Locally Speaking

Can individual properties retain global brand values while planning inventive marketing plans, especially around F&B? Rishi Chopra, GM, Le Méridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa thinks it is possible, with a little attention to specifics.

- Vinita Bhatia

Walk into any McDonald’s in the world and you can get the Big Mac, the company’s signature menu item. Anywhere, except India. What the country has instead is its own desi version of the Big Mac called the Chicken Maharaja Mac, a doppelganger of the original, albeit with chicken double chicken patties instead of beef.

The reason for this meat swap is that Indians are primarily chicken eaters and beef is also considered taboo in many cities. It took the burger company nine months of ideation to come up with the perfect recipe for the Chicken Maharaja Mac that will appeal to Indian palates.

Now cut to the hotel business where food and beverages (F&B) is becoming the lynchpin on which the hospitality business is beginning to rotate. Hotels are promoting the concept of culinary tourism where the food will tell the story of a particular culture, region or people. This could be in the form of F&B promotions, food fests or pop-up kitchens by specially invited chefs.

And guests are lapping it up. According to a survey titled ‘A Flash of Culinary Tourism’, 80.4% respondents indicated that they take pictures of food while on vacation, mainly to share their experiences with others (83.2 %), record special events (60.5 %), and help them remember the meal (58.8%). 62.7% of the respondents agreed with the statement that they would like to go to new places to try some new food and take pictures of them, while 54.1% of respondents agreed with the statement that food pictures motivated them to go to new places. Now isn’t that some food for thought?

THEY CAME, THEY SAW,

THEY ENJOYED