develop-ment Corporation, and Arunku-mar Pillai, COO, IL&FS Skills,to tour IIS, and addressed thefirst class of students in Delhi.

On his visit to IL&FS Insti-tute of Skills, Delhi, Solomonscommented, “We pride our-selves on the great experiencewe offer guests in India andaround the world. The only way

we can achieve this is to havewell-qualified, passionateteams. In India, we have thetask of recruiting 10,000 newemployees over the next threeto five years as we open the 45

hotels in our developmentpipeline. One of the most effec-tive ways for us to achieve thisis to train for the required skillsthrough structured skill devel-opment programmes like thisone. It is our privilege to workin conjunction with the Indiangovernment to share ourknowledge and enhance theskills of young people who wantto build their career in hospital-ity. This partnership withIL&FS Skills will make a bigdifference to these studentsand enables us to actively con-tribute to our local communi-ties in a meaningful and lastingway.”

Pillai added, “We arepleased to partner with IHG toensure a continuous stream of

skilled workers who will notonly add value to IHG but alsoto the entire hospitality sectorin India.”

The programme supple-ments IHG’s on-going supportof the Indian government’s Hu-nar Se Rozgar initiative,launched to create employableskills for young adults aged 18to 28 years old who do not haveaccess to specialised education.

IL&FS Skills’ students willbe trained to IHG’s rigorousand world-class standardswhilst also gaining thoroughknowledge and understandingof the Indian hospitality sector.The training programme is di-vided in two sessions of 45 dayseach, mixing theory and prac-tical classes.

Rituparna ChatterjeeMumbai

BRIGADE HOSPITALITY,one of South India's leadingproperty developers, is planingto set up a vocational trainingcentre in Bengaluru. The cen-tre will offer training pro-grammes with a duration ofthree months to train unskilledlabour into semi-skilled stafffor the hospitality segment.Training would be provided onvarious hospitality services likemechanical, electrical andplumbing (MEP), carpentry,housekeeping, to name a few.The company would be tyingup with hospitality profession-

als to provide the requiredtraining. Students who havesuccessfully completed thetraining programmes would beoffered placements across thecompany's self-managed prop-erties. However, this plan iscurrently at a discussion stageand is expected to be finalisedby this financial year.

Speaking exclusively toFood & Hospitality World,

Nirupa Shankar, director,Brigade Hospitality, stated,“This vocational training cen-tre would provide hands-ontraining and will help in trans-forming unskilled labour intosemi-skilled staff. The BrigadeGroup has a Brigade Founda-

tion, a not-for-profit trust,which runs three schools. Wewant to use a similar infra-structure to carry out these vo-cational training programmes.

Since we self-manage lifestylemembership clubs, servicedapartments, convention cen-tres, we can employ these peo-ple there.”

Meanwhile, Brigade Hospi-tality is focusing on a rapid ex-pansion plan down south.Presently, there are eight prop-erties in the pipeline, two ofwhich are expected to open by2015 – a Holiday Inn in Chennaiby mid 2015, and a Grand Mer-cure in Mysore by end of 2015,while among the remaining sixproperties, one will be inMysore, two in Kochi and threein Bengaluru. However, the lo-cation and the brand hasn'tbeen finalised for the remain-

ing six. Elaborating more onthis plan, Shankar revealed,“Out of the eight properties, wehave already signed for the Hol-iday Inn in Chennai and GrandMercure in Mysore. Out of theeight, three will be a HolidayInn Express, which is part ofthe MoU with IHG to open 10Holiday Inn Express hotels.”Till now, the company has in-vested around `400 crore ontheir existing properties andwill be investing another ̀ 600-700 crore in the years ahead.“We are looking to build 10 ho-tels in the next few years sincewe have a revenue target ofaround `1000 crore by 2020,”she opined.

MARKETS

April 16-30, 2014


Nirupa Shankar

Brigade Hospitalityplans to setup vocational training centreHas rapid expansion plans for South India

IHG and IL&FS Skills partner to develop vocational hospitality talent

TheprogrammesupplementsIHG’s on-goingsupport of theHunar SeRozgarinitiative

Kahini ChakrabortyMumbai

CARLSON REZIDOR HotelGroup is now looking at enter-ing the secondary and tertiarymarkets in India. Presently thecompany has 66 operational ho-tels and 42 hotels in the pipelinein India. These 42 hotels will bein the mid-scale segment. Thecompany's expansion gainedtraction in India with the sign-ing of a strategic alliance withBestech Hospitalities to developa network of 49 Park Inn byRadisson hotels in north andcentral India by 2024. Underthe agreement both parties willinvest US$ 42 million in a jointventure to develop two hotels.

Park Inn by Radisson Gurgaonsector 88 and Park Inn byRadisson Chandigarh. Speak-ing to Food & Hospitality

World, Raj Rana, CEO, SouthAsia, Carlson Rezidor HotelGroup informed, "We have 1300hotels operational in 87 coun-tries. Last year was a good yearfor us as we added 16 hotels toour portfolio by signing newdeals and opened five hotels. "

"The next wave of growth isgoing to be in the mid-scalesegment to cater to the domes-tic travellers aspirations. With400 million travellers travellingdomestically we see a huge de-mand in the segment. For thesame, we have our two impor-tant brands- Park Inn by Radis-

son and Country Inns & Suiteswhich have been positioned tocater to this market," he added.Of the 42 hotels, 35 per cent willbe in the mid-scale segmentand remaining in Radisson Blu."We first launched our pres-ence in the state capitals andmetros/ Tier I cities. Now we

are going into cities like Guwa-hati, Kochi, Ajmer, Vishakhap-atnam, Mysore and manymore. Our feasibility revolvesaround whether it is a religiousdestination or a city with goodconnectivity. But importantly,if there are any SEZ zones ormulti-use development we willhave to look into those as-pects," he added. The RadissonBlu Guwahati is expected toopen next month. The com-pany is also adding RadissonBlu brand in Mysore where itcurrently has Country Inns &Suites. When asked about thetotal room inventory plan fornext five years, he mentioned,"The 42 hotels will add to thetotal room inventory plan of

6000 rooms. Most of the prop-erties will be of 125 room inven-tory. This is because we are en-tering the secondary andtertiary markets, and it makesfinancial sense to have thosemany rooms for ROI."

“The company has alsoglobally announced the intro-duction of its two brands-Quorvus Collection (luxurysegment brand) and RadissonRed (upscale brand). With thedemand for luxury segment in-creasing, the company is look-ing at launching 20 hotels by2020 under the Quorvus Col-lection,” informed ThorstenKirschke, president-Asia Pa-cific, Carlson Rezidor HotelGroup.

MARKETS

April 16-30, 2014


Carlson shifts focus to Tier II, III cities in India

The next waveof growth isgoing to be inthe mid-scalesegment

MARKETS

April 16-30, 2014


High standardsfor food flavoursFHW StaffMumbai

FOOD FLAVOURS are agrowing market in thefood additives sector.There is an increasingtrend towards the con-sumption of processedfood products in develop-ing countries, which fur-ther signifies the increas-ing use of food flavours. Anumber of physical as wellas chemical changes takeplace in a food productduring processing, whichdeteriorates the originalflavours. Hence, the use offlavours has increased inthe market.In 2012, North America dominated the food flavours market,followed by Asia-Pacific. Increasing demand for natural foodsand safety concerns with respect to processed productsdrives the market. The food flavors market is estimated toreach US$ 13.7 billion by 2018.The increase in population has a tremendous impact on theglobal food supply. The question of food quality has receivedwidespread attention. Different governments and private in-dustries have come a long way in achieving high standardsfor pure and unadulterated food that contains flavours. Theconsumer demands placed on technology have resulted inthe development of different flavours that afford us flavour-some, appetising, and economical foods.The North American region constitutes the largest market,followed by Asia-Pacific, with the US dominating the NorthAmerican food flavours market. Asia-Pacific is projected towitness the fastest growth in the market.

