L'Opera Plans its Expansion

WITH THE objective to operate pan-India, L’Opera, The French Bakery in Delhi plans for its expansion into four major cities (Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai) in the coming five years. With the current count of 16, the French bakery aims for 66 more. The recent one includes at the Delhi Airport and at PVR Director's Cut at Vasant Kunj.

“At PVR, Vasant Kunj, we have specially introduced five exclusive desserts – in line with the extremely chic look and feel that characterizes the outlet. We generally introduce 20 to 30 new products every year,” says Amit Sinha, Executive Chef of L'opera in a conversation with BW Hotelier.

According to Sinha, the new trends in bakery and pastry innovation are related to health, pleasure, and convenience. “Customization is also another request on customers’ minds; a good example of this is printing names or brands on bakery items such as biscuits, pastries and even on breads, as well as requests for gluten-free, lactose-free or sugar-free items,” he said.

To make Indian palette accustomed to the authentic French taste, initially it was a challenge for L’Opera according to Sinha. “But nowadays an increasing number of people are well travelled and understand French delicacies, and at the same time they appreciate quality products. Although we are mindful of cultural or religious dietary norms, it is not our policy to adapt authentic French delicacies to suit the Indian taste, rather we have tried developing the French taste to further enrich the Indian palate,” he further added.

Sinha claims that every product in the bakery goes through a number of different iterations, trials and controls. He elaborated, “We maintain excellence and quality at every level of the value chain, from the procurement of raw materials to storage and production all the way to the transportation.”

“Here we have the best of the raw materials from around the world, the state-of-the-art equipment and the right encouraging attitude to produce the finest, most finely crafted products. And for any chef, the main challenge is to have the right pre-requisites, particularly the best ingredients. I must say I was fortunate enough to find everything under one roof,” Sinha concluded.