Inspiring Tales: My Interviews of First Generation Indian Entrepreneurs Who Made It Big -- Part 2
Pampering Southern PALATE
who was pursuing hotel management in
Ahmedabad, decided to open a small
south Indian restaurant in the city of Gujaratis.
It took him around Rs 25,000 to start with and
he mobilized that money from his father who
was in textile business. His family had migrated
from Sri Lanka. Today, with more than
100 restaurants in India and abroad, Goenka’s
Sankalp group represents a style and cuisine that
is nonpareil.
His restaurants promise a great dining experience with an ever increasing innovative menu, food festivals and a wide range of quality products have not only helped build a broad consumer base but also
inculcated loyalty among the diners.
In an exclusive interview to Deepak Parvatiyar,
Kailash Goenka, CMD of the Ahmedabad-based
Sankalp Recreation Private Limited, talks about
his dreams, taste and restaurants.
You have created a successful brand of South Indian food restaurants with over 100 restaurants in India and across the globe. What prompted you to start this venture and what did you dream ?
I was 16 years and was nurturing my dad’s dream of having a restaurant in each and every corner of the world. We had migrated to Ahmedabad from Sri Lanka, where our family was into other business. After returning to Ahmedabad, my dad started Meena Bazaar in 80s. He wanted to open a mall but it was too early for Ahmedabad, I would say there was no such concept in the entire country.
Then I told my dad about setting up a restaurant and convinced him to fund me. He too liked the idea. My father missed the South Indian food in Ahmedabad. He came to know that Ahmedabadis were true food lovers but they did not have options. Hence I thought of getting into restaurant business by introducing Mangalore’s South Indian taste to Ahmedabad. That restaurant was an instant hit. I was very fascinated by the MNC & chains of restaurants.
Who supported you financially when you started your business ?
I took my dad’s financial help for the first restaurant. But, that was it. Later, I never sought his help. I managed funds from banks and in just four years, I opened my second restaurant at C.G. Road, the most expensive and happening place in Ahmedabad then.
It was on the terrace. Everybody said it would never work as they felt it was not an ideal location for a restaurant. I went ahead and thereafter several terrace restaurants sprang up. In the next couple of years, we opened another branch at S.G. Road though it was not a happening place. But I knew the future.
Meanwhile, I also came up with Sam’s Pizza almost simultaneously, which withstood competition from powerful foreign giants. Today, I have 35 outlets. I also faced tough competition from some South Indian giants who were also MNCs. But good food and service wins. Today I have over 100 restaurants in India, U.K., U.S., Australia, Canada, and U.A.E.
How challenging was it to set up your business? What type of hurdles did you face? There must have been a stiff competition, so what was your strategy to cope with the competition?
The biggest challenge was to start a speciality restaurant. Everybody discouraged me saying that an exclusive south Indian cuisine restaurant would never work, and that it has to be multi cuisine. But I was determined to go ahead.
South Indian food was known as Madrasi food. People didn’t know about the variety South India has. South India comprises four states and there is a variety of south Indian food that differs from region to region. If I go to Mangalore, the local food is different from the South Indian food served in Chennai, Tiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad and even Bengaluru.
I understood one thing. For the people of Ahmedabad, dining out was a celebration. It was an occasion. They just did not want to eat food but to make the occasion an experience. They wanted to enjoy it liberally. I always believed in giving food abundantly and in unlimited quantity. I always implement that in my restaurants, That’s why I introduced novel large Dosas, and unique silver utensils for serving sambar and chutneys, which were served unlimited. The cuisine was just South Indian but the presentation, ambience, service, staff, was not inferior in quality and was on par with food served in star category hotels and restaurants,
I took extra care to take south India food dining experience to a new level.
Then we introduced four feet long dosa, followed by 8 feet, 25 and 30 feet dosas. Finally, we introduced 32 feet long dosas during the promotion of a South Indian movie Quick Gun Murugan. The price of this dosa is Rs 5000 which is very expensive but preparing it making it is very difficult and risky.
Your group figures in the Guinness Book for making world’s largest dosa. How did you get this idea?
Doing something new and being innovative has always been in our genes. I always wanted to do something new, novel and unique at my restaurant to be different from the others – not just to increase the footfall and business, but words of appreciation from guests were very motivating.
In 1981, our restaurant was also called ‘video restaurant’ as video was new and unique then. Watching movies and songs on video while dining was a new experience. Then we introduced four feet long dosa, followed by 8 feet, 25 and 30 feet dosas.