Sterilgarda looks toforay into IndiaFHW StaffMumbai

STERILGARDA, which is intothe production of UHT milk anddairy products and UHT fruitjuices, has developed differentnew products, in particular:UHT microfiltered milk andUHT mascarpone. StefanoCirani, export manager, Steril-garda Alimenti S.p.A. said,“Sterilgarda has become a lead-ing company in Italian dairy in-dustry. We have investedsteadily into R&D, and our firstone is considered a top qualityUHT milk-treatment of microfil-tration is implemented througha natural physical process, with

modern facilities that allow to re-move organic impurities frommilk without reducing the nutri-tional value. Then the milk istreated in a gentle way to pre-serve the natural flavour and itsnutritional value.” He added,“The UHT mascarpone is aworld brand new product. Steril-garda is one of the biggest pro-ducers of Mascarpone in Eu-rope. We have developed thisnew UHT mascarpone which isa long shelf life cheese, it can beshipped and stored at room tem-perature, but the quality re-mains the same of our standardfresh one, thanks to the asepticpackaging. This product hasbeen studied especially for over-seas markets.”

When asked about his expec-tation from Food HospitalityWorld India exhibition, heopined, “We know that Indiacould be a very interesting andimportant market. Indian peopleare looking for Italian top qual-ity products and we would like toopen this new market by export-ing our products. We are alreadyexporting all our productsworldwide, from UHT milk toUHT creams and fresh mascar-pone, from UHT fruit juices tofresh UHT squeezed fruit juicesand smoothies. Now we expectto enter in Indian market thanksto this event. It’s the first timeSterilgarda will participate inFHWI and we hope to gain greatsuccess during this experience.”

Stefano Cirani

We have developed this newUHT mascarpone which is along shelf life cheese, it can beshipped and stored at roomtemperature, but the qualityremains the same of ourstandard fresh one

MARKETS

Redefining Indian cuisine in South West EnglandSudipta DevMumbai

THE MINT ROOM, one of the bestknown Indian restaurants in the histor-ical city of Bath in England, is part of achain of restaurants that have wonawards and acclaim. “With The MintRoom, we have redefined Indian cui-sine to its best in style, presentation, in-terior design and with outstanding sig-nature dishes that can only bedescribed as modern yet with just thatright hint of the traditional,” said MoeRahman, co-owner and general man-ager, The Mint Room, talking aboutwhat distinguishes his restaurants inthe region. The company was startedby his brother Luthfur Rahman. TheRahman brothers took a strategic de-cision to base themselves in SouthWest England and expand their restau-rant operations from there. Currentlythey own six restaurants in the region,and are about to open another branch of

The Mint Room in Bristol soon.Giving his views on new trends in

terms of consumer preference, Rah-man stated, “Compared to the main-stream, European restaurant sector,the modernisation of Indian restau-rants and cuisine is still in its infancy.Yet, there have been great strides madein making the Indian restaurant sceneas adventurous and exciting as possi-ble – The Mint Room being part of

that.” Pointing out that consumer pref-erence is also to some dictated by howmuch they can afford to spend, Rah-man mentioned, “The harsh economicclimate of recent years have meant thatpeople want to dine out in more casualrestaurants where the spend per headisn’t too much. At The Mint Room,whilst we are a fine dining restaurant,our price levels are very reasonableand we get customers from across awide spectrum from students to fami-lies, groups, business people and evencelebrities.” About the demand for In-dian food in the UK, he remarked, “In-dian food is here to stay and people’sknowledge and understanding of it willonly get better as they travel more,read more about the sub-continent andeven buy more spices and ingredientsto experiment at home with Indiandishes. What may also happen is thatwhile the modernisation process willcontinue, there will be a greater em-phasis on regional dishes.”

Moe Rahman

MARKETS

April 16-30, 2014


Marriott to introduceEdition brand in IndiaAlso looks at foraying into north east region

Akshay KumarRaipur

MARRIOTT INTERNA-

TIONAL is planning to intro-duce their brand- 'Edition' inIndia. The first hotel under thisbrand will be launched in Gur-gaon. With this brand, Mar-riott will have eight operationalbrands under its portfolio inIndia. Presently, Marriott hasseven brands in India namely;Courtyard by Marriott, RitzCarlton, Fairfield by Marriott,JW Marriott, Marriott, Re-naissance Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments.

Speaking exclusively toFood & Hospitality World,about the new brand, RajeevMenon, area vice president,South Asia, Marriott Interna-tional, said, “Last year we in-troduced Fairfield by Marriottinto India, we did a Asia-Pa-cific launch, we also openedRitz Carlton. In a couple ofyears we will bring our brand'Edition' into India, with thefirst property which is beingbuilt in Gurgaon. I feel thatwith eight very strong brandsin India we have a fairly robustportfolio to grow in this na-tion.”

Marriott International isalso venturing into North EastIndia with hotels coming up in

three cities in the next coupleof years. Marriott will launch aCourtyard by Marriott in Shil-long, Courtyard by Marriottand JW Marriott in Siliguriand three properties in Guwa-hati. All the properties inNorth East will be developedwithin the next two years.

Marriott International inassociation with Chhatisgarhbased-City Mall 36 Group isplanning to launch Renais-sance by Marriott in Raipur bymid 2015. The property will beMarriott's entry into Raipur,the capital city of Chhattis-garh. Sanjay Gupta, managingdirector, City Mall 36 Group,said, "We are planning tolaunch Renaissance by Mar-

riott in Raipur which will be inclose proximity to the SwamiVivekananda Airport, Raipur.The new property will be fullyoperational by mid 2015. Thetotal investment for the prop-erty will be approximately ̀ 150crore and will be a 180 roomhotel.” This project is City Mall36 Group's second venturewith the Marriott Interna-tional.

Recently, the grouplaunched Courtyard by Mar-riott, Bilaspur. This 106-roomhotel has been built with a to-tal investment of `106 crore.On the launch of the property,Dr Raman Singh, chief minis-ter, Chhattisgarh said, "Therewas a need for a five-star hotelin Bilaspur. City Mall 36 Groupand Marriott has been suc-cessful in bridging this gap. Weare proud to have such a state-of-the-art hotel in Bilaspur.Surely, this is a milestone inthe development of our state."

Speaking about the prop-erty, Rajeev Menon, area vicepresident, South-Asia, Mar-riott International, said, "Thisproperty is the 956th Court-yard globally and 11th in India.We have done an extensive fea-sible study in this region andfound that Bilaspur has hugepotential, due to the industrialbelts around."

Shangri La Hotelsand Resorts tooffer PressReaderserviceFHW StaffMumbai

SHANGRI-LA HOTELS and Resorts will replace approxi-mately two million complimentary print newspapers distrib-uted annually to guests with environmentally-friendly digitalversions. The Hong Kong-based luxury hotel group has part-nered with PressReader, a digital newspaper and magazineservice, to make connecting to Shangri-La and Kerry hotelsand resorts’ free Wi-Fi even more edifying. Guests and restau-rant patrons will have unlimited, complimentary access tomore than 2,000 local, regional and international publicationsfrom 100 countries in 60 languages.

