Annual Delhi NCR ‘Food Extravaganza’
In an effort to bridge the gap between ‘confident chefs’ and ‘nervous guests’ to revive F&B, Anil Chadha suggests a collaborative food festival among all hotels in Delhi to win back consumer confidence.
Creating a positive stance and trying to find a breakthrough for recovery he said, “Customer is nervous, you are confident, how do you convince him? Is there a possibility of a Delhi NCR Food extravaganza, one large property, whenever the revival stage starts all restaurant can collaborate and do one massive food week in Delhi on the lines of the Singapore food festival? We are in a lockdown not a knockdown.”
BW HOTELIER put across an engrossing panel discussion with experienced and veteran Chefs which was anchored and moderated by Anil Chadha, COO, ITC Hotels. He steered the discussions from redefining the hygiene and safety standards, learnings in the crisis, the new normal, is contact-less service the new personalization or if the big fat Indian wedding gone on a diet?
The eighth webinar included, Manisha Bhasin, Corporate Chef, ITC Limited - Hotels Division; Himanshu Taneja, Culinary Director - South Asia, Marriott International; Sharad Dewan, Regional Director - Food Production, The Park Hotels; Rajeev Janveja, Corporate Chef, Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd; Rohit Gambhir, Executive Chef, The Oberoi, New Delhi; Arun Sundararaj, Executive Chef, Taj Mahal, New Delhi and Neeraj Tyagi, Director of Culinary, Pullman New Delhi.
Local food love
‘Health’ and ‘safety’ will be the new normal, with chefs looking for more and more local and nutritious ingredients. Chef Bhasin said, “It does not necessarily mean that we will only stick to Indian food. The chefs will explore Indian and sustainable ingredients and incorporate it in other cuisines as well.”
She informs that ITC Hotels is creating an indigenous ecosystem as per the Indian government’s directive of being sustainable, ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ where the chefs will work towards modifying their recipes, making sure to incorporate sustainable ways.
Stating the Marriott’s philosophy of creating menus, Chef Taneja said, “It is better to work with local and make locally produce. If you create a menu, follow 80:20 rule where 80 per cent is local in the menu. The star dishes are local produce. This is what Marriott’s philosophy is.”
Pointing out the plight of the customers Chef Janveja said, “The guests are undergoing a mix of feelings, and there is fear at present, therefore they need to work towards regaining confidence. Reflecting and highlighting how he has interpreted and implemented newer measures, he added, “We have learnt a lot. We have to slightly tweak and come up with new manuals and guidelines.”
Get tech strong and be creative
Talking about the role technology and digital platforms can play in these unprecedented times Chef Gambhir said, “This journey of change will continue till the mystery of this pandemic unfolds. Apart from the regular things that are staring at us in our faces is whether it is the mask and the gloves along with the sanitisers, I think digital menus and QR codes are something that is going to come in a big way.”
“The digital platform or technology I think will get elevated to a different level altogether. All of us will need to align, absorb and embrace, if not educate ourselves on these parameters,” he added.
Discussing the concept of creativity, Chef Dewan highlighted that The Park Hotels hosted a food festival during the lockdown, and those music series and brands are doing very well. He also shared how ‘thinking beyond’ is imperative along with ‘chefs, DJ’s and bartenders being on the menu henceforth’.
Even during the lockdown Weddings continued digitally, aptly Chef Sundararaj pointed out that nowadays people are conducting ‘zoom dham se shadi’. But as we are moving towards unlocking, now the time is coming to continue with the celebrations in the right numbers, even if twice. He said, “The scale has changed, it has become smaller. What we really need to do is to realign our business model to look at the small as the new big.”
Furthermore, Chef Tyagi points out the need for virtual online sessions to uplift skill sets of culinary professionals. He said that numerous webinar training sessions are organised at Pullman, New Delhi Aerocity where the employees can enrol in the subject of their interest to upgrade their knowledge and keep themselves updated.
To summarise as to what will be the future of your plate, it is “Clean: focused on hygienic like never before; Covered: for good health against infection, uncovered plates out of the window; Creative: high on creativity, good looking plates will tell a story as table interactions reduce; Convenient, on-the-go and takeaway will prevail; Care: Made and presented with care, mindful selection of ingredients focused on health and immunity and; Carbon foot printing: increase cuisine local connect. Engagement is also extremely important, we need to fight it out together, creativity is the highest form of hope, which the chef always practices,” concluded Chadha.
