Radical Restaurateurs

In an industry that sees many failures, startups need not just deep pockets and drive, but that unique selling proposition to stick it out as restaurateurs.

- Bikramjit Ray

MOST FIRST GENERATION entrepreneurs will tell you that the drive to do something unique and different and the reality of surviving in the marketplace of today are two very different propositions. When it comes to the food business, survival is more than just of the fittest. Even if you have a backer with deep pockets and immense patience, it’s still a difficult task to make a restaurant succeed.

According to the recently published India Food Services Report 2016 by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and Technopak, the total size of the industry stands at Rs 3,09,110 crore today and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10 per cent to reach Rs 4,98,130 crore by 2021. The unorganised market holds a major 67 per cent share of the estimated market in 2016, the report says.

The restaurant industry may be growing and it’s one which is fuelled by imaginative and driven entrepreneurs but, it’s also an industry which sees a great deal of failures. Figures are not available for the rate of success for restaurants in India, but according to Samir Kukreja, trustee and past president of the NRAI, there are more people opening restaurants today than those getting out of the business.

“What has changed is that now, with more entrepreneurs coming into the business, we are seeing people cutting their losses and closing down units, something that wasn’t as common earlier on,” he says. Chefs always have a very intimate relationship with their restaurants. So when they decide to get into the restaurateur game, you almost can’t imagine why they want a job which is more demanding on an already pretty manic lifestyle.

BEING YOUTHFUL