Greg Dogan, president and CEO, Shangri-La, said, “Weknow how important it is for our guests to stay connected,which is why Shangri-La was the first international luxury ho-tel group to offer complimentary internet access and the firstto extend free Wi-Fi to hotel cars. With the introduction ofPressReader, not only will we offer more value to our guests,but we will do so in a way that is environmentally-friendly andcontributes to sustainable operations.” To use the service,guests connect to the hotel Wi-Fi using their laptops, tablets orsmartphones and go to PressReader.com or download the freePressReader app for Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Win-dows. Guests can then choose the desired country, languageand publication from PressReader. The service will be availablein all Wi-Fi accessible areas in Shangri-La and Kerry hotelsand resorts. Guests using the free Wi-Fi in hotel cars will alsobe able to access the service. Shangri-La will also offer print editions of select newspapers upon request.

I feel that witheight strongbrands in Indiawe have afairly robustportfolio togrow in thisnation

MARKETS

Luxury Family Hotels looks at India marketSudipta DevMumbai

LUXURY FAMILY Hotels isfocused on providing affordablefamily-friendly vacations insome of the finest countryhouses in England – from Wool-ley Grange, a Jacobean manorhouse in Wiltshire to the Ick-worth set in 1800 acres of Suf-folk parkland, from Fowey Hallon the South Cornish Coast toMoonfleet in Dorset country-side and The Elms, a QueenAnne mansion in Worcester-shire. The company attracts alot of business from Europeancountries, Germany in particu-lar, and is now looking at the in-ternational market. “We wouldlove to have more businessfrom India, however with lim-ited marketing budgets avail-

able we struggle to communi-cate our powerful and com-pelling family-friendly offeringsto the international market,”said Laura Dudley, group salesmanager, Luxury Family Ho-tels.

She pointed out that for thecompany the concept of 'Lux-ury' is all about quality familytime together. “Sometimes peo-ple’s expectations of luxury isabout opulence such as marble,granite, bright lights and highgloss – we are far more countri-fied and rustic,” stated Dudley.

Reservations are handledby well trained team many ofwhom understand first-handthe challenges families experi-ence when planning a breakaway. “We take time to get toknow the family – their likesand dislikes, ages of the chil-

dren, size of party, sleepingarrangements, dietary require-ments plus we plant the seed ofthe delights in store once at thehotel – making sure familiespre-plan their quality time to-gether,” mentioned Dudley.

The dining options rangefrom 'Children’s High Tea' to'Family Dining'. Special care istaken for families with smallchildren – from offering di-luted apple juice to providingwarm milk at any time of theday and night. “We often de-liver bottles of warm milk toguest bedrooms for anysmaller children who’ve wokenup during the night,” addedDudley. From children's booksto well stocked toy boxes, allare available at the hotels.While parents enjoy theirglass of wine with dinner, the

hotel staff provides a baby lis-tening device or a baby sitterto keep watch on the sleepingchildren. There are also manyactivities for children and fam-ilies, for instance treasure and

scavenger hunts, gardeningclub, group story time at bed-time with cookies and hotchocolate, cinema club, toast-ing marshmallows on realfires, etc.

April 16-30, 2014


NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

MÖVENPICK HOTELS &

RESORTS has announced theopenings of new hotels in Turkey,Mongolia and Morocco, the take-over of a landmark property inPakistan and the opening of a new‘hotel within a hotel’ in Egypt. Thecompany recently took over a five-star landmark hotel in Karachi fromSheraton, now named MövenpickHotel Karachi. The company will alsoopen three properties in Morocco. Bysummer, the company will take overthe management of a hotel inCasablanca and will open its fourthhotel - Mövenpick HotelIstanbulGolden Horn- in Turkey .The company will also be managing anew hotel in the capital of Mongoliafrom 2018. The company recentlyopened a contemporary ‘hotel withina hotel’, a 144-room, four-storey hotelextension at Mövenpick Hotel CairoPyramids.

KEYS HOTELS has launched Keys Hotel Templetree at Shirdi. Located in close proximity to the SaiBaba Temple complex, this 87-roomed property offers guests a wide range of business services includingcomplimentary Wi-Fi. Apart from offering two kinds of suites, Keys Hotel Templetree offers rooms spe-cially designed for differently-abled and single women travellers. The hotel facilities include Keys Café, amulti-cuisine restaurant that serves 100 per cent vegetarian multi-cuisine dishes. Other features includean open lawn to host functions for up to 120 people, entertainment zone offering mocktails and snacks,gaming facilities, children’s play area and swimming pool with a separate children pool.

Mövenpick Hotels & ResortsMARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL

has announced the opening ofCourtyard by Marriott Tokyo Sta-tion, a 150-room hotel, which offersfour design room types for businesstravellers ranging in size from 16 to33 sq metres. Facilities at the hotel include - self-service kiosks, keyless entry,women-only rooms, 24-hour gymaccess, complimentary Wi-Fi. F&Bfacilities consist of GG Co - a first-floor café and bakery with ter-race seating, and the adjacentLavarock restaurant which servescontemporary bistro fare andgrilled specialties from breakfastthrough bar time. For registered guests, there is a li-brary bar on the fourth floo. Privategatherings and conferences of up to130 people can be accommodated infour separate and fully equippedmeeting venues.

Courtyard by MarriottTokyo Station

Keys Hotel Templetree

PLAZA PREMIUM LOUNGE has openedtwo pay-in-lounges at Bengaluru InternationalAirport, one each at the international and do-mestic departure terminals. The dining areaoffers interactive food counters where guestscan enjoy made-to-order dishes by experi-enced chefs. The dining area also offers In-dian delicacies along with a wide variety ofpastas, assortments of egg preparations, anda buffet with a selection of Indian, continentaland oriental dishes. In addition, there is asoup, salad and refreshment counter and anexclusive bar area. Other facilities include -sofas designed with built-in power socketswith USB chargers, workstations, businesscentre facilities like printing, scanning andconcierge services, spa and massage servicesand shower rooms.

Plaza Premium Lounge

FHW StaffMumbai

CHOICE HOTELS INDIA ispart of Choice Hotels Interna-tional, has announced to sign sixproperties in India by 2015.

Vilas Pawar, chief executiveofficer, Choice Hospitality India,said, “We plan to focus on exten-sive development resources ongrowing our presence in India.Last year we expanded our pres-ence with the opening of fiveproperties; Clarion Hotel Chen-nai, Clarion Hotel Coimbatore,Quality Inn Kumbakonam, Qual-

ity Inn Bangalore and ComfortInn in Ahmedabad. In addition,another three properties havebeen inked - Comfort Hotel inKhanvel Silvasa, Comfort Hotel,Abu Road in Rajasthan andQuality Hotel in Chennai. We areplanning to add another threeproperties this year. By 2015, wewill have about 32 properties.”

“India is an extremely im-portant market. In the near fu-ture we will look at Tier II toTier IV cities for our growthand we’re looking forward to the

development potential that itholds for our brands and our ho-tels,” said Pawar. Choice Hotels

India are in various destinationsincluding New Delhi, Mumbai,Chennai, Ahmedabad, Ben-

galuru, Gurgaon, Hyderabad,Coimbatore, Kumbakonam, Ko-daikanal, Lucknow, Amritsar,

Shimla, Manali, Pune, Nashik,Vishakapatnam and Vi-jayawada.