Finally, we introduced 32 feet long dosas during the promotion of a South Indian movie Quick Gun Murugan. The price of this dosa is Rs 5000 which is very expensive but preparing it making it is very difficult and risky.
We take an order for one dosa but the preparation is very tedious. The batter is very carefully mixed and grinding also involves lot of caare, the 35 feet long Dosa plate has to be equally and evenly hot, so the dosa has the same texture.
The dosa is prepared by eight cooks and an equal number of helpers. It was never easy to prepare this dosa. Even today it is the most difficult task, but thank God now I am not required to do that.The cooks take care of the whole preparation.
Do you cook yourself? Have you done any course in hotel management or cookery?
I have done Hotel Management course from Ahmedabad Polytechnic. I cook for pleasure. Actually every foodie tries cooking then gets into restaurants and some like me just don’t stop. In fact, I personally developed recipes of many popular items of my restaurants.
Sambar is the USP of Sankalp restaurants. I worked very hard on developing this taste which is universally accepted. Similarly there are so many other items in the menu that I invented, The Madurai Sandwich Uthappam, Indian Bhaji Dosa and the Vaghar Idli.
I used to make the Vaghar Idli for my mom. She liked it very much and I included it in the menu. Today it’s a big hit, The Spring dosa was my Mom’s recipe which I later modified a bit and it is one of the fastest moving dish. The thumb rule of this business is that if you cannot cook you should not run a Restaurant.
Are you a foodie? What type of food do you generally enjoy?
I am a great foodie and generally all restaurateurs are great foodies first. Then this thought always comes to our mind. Let’s make the rest of the world like ourselves too. I also boast and show the world how much we have tried, experienced, enjoyed and relished.
Doing something new and being innovative has always been in our genes. I always wanted to do something new, novel and unique at my restaurant to be different from the others – not just to increase the footfall and business, but words of appreciation from guests were very motivating.
In 1981, our restaurant was also called ‘video restaurant’ as video was new and unique then. Watching movies and songs on video while dining was a new experience. Then we introduced four feet long dosa, followed by 8 feet, 25 and 30 feet dosas.
Finally, we introduced 32 feet long dosas during the promotion of a South Indian movie Quick Gun Murugan. The price of this dosa is Rs 5000 which is very expensive but preparing it making it is very difficult and risky.
We take an order for one dosa but the preparation is very tedious. The batter is very carefully mixed and grinding also involves lot of caare, the 35 feet long Dosa plate has to be equally and evenly hot, so the dosa has the same texture.
The dosa is prepared by eight cooks and an equal number of helpers. It was never easy to prepare this dosa. Even today it is the most difficult task, but thank God now I am not required to do that.The cooks take care of the whole preparation.
Do you cook yourself? Have you done any course in hotel management or cookery?
I have done Hotel Management course from Ahmedabad Polytechnic. I cook for pleasure. Actually every foodie tries cooking then gets into restaurants and some like me just don’t stop. In fact, I personally developed recipes of many popular items of my restaurants.
Sambar is the USP of Sankalp restaurants. I worked very hard on developing this taste which is universally accepted. Similarly there are so many other items in the menu that I invented, The Madurai Sandwich Uthappam, Indian Bhaji Dosa and the Vaghar Idli.
I used to make the Vaghar Idli for my mom. She liked it very much and I included it in the menu. Today it’s a big hit, The Spring dosa was my Mom’s recipe which I later modified a bit and it is one of the fastest moving dish. The thumb rule of this business is that if you cannot cook you should not run a Restaurant.
Are you a foodie? What type of food do you generally enjoy?
I am a great foodie and generally all restaurateurs are great foodies first. Then this thought always comes to our mind. Let’s make the rest of the world like ourselves too. I also boast and show the world how much we have tried, experienced, enjoyed and relished.
First of all, I love food, all food. I would like to try and taste anything and everything. But if you say what food I enjoy, then it is Indian food, especially south Indian food. It is very light, very healthy, very tasty and above all the profits are even tastier, yummier.
How often do you take your family to your restaurants for an outing?
I eat, drink, live and dream restaurants and hotels. When somebody asks me how often I take my family to restaurants, I would ask them how often we go home. I have got 20 restaurants in the city I live in, which I visit, my family too visits, my wife my son, my daughter we all keep visiting our restaurants most often. Otherwise, I am mostly travelling. If I am in Ahmedabad, we always visit some new restaurants, and surprisingly, there are so many new ones mushrooming all over the city, There is always something new to try.
