F&B Market of Mussoorie has a Huge Potential: Chef Tanuj Nayyar

AFTER WORKING with 37 nationalities and cooking for Queen Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela and Rod Stewart has made Chef Tanuj Nayyar think out of box who is currently an Executive Chef at Jaypee Residency Manor, Mussoorie. “I have kind of developed a style of my own cooking where produce is king. Global influences, local ingredients and modern techniques are the trinity of my cuisines,” says Nayyar in a conversation with BW Hotelier.

Nayyar feels that F&B market of Mussoorie has a huge potential with lot of international tourists coming in and the wedding segment growing. Adding more to this he said, “Mussoorie being a famous hill destination it is now slowly becoming a big wedding destination as well, last 2-3 years lot of big chains have come up which has exposed this hill station to the travellers so in coming years we will definitely be seeing the F&B market growing here.”

With more than 18 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Nayyar moved to Jaypee Residency Manor, Mussoorie in the year 2008 where he was responsible for opening of the famous restaurant cafe manor and world cuisine restaurant Regency.  “I have also created an herb garden and a green house in the property where we grow organic vegetables and herbs. I have also introduced a chefs table concept where the guest enjoys the food specially crafted for them by our team of expat chefs,” informed Nayyar.

Speaking about the future plans, Nayyar told us, “I am now looking forward to concentrate on the wedding segment and the banqueting improvisation where we will be introducing new concept like interactive cooking, regional cooking stations and I am planning to develop a restaurant totally based on ingredients grown in Uttarakhand which will help to promote the local farmers.”

In order to compete with the existing market, Nayyar keeps a track of all the good restaurants around the locality. “This gives me the idea that what market has to offer and what we can implement in our hotel so that we can do something different and it helps me a lot to develop new concepts for my hotel,” he added. However for Nayyar, getting quality manpower and retaining them is the biggest issue. He added, “Though I somehow managed it well but still being a resort the turnover of young chefs is much faster which I think is a challenge.” 

Explorer by heart and a lover for flavour & taste, Nayyar have seen things changing drastically in culinary world when it comes to India today.  “with so many TV shows and other media have evolved chefs as stars, so many chain hotels have come up which has given a boost to this profession with cuisines getting so innovative  lot of youngsters are getting inspired by this profession which is a very good sign for us,” he feels.