MARKETS

April 16-30, 2014


Choice Hotels to launch 6 properties

Vilas Pawar

India is animportantmarket. In thenear future wewill look at TierII to Tier IVcities

FORZZA has introduced a new range ofcontemporary designs for seating thatcaters to residential as well as corporatespaces. The varied options range fromsectional sofas, three and two seaters, singleseaters, sofa cum beds and formal corporateseating. Manufactured from high qualitydurable wood and foam, this lifestyle brandalso offers a wide range of fabrics. Pricesstart at ̀ 37,000 for two seaters, ̀ 47,000 forthree seaters and ̀ 88,000 for sectionals.

ELECTROLUX has launchedframeless two burner gas hob – a36 cm Gemline frameless gashob on glass, one high speedburner hotplate, one normalburner cooking zone. ThisGemline model offers severalcooking methods like gas,induction and radiant heat.Since the hob has two differentsized burners, it provides moreflexibility for the efficient use ofpots and pans of different sizes.The high quality knobs provideintuitive control after manyyears of use and are made ofhighly heat-resistant and stablematerials. The product is pricedat ̀ 72,500.

Electrolux

LE CREUSET, a French cookware brand, has brought out an uniquecollection of stoneware soup bowls - Bowl Craft, the product isavailable in different colors with curvaceous design.

Le Creuset

Axis Communications

PRODUCT TRACKER

Forzza

OSIM India has unveiled uMist,an ultrasonic humidifier whichuses ultrasonic technology togenerate cool, fine mist tomaintain a balanced hydratedindoor environment. OSIMuMist comes equipped witha LED indicator thatprompts for a refill whenthe water level is low.When the water tank islifted from the base, itautomatically switches-off preventing spillageor when the water runslow. The water tank isremovable for easycleaning and refilling.With a 3.5 litres watertank, OSIM uMist canbe used continuously forapproximately 14 hoursand has a powerconsumption of 30W. Theproduct is priced at ̀ 7,500.

OSIM India

AXIS COMMUNICATIONS has announced its first 4K resolutioncamera, AXIS P1428-E. The 4K standard offers a video resolution of3840 x 2160 pixels at 30 frames per second and has been designed foroutdoor and indoor environments. The AXIS P14 Series consist of sevennetwork camera models ranging from HDTV 1080p to 4K. The new AXISP1428-E offers a number of value added features such as remote zoomand focus, a built-in slot for micro SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards andI/O connectors for interfacing with external devices. The AXIS P1428-ENetwork Camera with 4K resolution is planned to be available in thethird quarter of 2014 at a suggested retail price of US$ 999.

April 16-30, 2014


MARKETS

Indians ranks 3rd in getting best value hotel rates domesticallyFHW StaffMumbai

AS PER the latest Hotel PriceIndex (HPI) report byHotels.com, at ̀ 5,254 a night In-dian travellers stood third interms of getting the best valuehotel room rates domestically in2013. Travellers from Thailandtook the first place at ` 5,160 anight followed by travellers fromMalaysia in the second place at ̀5,198 a night.

The Hotel Price Index is a re-port on hotel prices in major des-tinations across the world. Thelatest edition also reveals thatSwiss travellers paid the most onhotel rooms at home averaging ̀

12,400 a night. Travellers fromNorway came in second at `10,834 and Singapore third at `10,722 a night domestically.

When it comes to spendingon hotel rooms abroad, Indiantravellers were listed in the mid-dle of the most generous trav-ellers with average payments of ̀8,751 a night. Travellers fromSwitzerland once again paid themost when travelling outsidetheir borders with an average of ̀10,642 per night. The Argen-tineans came in second at `10,532 a night making them thehighest paying Latin Americannation. Travellers from the USstood third at ̀ 10,083 a night.

Travellers from Malaysia

were the savviest nation with anaverage spend of ` 7,526, fol-lowed closely by the Taiwaneseon ` 7,621 and the Dutch as thelowest paying Europeans `7,908.

Of the 32 countries analysed,24 paid more abroad than athome with some having a signif-icant gap between the two sums.The Argentineans spent ` 4,185a night more on average when

travelling abroad, followedclosely by the Thais on ` 3,575and the Indians on ̀ 3,497 as wellas the Chinese on ̀ 3,408.

Only seven nations paid moreat home than away.

CLEAN & HYGIENE SOLUTIONS

April 16-30, 2014


What is cross-contamination? At its simplest,it is the transfer of bacteria orcontaminants from a productcontaining these to one thatdoes not. When we talk ofcross-contamination in food,we generally mean the transferof bacteria from raw foods, andthe utensils and surfaces used

in handling them, to preparedand cooked foods. This is par-ticularly dangerous for theconsumer because these pre-pared and cooked foods areready to eat. They will notundergo any further washingor cooking, and so they willpass on food-poisoning organ-isms such as salmonella, liste-ria, and the lethal E. coli O157to those unfortunate enoughto eat them.

Cross-contamination is aworldwide problem. Even incountries with highly devel-

oped food industries, cross-contamination occurs. In theUK, for example, specialists

believe that 20 per cent of allfood-poisoning outbreaks arecaused by cross-contamina-tion. Usually, bacteria comeinto a kitchen via raw foodssuch as meat, poultry, vegeta-bles and even fruit. Food han-dlers can also bring bacteria towork on their hands and cloth-ing. Illness among food han-dlers can play a part, too. Anoutbreak of Novovirus, whichcauses vomiting and diar-rhoea, affecting half of theguests at a wedding receptionwas traced to cross-contami-nation of potatoes from a con-taminated sink, into which thefood handler had previouslyvomited.

Bacteria can be persist-ent. They can live and multi-ply in very small cracks andcrevices, and in the surfacecuts of chopping boards. Aparticularly dangerous exam-ple of cross-contaminationfrom poorly cleaned equipment was seen in the

A Ganesh

THE CHALLENGES OFCROSS-CONTAMINATIONIt is important to deal with the problem of cross contamination in the kitchen itself,says A Ganesh

A MARKETING INITIATIVE

UK in 2005. A butcher, JohnTudor from Bridgend inWales, used to sell vacuum-packed cooked meats to localcaterers – schools in particu-lar – as well as vacuum-packed raw meat.Unfortunately, despite warn-ings from food inspectors, heused the same vacuum-pack-ing machine for both raw andcooked meat. Because he wascareless and complacent, hespread E.coli O157 from rawmeat into his vacuum-packedcooked meats. As a result, alittle boy of five died, andmore than 100 people wereconfirmed as having the exactstrain of E. coli as that takenfrom Mr Tudor’s cookedmeats.

When Mr Tudor was sentfor trial in September 2007, thecourt heard that the vacuum-packing machine had con-gealed debris and dirt on it andthat his staff had been seenwiping blood off trays as theywere packing cooked meats.

Mr Tudor paid a high pricefor his complacency. He wasjailed for a year, after he admit-ted to placing unsafe food onthe market and failing to pro-tect food against the risk ofcontamination.

Not all cross-contamina-tion involves bacteria.Recently, the UK’s FoodStandards Agency had to recallquiches, savoury tarts andready meals made for foodretailers Marks & Spencer andSainsbury’s because of fearsthat they had become contami-nated with peanuts during anincident at the factory. Thiscould have been serious forpeople with an allergy topeanuts.

How can caterers and foodbusinesses guard againstcross-contamination? A clearset of rules is essential:

● Have separate refrigera-tors for raw and cooked foods.If this is not possible, makesure that all foods are coveredand that raw foods are storedBELOW cooked foods. Thisprevents juices from raw foodsdripping onto cooked or ready-to-eat foods.

● Have separate cuttingboards, knives and otherequipment for preparing rawand cooked foods and make

sure that these are stored sep-arately. Always clean equip-ment thoroughly, using deter-gents and sanitisers, afterpreparing foods, particularlyraw food.