My son is now almost the age I started taking interest in the family business. He is also getting into it. He gives his feedback and has started talking about taste, recipes and food cost. He makes me a very proud dad.
Do you have any disappointments that you would like to share?
There were many but then I took them as a challenge, and a challenge is called a challenge, because it is not easy.
Normally with restaurants in Ahmedabad and across India, up to some extent a new restaurant would do very well for the first three months. After that, if the craze is still the same, then there is no looking back.
But as I told you, I opened the second restaurant on third floor which is not a good location for restaurants, so initially the response was not so good, which was very scary. But then it picked up slowly and steadily. It was the same experience with the S.G. Road branch. That was a very deserted area then, development was yet to take roots, afternoon business was frustrating, but I was sure.
Actually the family support was great, which gave me strength to face odds. When I started Sam’s Pizza, there was an MNC Pizza restaurant next to us, and again the location was a problem. People discouraged me and mocked at my decision. Though that was my fourth restaurant, the cuisine was new to me and my family.
Even my family at one point said that Sam’s Pizza was a big mistake. But then, when a large pizza was sold for 300 bucks I came up with this mind boggling unbelievable offer of serving unlimited pizzas accompanied by unlimited serves of salads, soups breads and dessert. I advertised in newspapers. The response on the first day was not so encouraging, but then onwards, there were people waiting at the doors for the restaurant to open, we have never looked back since.
What is your success mantra? Have you ever thought of having a restaurant chain with over 100 outlets?
Sincere and hard work is not just to relish profits but to realise my dreams. To be honest, I had thought of 100 outlets.
What are your future plans?
I want to see the logo of Sankalp in each and every corner of the world.Often we use this punch line in advertisements of new openings - “GO WHERE EVER, SOUTH INDIA WILL WELCOME AT SANKALP.” Believe me it is not a punch line of some ad, it is my dream.
How often do you take your family to your restaurants for an outing?
I eat, drink, live and dream restaurants and hotels. When somebody asks me how often I take my family to restaurants, I would ask them how often we go home. I have got 20 restaurants in the city I live in, which I visit, my family too visits, my wife my son, my daughter we all keep visiting our restaurants most often. Otherwise, I am mostly travelling. If I am in Ahmedabad, we always visit some new restaurants, and surprisingly, there are so many new ones mushrooming all over the city, There is always something new to try.
My son is now almost the age I started taking interest in the family business. He is also getting into it. He gives his feedback and has started talking about taste, recipes and food cost. He makes me a very proud dad.
Do you have any disappointments that you would like to share?
There were many but then I took them as a challenge, and a challenge is called a challenge, because it is not easy.
Normally with restaurants in Ahmedabad and across India, up to some extent a new restaurant would do very well for the first three months. After that, if the craze is still the same, then there is no looking back.
But as I told you, I opened the second restaurant on third floor which is not a good location for restaurants, so initially the response was not so good, which was very scary. But then it picked up slowly and steadily. It was the same experience with the S.G. Road branch. That was a very deserted area then, development was yet to take roots, afternoon business was frustrating, but I was sure.
Actually the family support was great, which gave me strength to face odds. When I started Sam’s Pizza, there was an MNC Pizza restaurant next to us, and again the location was a problem. People discouraged me and mocked at my decision. Though that was my fourth restaurant, the cuisine was new to me and my family.
Even my family at one point said that Sam’s Pizza was a big mistake. But then, when a large pizza was sold for 300 bucks I came up with this mind boggling unbelievable offer of serving unlimited pizzas accompanied by unlimited serves of salads, soups breads and dessert. I advertised in newspapers. The response on the first day was not so encouraging, but then onwards, there were people waiting at the doors for the restaurant to open, we have never looked back since.
What is your success mantra? Have you ever thought of having a restaurant chain with over 100 outlets?
Sincere and hard work is not just to relish profits but to realise my dreams. To be honest, I had thought of 100 outlets.
What are your future plans?
I want to see the logo of Sankalp in each and every corner of the world.Often we use this punch line in advertisements of new openings - “GO WHERE EVER, SOUTH INDIA WILL WELCOME AT SANKALP.” Believe me it is not a punch line of some ad, it is my dream.
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