● Clean all food prepara-tion surfaces thoroughly,before and after using themfor food preparation. Clear up

any spillages and food debrisimmediately, and clean afterwards.

● Never defrost rawmeat or poultry in a sink. Ifthe poultry is carrying salmo-nella, the sink will soonbecome contaminated. Ifpoultry has to be washed, disinfect the sink

immediately afterwards.● Wash hands regularly

and thoroughly, especiallyafter handling raw foods, andalways after visiting the lava-tory. Dry thoroughly using ahot-air dryer or throwawaypaper towels.

● Keep clothing clean andchange soiled aprons and

coats immediately. ● Do not allow food han-

dlers to work when they areill but make sure that theyhave reasonable pay for timeoff sick. Otherwise, they maybe tempted to conceal illnessfrom an employer.

Diversey India Pvt. Ltd.501, 5th Floor, Ackruti Centre Point, MIDC Central Road, Andheri (E), Mumbai - 400 093. INDIA• Tel.: +91 22 6644 4222 • Fax : + 91 22 6644 4223 • www.diversey.com • Toll Free Helpline : 1800 209 2095 Please write to us at : [email protected]

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• • • • Facility Hygiene • • • • •

April 16-30, 2014


(The author is Director Marketing,Diversey India Pvt. Ltd)

CHEF’S PLATTER

April 16-30, 2014

20

THE CONSULATE

General of Sri Lanka inMumbai had recentlyorganised a Sri Lankan

Food Festival at the Frangipanirestaurant in Trident Hotel,Mumbai. The eight-day longfood festival was a celebration ofthe multi-farious culinary high-lights of the island nation. Theteam of chefs was supervised bythe legendary Sri Lankan chefDr T Publis De Silva, director -culinary affairs and promotions,Mount Lavinia Hotel, nearColombo. He is an authority onSri Lankan cuisine and has dedi-cated his whole like in preserv-ing the traditional cuisine cul-ture of the country.

The cuisine of Sri Lanka isknown for its aromatic flavours.It has been influenced by themany cultures in the region, butstill retains its own distinctiveuniqueness. Most of these influ-ences came with the foreigntraders, including those fromKerala, who visited Sri Lanka inthe 15th and 16th century, prima-rily to trade in spices. “Our foodshows how we accommodateother cultures – whether India,Pakistan or Bangladesh. SriLanka has been inspired by In-dia a lot - from philosophy toBuddhism to culture, howeverwe still have some uniqueness inour culture. Food is a part of

FOOD & HOSPITALITY WORLD

A taste of Sri LankaA Sri Lankan Food Festival organisedby the Consulate General of Sri Lankain Mumbai, showcased thegastronomic culture of the islandnation and how it has retained itsuniqueness through the centuries

By Sudipta Dev

culture and we want to showcaseour food culture. For a long timewe have not had a Sri LankanFood Festival in Mumbai, and wewanted to give a flavour of SriLanka to people here. The festi-val got an excellent response.Many authentic Sri Lankandishes have been prepared. Thefood has been cooked in tradi-tional style using 42 ingredients.Items such as egg hoppers areiconic of Sri Lanka and is proba-bly the only place it is available inthe world,” says Senarath Dis-sanayake, deputy consul general,Consulate General of the Democ-ratic Republic of Sri Lanka,Mumbai.

Though it seems that thereis similarity with Kerala cuisine,there are few distinct differentia-tion, “Our appam is more crispy,you can have vegetarian appamor non-veg appam. It is veryiconic and is our identity in away,” mentions Dissanayake. Hepoints out that Sri Lankan foodis environment friendly andhealth friendly, “We do not useany animal oil or animal productas ingredient.”

Art of healthy cookingChef Dr De Silva has been

working at Mount Lavinia Hotelfor the last 57 years, and hasrisen through the ranks to bemuch acclaimed as a chef of na-tional stature. He believes in theconcept of healthy cooking ."Everywhere you see there is us-age of artificial colour, artificialessence, animal fat, animal milk.We do not use any of these.There are 42 ingredients withherbal quality that are used inour cooking like cardamom, cin-namon, coriander. Everyday adifferent menu was introducedat the food festival. India hasmany similar ingredients, whichare almost 60-62 items. There isa lot of difference in cookingmethod between the two coun-

tries. Too many ingredients alsospoil the natural taste of food,” hesays. The chef is also introducingthe recipes of the last kings,which are almost 200 years old.“The function of cooking is likemeditation. The relationship be-tween mind and body should bethere,” he asserts.

Espousing the traditional

style of cooking, he rues that peo-ple are just adding some new in-gredients and giving thesedishes another name. “They aretrying to make other things, butthe original cuisine culture of SriLanka lies in the traditional foodstyle. The issue is now how canpeople understand what is au-thentic and what is not the real

Sri Lankan food,” he says. Inmost countries Sri Lankanrestaurants are a rarity and areoften clubbed with Indian foodoutlets, the only exception beingthe UK, in particular Londonwhich has Sri Lankan restau-rants. Names of some Srilankandishes - beef thel dala, chickenchutti roast, chicken cuttlefish

head, egg and plain hoppers,ruhunu achcharu, watalappan,lamb black pepper curry, youngjack fruit salad, and many more.The Consulate General of SriLanka in Mumbai had organiseda similar Sri Lankan Food Festi-val a few years back, and willcontinue with such initiatives inthe future.

Bakery Products

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TRANS FAT

April 16-30, 2014


HIGH SPIRITS

IN THE SPIRIT WORLD,every beverage has createda place for itself, gin is no ex-ception. Gin, a spirit which

derives its predominant flavourfrom juniper berries is a popu-lar drink since the middle ages.According to the standard defi-nition, gin is a juniper flavoured

spirit, not made via the redistilla-tion of botanicals, but by simplyadding natural flavouring sub-stances to a neutral spirit. Themost dominant flavour must bejuniper. Every gin maker has hisown style and secret botanicalswhich gives their gin a distinctflavour. Tim Stones, interna-

tional brand ambassador,Beefeater Gin, states, “Everygin maker follows the same dis-tillation process, but the botani-cals which goes in are kept se-cret. The process is quitesimple, all the natural ingredi-ents are distilled at one processand only water can be added

later to dilute the gin's concen-tration level. Beefeater has a dif-ferent ratio of botanicals whichgives it a citrus-like notes and aearthy finish. New gin brandsare now starting to source un-usual botanicals from variousparts of the world. ButBeefeater still follows its tradi-

tional set of botanicals.”Beefeater is an interna-

tional premium gin still distilledin the UK's capital. The tradi-tional Beefeater recipe has re-mained unchanged since the19th century, creating a full-bod-ied premium gin with balancedflavour. Today, Beefeater hascreated a huge market for itselfglobally. Over 30 million bottlesof Beefeater Gin are sold everyyear and the numbers are in-creasing. Beefeater steeps itsbotanicals in neutral grain spiritfor 24 hours to maximise flavourextraction. It is produced fromgrain spirit with a blend of ninenatural botanicals namely; ju-niper which is predominant, an-gelica root, angelica seed, co-riander, liquorice, almonds,orris root, lemons and Sevilleorange peel.

April 16-30, 2014


In the 1900s, gin had become a very popular drink thanks to Hollywoodwherein almost every bar sequence the actor used to order Scotch forhimself and gin for the lady. This filmy fame - no doubt boosted the ginmarket, but also created a misconception that gin is a lady's drink

By Akshay Kumar

GIN FOR THE LADY,PLEASE!

Growth deterrentIn the middle ages gin was

quite popular, and with theemergence of Hollywood andother film industries it had be-come a style statement in thatera to order a gin for the lady.Every film which had a disco or abar scene – which was quite fre-quent during that period – usedto depict gin as a lady's drink.“This has played a major impactover the market, people aroundthe globe think that gin is not aman's game, which is untrue.Due to this misconception ginhas not been able to capture themarket like the other clearcoloured drinks,” states Stones.The main challenge for gin glob-ally is that there is still a percep-tion that gin is a lady's drink.

The early movieshas played a bigrole in creating thisimage. “Accordingto me there is a ginbased drink foreveryone. One canmake very light gindrinks to a heavygin drink as well, sothere is somethingfor everyone outthere. Slowly this

misconception will fade and

the gin

market will see much moregrowth,” he opines.

Indian insight The Indian market is heav-

ily dominated by Whiskeydrinkers, but due to globalisa-tion and an extensive exposureto the West, even Indians havestarted to explore and experi-ment. India has been included inthe core business plans of everyinternational brands. Stones,says, “I think traditionally Indiahas been a big whiskey market,but here the people's palate de-mand for something new, quiteoften. I think gin blends itselfvery well with the Indian cli-mate, as lot of gin drinks arequite refreshing. Although gin isnot a big market in India butdefinitely it has potential togrow in the coming years.”

Recently, Beefeater con-ducted a training programme inIndia, which was held in fourcities and the main motto of thistour was to educate peopleabout gin. Stones along with histeam went to these cities andconducted training sessions forthe bartenders and explained

the history of gin, the journeybehind making the BeefeaterGin and its future potential.

Stones explained, “I amhoping that this four city tripwill be helpful in making theconsumers aware that gin is ex-ceptionally a first choice spiritand it definitely has a place inthe Indian market. Gin is a verycomplex drink just like the In-dian food which has a strongflavour and aroma and I thinkthis complexity will appeal moreto the Indian palate once theyknow more about it. This is justthe beginning for a huge gin con-sumer base in India.”

Explaining about the USPof Beefeater Gin, Stones con-cluded, “The two main gins weproduce are Beefeater Londondry and Beefeater 24, both areextremely aromatic and havetheir own distinct tastes. Onething we are proud of is thatBeefeater is the only Londondry gin which is still producedin London. Majority of Londondry gins are produced outsideLondon. So we are definitelyproud that we are London'svery own gin.”

People around the globe think that gin is not a man's game,which is untrue.Due to thismisconception gin hasnot been able to capturethe market like theother clearcoloured drinks

April 16-30, 2014


April 16-30, 2014


cover)

24

As the weekend market continues to grow, hotel brands

are upping their offerings to provide experiences that

will give them an extra edge over their competitiors

BY RITUPARNA CHATTERJEE

The Ffort Raichak

GONE are thedays when travel meant well-planned, long vacations in farflung destinations in India orabroad. Hectic work schedulesand time pressures have givenrise to short, frequent and im-pulsive breaks that are increas-ingly appealing to Indian trav-ellers. People with less scope forwell-planned vacations are opt-ing for weekend getaways whichgive them the scope to rejuve-nate the body and mind, reunitewith friends and bond with thefamily. Whether it is a spa breakor an adventurous outing, Indiantravellers are tapping every av-enue to make the most out oftheir weekends. A report re-leased in December 2013 by In-credible India, KPMG and Con-federation of Indian Industry(CII) states that while religiousand social travel have and are ex-pected to remain the biggestcontributors, increased travelhas been witnessed in the formof weekend getaways and familyvisits to foreign destinations.Better accessibility, affordableair travel, tailor-made mini vaca-tions offered by travel agentsand lucrative special offers fromhotels are making this weekendsegment more alluring. Inexpen-sive destinations like Manesar,Jaipur, Shimla, Nainital, Corbett,Sundarbans, Shantiniketan,Lavasa, Hampi, etc have becomepopular as weekend getaways.Destinations of the northeasthave also come into the lime-light. In this issue we will be fo-cussing on a few well-known re-sorts/hotels across popular andnot-so-sought-after weekenddestinations of the country toanalyse this growing market.

As Indians have slowlywarmed up to the idea of week-end getaways, more and morehotels/resorts are opening up atwell-known and lesser-knownweekend destinations offeringunique experiences to travellers.“The weekend market hasgrown over the last decade and

has become more family-centric,comprising of scenic views, ac-tivities for children, diverse F&Bofferings to name a few,” pointsout Harshavardhan Neotia,chairman, Ambuja NeotiaGroup. Not only that, hotels havealso experienced an increase inthe number of weekend visitorsto their properties over theyears. “We have seen a signifi-cant increase in domestic travelat our 28 properties across 11

states over the last two years,”mentions Aman Nath, chairmanof Neemrana Hotels, whose twoproperties - The Verandah inthe Forest in Matheran andNeemrana Fort-Palace on theDelhi-Jaipur highway have beengetting an increasing number ofguests during long weekends.This rise has also been con-tributed by increased and im-proved connectivity to theseweekend destinations. “Nowweekend travellers drive out ef-fortlessly for two to four hourssince both the roads and the carsare better,” adds Nath. However,when it comes to the guest's re-quirements - world class service,excellent location, great food andspa are what they expect duringtheir short stay. “These are whata weekender wants in a smallcrisp capsule holiday, besidesthat Indians are obsessed withthe prestige quotient of a desti-nation,” states Manu RishiGuptha, CEO, Niraamaya Re-treats.

Engaging guestsFrom international hotel

chains to homegrown brands, allplayers are offering somethingunqiue and interesting that will

engage and interest the weekendguest and will also add to theprestige quotient. From specialspa packages to an experientialand diverse F&B experience, ho-tels are offering a gamut of'things to do and eat' over theweekend. “Over the years, theconcept of weekend getawayshas developed considerably aspeople do not really have thetime to engage in elaborate vaca-tions which is why we have de-signed interesting two and threenight packages for families look-ing for a shorter holiday,” statesSamir Khanna, general man-ager, Vivanta by Taj - Bekal, Ker-ala. For the weekend guests thehotel has specially designed spapackages like the Jiva SignatureDetox, Ayurveda De–Stress andPanchkarma–Ayurveda Detox.Likewise, properties under Ni-raamaya Retreats are offeringelaborate spa treatments toweekend guests that not only of-fer a rejuvenating experiencebut also provide a healthy di-etary routine that guests can fol-low even when they return totheir homes. “Our therapists aretrained in yoga, meditation, au-thentic Thai and Western relax-ation techniques and traditional

(T H E M A I N F O C U S

April 16-30, 2014


“Indians areobsessed with theprestige quotientof a destination”

Manu Rishi Guptha CEO, Niraamaya Retreats

“We have seen asignificantincrease indomestic travel atour 28 properties ”

Aman Nath Chairman,

Neemrana Hotels

As Indians haveslowly warmed up tothe idea ofweekendgetaways,more and morehotels areopening up atweekenddestinations

Niraamaya Retreats Surya Samudra, Kovalam

Asian therapies like reflexology.Working along with our thera-pists, our chefs tailor mealsaround the guests' dietary re-quirements and those suggestedby the spa's doctor,” statesGuptha.

F&B has always been a sig-nificant part of a hotel's offeringand also the guest's require-ment. Therefore, hotels are notonly offering multiple F&B out-lets, diverse cuisines, but also aculinary platform for active en-gagement with the chef to makethe experience exclusive. For in-stance, Vivanta by Taj – Beka,Kerala offers an interesting ac-tivity - the fish trail wherein thehotel chef along with the guestscan set off on a drive to the localfish market at Uduma and shopfor fishes that the chef will pre-pare for dinner according totheir preference. Likewise, TheWaterfront Shaw Lavasa offersa diverse range of cuisinesthrough its 18 F&B outlets and a

special offer wherein guests canchoose to dine at any six of theirF&B outlets at an affordableprice. “We have come up with aconcept of affordable dining witha difference wherein we are of-fering set menus of seven coursemeals across any six of our out-lets,” states Jimmy Shaw, man-aging director, The WaterfrontShaw Lavasa. Not only this, ho-tels are becoming more innova-tive in their F&B offerings togive themselves an extra edgeabove the competition. “We pro-vide special preference on F&Bexperiences and provide optionslike destination dining, conductexcursions and picnics. To stayviable in the marketplace, youhave got to make yourselfknown,” opines Guptha.

Besides these, hotels are of-fering a plethora of interestingand engaging activities forguests looking for an energeticpursuit over the weekend. Theseactivities not only offer a refresh-

ing break but also educates theguests about the destination.“We also have guests who comein to spend an active weekendand for them we organise tripsto the Bekal Fort where guestscan experience the history ofBekal. Guests can also avail theKettuvallam Cruise on a tradi-tional houseboat with a thatchedroof over a wooden hull. Familiescan also visit a banana and rub-ber plantation or a traditionalhouse or chat with the residentsto experience the life in a village,”mentions Khanna. Since mostweekend travellers tend to befamilies, hotels are also design-ing packages that will keep allthe members of the family en-gaged. “It becomes very impor-tant for us to plan and keep ourguests engaged in activity or elseit is no fun and it becomes all themore important as there arekids who do not want to sit idle;so keeping all that in mind wehave come up with a few activi-

ties and engagement pro-grammes,” states Sumit Kumar,general manager, Hyatt PlaceHampi. For instance, the hoteloffers complimentary bicycles sothat guests can use them when-ever they require and explorearound the JSW Township. Inaddition, guests can also exploreKaladhaam which has been setup on a 10 acre plot within theJSW Township. Kaladhaam isan art and culture precinct thatincludes major buildings, danceand performance pavilions, andartists’ studios. Kaladhaam alsoexhibits the Place-Hampi mu-seum, a unique interactive exhibi-tion of 3D panoramas, initiallyconceived by Museum Victoria,Australia. It has now been per-manently installed at Kalad-haam to promote the art andculture of Hampi and the sur-rounding areas. “Weekends at-tract more of the leisure guestswho travel from Bengaluru, Hy-derabad, Goa, Pune or Mumbai.We have created a special pack-age for the leisure travellers, Ex-plore Hampi which has lucrativeinclusions like a trip to theHampi ruins, breakfast, internet,dinner and trip toKaladhaam.The package has really workedwell for us and is still continu-ing.” adds Kumar. Apart fromthese, movies are played at thenearby J-Max which enableguests to watch their favourite

April 16-30, 2014


Hotels are offering a plethora of interesting andengaging activities for guests looking for anenergetic pursuit over the weekend.Theseactivities not only offer a refreshing break butalso educates the guests about the destination

“Over the years,the concept ofweekend getawayshas developedconsiderably”

Samir Khanna GM, Vivanta by Taj - Bekal,

Kerala

“We have come upwith a concept ofaffordable diningwith a difference”

Jimmy Shaw Managing director, The

Waterfront Shaw Lavasa

cover)

Neemrana Hotels - Tijara Fort-Palace, Alwar

April 16-30, 2014


(T H E M A I N F O C U S

27

movie which they were planningto watch over the weekend. Amanmade artificial lake at theTownship and The SundayBrunch with kids helps give thatspecial touch to the experiences.

Apart from the myriad of ex-periences offered, hotels are alsoadding that added human touchby paying attention to detailswhile catering to weekendguests. For instance, a compli-mentary bottle of water whilethe guest is on his way backhome has an extra appeal.“Complimentary Wi-fi, bicyclesand X-box for kids, free car washto every car leaving the hotel,freshly baked bread in the morn-ing are small touches that weprovide our guests,” boastsShaw.

Strategies to sellWith a continuous influx of

different hotel brands at variousweekend destinations, the ques-tion that arises is - how does ahotel survive in a highly compet-itive environment? A simple an-swer is to think out of the box.“To increase revenue for the ho-tel which is set up in an emerg-ing but overlooked market seg-ment, we have contacted thevendors who deal with JSWSteel and who travel throughoutthe year for business purposes.The negotiated or the corporaterate business assists us to sus-tain the business,” mentions Ku-mar. Few hotels are also charg-ing less over the weekendinstead of the usual higher rateto attract the booming weekendmarket. “We have a strategiclong weekends DPS assignmentwherein while all other hotels in-crease their pricing for week-ends, we anchor to a strategy tolower rates to attract leisureguests from surrounding cities,”adds Kumar.

Hotels and resorts are alsoupping their marketing strate-gies and are aggressively pro-moting themselves online to at-tract the weekend clientele. “Amajor reason that marketingtechniques are changing so fastis due to the fact that internetand technology are constantlyimproving. With the majority ofour potential clients having ac-

cess to high speed internet,search engines and online videosites; they can quickly learnabout the product from the com-fort of their homes or offices,”states Guptha. One such market-ing platform that is gainingprominence is social media. Ho-tels are constantly active on so-cial media sites like Facebookand Twitter to connect withtheir target audience and keepthose relationships going. “Blog-ging is also a great way to ex-press ideas or products and tokeep the brand in the minds ofthe customers. People havemore disposable income. Com-panies give more paid holidaysthan they used to. Travel has be-come cheaper (particularly airtravel). Holiday providers nowuse the internet to sell their

products to people directlywhich also makes themcheaper,” adds Guptha.

Upward growthAs the weekend market is

growing streadily and continu-ously, an increasing number ofinternational and national hotelchains are expanding their baseacross small cities and towns.For instance, Hyatt has been ag-gressively expanding, targetingall districts, cities and towns.“We have recently opened a Hy-att in Raipur and Hyatt Regencyin Ludhiana. Hyatt Place in Puneand Gurgaon are under con-struction, and Hyatt Places aregoing to come up in Goa and Hy-derabad respectively. Hyatt Re-gency in Ahmedabad andChandigarh are also under con-

struction which are most likely toopen in the coming year. Hyatt asa company is growing big and ex-panding its roots to capture theIndian market in various citiesand towns,” mentions Kumar.Likewise, Neemrana Hotels iscoming up with their latest prop-erty - Tijara Fort-Palace in Alwardistrict. “What is unique aboutNeemrana’s latest project – Ti-jara Fort-Palace in Alwar districtis that it is situated in 360 degreewilderness atop a plateau andsprawls across eight acres. Thissummer, a large section of Tijarawill open with its recently-ter-raced gardens and some of its tallramparts raised. 21 suites androoms named after India's lead-ing women painters will honourthem by evoking their work,”claims Nath.

“The weekendmarket has grownover the last decade& become morefamily-centric ”

Harshavardhan

NeotiaChairman, Ambuja Neotia

One such marketing platform that is gainingprominence is social media. Hotels areconstantly active on social media sites likeFacebook and Twitter to connect with their targetaudience and keep those relationships going

Vivanta by Taj - Bekal, Kerala

“The negotiated orthe corporate ratebusiness assists usto sustain thebusiness””

Sumit KumarGM, Hyatt Place Hampi

April 16-30, 2014


EXPRESS EXCLUSIVE

'Women on the Go', an exclusive round table discussion held on the occasion ofInternational Women's Day witnessed interesting insights being shared by sixwomen experts of the Indian travel industry on issues concerning the womentravellers of today, the latest trends in this segment and many more

By Rituparna Chatterjee

The female globetrotter

ON THE OCCASION

of InternationalWomen's Day thisyear, Express Travel-

World organised an exclusiveround table discussion titled'Women on the Go' at ExpressTowers in Mumbai. The discus-sion focused on the increasingnumber of women travellerstravelling both for leisure andbusiness and the way the travelindustry is responding to thisgrowing trend. The hour longdiscussion went on to highlightand address issues that con-cerned women travellers of to-day including safety and securityof women on the go, the growingdemand for adventure tourismamong women, emergence ofnew travelling segments, needfor medical and travel insurance,and so on. Moderated by ReemaLokesh, editor, Express Travel-World, the round table discus-sion witnessed participationfrom six industry women ex-perts from the travel fraternityin India - Veena Patil, founderand managing director, VeenaWorld; Stuti Das, head – centralprocurement, Kuoni Travel In-dia; Sheetal Wadhwa Munshawof Avant Garde; Namrata Dal-

wani, director, Krisia Holidays;Parul Mehta of DestinationGlobe; and Anaita Elavia, associ-ate vice president – product de-velopment, Vacations Exotica.

The discussion started withPatil sharing the reasons thatled to her conceptualising the'My Fair Lady' tours exclu-sively for women travellers inIndia. “Ladies who were ontours with their familiesweren't able to enjoy since theywould be busy managing thefamily and their requirements. Itook the first tour to Kashmirbut I was dissatisfied with itsince the needs of the womenwere not coming through be-cause of socio-cultural pres-sures. Hence, I thought of tak-ing the women abroad so thattheir needs could be fulfilled,”she highlighted adding that,this thought led her to take agroup of women to Thailandwhere the women were en-gaged in various fun activitieslike dancing and singing, whichhelped them shape their per-sonality and eventually changethe family's outlook towardsthem. “Now the family under-stands the importance of thewoman going out. The family

has seen changes in her think-ing level, her overall grooming.Through tourism, somehow wehave been able to solve some ofthese socio-cultural problems,”she quipped.

As to the challenges facedwhile taking a diverse group ofwomen on a tour, Patil added,

We can either have an all women's tour for all thefemale members in the family or have a womanwith her daughter holiday - since these segmentscan be touched upon and have growth potential

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weekend Scene and heard With Marcellus Baptista

April 16-30, 2014


THE COURTYARD of the restaurant and bar and hangoutplace Villa 69 came alive with a spring fashion fiesta. It wasthe fashionable flea market with various stalls offering somestylish clothes and accessories. Standing out was Bungalow 8,Vanity Store, Cheesecake Republic, Radical, Feisty Fox andYouWeCan, Yuvraj Singh’s cancer foundation NGO. The nightincluded a fashion show with Nitya Bajaj showcasing herlatest spring/summer collection along with fancy footwear byshoe sculptor Payal Kothari of the label Veruschka. Feastingon the fashion along with drinks from the bar and foodincluding piping hot pizzas were the likes of Navneet KaurDhillon, Marc Robinson, Rashmi Nigam, Pratiek Babbar, JuliaBliss, Meghna Naidu, Karishma Tanna, Shilpa Agnihotri,Shubha Sethi and Vindu Singh.

Spring fashion fiesta at Villa 69

HEARTFELT STORIES of the plight of the girl child touched you at therooftop of the Trident. It was the meet to announce the launch of ProjectBlossoming from Gemfields with a creative and philanthropic partnershipwith 10 of India’s leading jewellers in support of Project Nanhi Kali and thecause of educating the girl child. Bollywood actor Chitrangada Singh was thebrand ambassador of the project and she was seen with models that showedoff one-of-a-kind pieces set with Gemfields’ Zambian emeralds andMozambican rubies and inspired by the notion of blossoming. You heard thatThe Project Blossoming collection would tour India, visiting each of thejewellery boutiques, before returning to Mumbai on June 6 where thecollection would be auctioned by Christie’s and that this project aimed to raiseenough money to support a minimum of 2,000 girls.

THE CRYSTAL Room of theTaj was the happy venue for acharity event for a good cause.It was the annual fundraiser ofthe Cuddles Foundation inassociation with Gallery 7.Guests learnt that CuddlesFoundation works in the area ofpediatric oncology with amission to impact the lives ofchildren from low-incomefamilies who have been afflictedby cancer by granting themaccess to nutrition and hygieneproducts to enable them to dealwith chemotherapy. Spotted inthe crowd were Kavita Sachdev,Nikholai Sachdev, ChandraSachdev, Vikram Raizada andShilpa Bhagat among manymore. And the evening wasenlivened by soulful music byThe Sufi Gospel Project withSonam Kalra on vocals.

WELLNESS WAS IN THE AIR at the bountiful brunch atInch by Inch – The Body Temple in Versova, Andheri. It wasthe perfect opportunity for Barrio to showcase its food fareand also Sula to provide a bubbly time with its sparkling winecocktails. Shital Nahar Agarwal and husband Sunil Agarwalof the spa along with the mother-daughter designer duo ofNeeta and Nishka Lulla were the happy hosts of this Sundaybrunch. Exploring the facilities and services offered by Inchby Inch with the talk on good health, weight management,beauty and wellness were guests like Kalki Koechlin,Manisha Koirala, Lucky Morani, Shaheen Abbas, MariaGoretti, Pooja Bedi, Kunika Singh, Kashmira Shah, PayalRohatgi, Hirshitaa Bhatt and Gulshan Grover. And everyonepromised to return for a healthy time.

For the girl child

Chitrangada Singh and models at the Project Blossoming meet at Trident

Neeta Lulla, Shital Nahar Agarwal and Kalki Koechlin at thebrunch at Inch by Inch

Cause andeffect

Kavita Sachdev at the CuddlesFoundation fundraiser at the Taj

Spring thing Brunch with the best

weekend E V E N T S

April 16-30, 2014


CONSERVATION CONCERN Indian film actor Arjun Kapoor, Ritika Bhalla andRituparna Sengupta of WWF and Elsie Gabriel, founder of Young Environmentalistsprogramme trust at the Earth Hour campaign at Grand Hyatt Mumbai

VISUAL OFFERING L-R: Laura Olivari Guarda, owner, MGM Marbles and Stones;Ugo Ciarlatani, consul general of Italy and Umberto Guarda, owner, MGM Marblesand Stones at the launch of the MGM Marbles and Stones showroom in Mumbai

Dr Arvind B Telang Institute of Hotel Management organised an annual event – the South Indian Food Festival titled 'Vannakam - Southern Aroma' at the campus inPune

HOLY EXPERIENCE Taj Mahal New Delhi for the third consecutive year hostedthe ‘Teachings by His Holiness The Dalai Lama’, which was spread over threedays comprising of three sessions along with an exclusive session on Ethics andCompassion for Young Minds held at Diwan-I-Ams

AROMATIC AFFAIR

GASTRONOMIC DELIGHT JW Marriott Pune launched a special culinary booktitled 'Secret Recipes' penned by Chef Ajmal Salim, executive chef and clusterexecutive pastry chef of the hotel

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POSTED ON 2, 3, 4 & 17,18,19 OF EVERY FORTNIGHT POSTED AT MUMBAI PATRIKA CHANNEL SORTING OFFICE.

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