‘People want home-cooked food outside’

For Mumbai’s food entrepreneurs, it’s a mix of the right ambiance, health and home-cooked tastes that has defined their business zest. In the recent DNA Conversations, experts like Meeta Lala (cooks different cuisines in olive oil), the dips and starters’ lady Rushali Mehta, Vijaya Pastala (started Under the Mango Tree, a social enterprise that offers honey and organically certified products), Dimple Rao (supplies honey from her farm at Agumbe, Karnataka), Samrat Kapoor (started Mexican restaurant Sammy Sosa) came together to discuss the Indian palate

How has the palate of the people changed?
Meeta Lala (ML): I’ve been in this for seven years and initially I felt that people would stick to the conventional fare. They would not think beyond kebabs or butter chicken, but as people have started travelling, they want to experiment more. In general, I’d say it’s the younger crowd that tends to be more receptive, more adventurous.

Vijaya Pastala (VP): I have lived in Delhi for several years and I think it’s quite experimental with food. I have had more access to different kinds of cuisines there than I have had in Mumbai. The main thing is, in Mumbai the food is available in more chic locations, whereas in Delhi it’s in the mainstream. Since I live in south Mumbai I’m envious of places like Bandra and Andheri, because if I just wanted to have a quick Thai, meal, there’s not much of that in south Mumbai.

Rushali Mehta (RM): I believe now that the eating pattern is changing. I think even if there is one single entrepreneur here and he or she has got one novel idea, or can do something new to someone, a trend swings into motion.

Dimple Rao (DR): I think the food culture has changed in all totality, for Mumbai. You know, earlier we used to make sure we had two square meals at the house and eat out on occasion. Now the younger generation asks, so you’re taking us out for dinner? I mean, we used to earn a dinner, it wasn’t a ‘by-the-way’ thing. Now the kids are so used to the idea. That’s reason to many places have sprouted up.

Samrat Kapoor (SK): I think people have developed a taste for different cuisines, their knowledge of ingredients has improved. Initially all people wanted was Indian-Italian, but now they want authentic Italian and Mexican.

Has the ambiance of the place taken over the food?
ML: Food is the most important thing, quality and taste matters very much.

DR: See, it’s like this. Now, for everything there’s an occasion — when you pass out of school or college, when you get two ATKTs, etc. The food is quite the cause of celebration everywhere. And restaurants are going the whole way to please.

RM: I would think that the food is crucial. If it doesn’t make the mark, the customer may go to the restaurant one or two times, but then after that it will stop.

VP: For me, the food speaks for itself.

SK: I think the ambience has to be as good as the food, if not better.

What’s the new trend in eating out?
ML: I have added Mexican and Lebanese to my menu, earlier it was just Chinese and Thai, so people do want to try different foods.

RM: In my age group (22) we would not be looking for Italian at all, we’ve had almost an overdose of it. We’d rather be going for Sushi; not just Japanese sushi, but like Wasabi has a whole Japanese pizza. If that were to be introduced, not in a five-star, because we can’t afford a five-star, but something like that elsewhere would be fun.

VP: We’re dealing with honey and we work directly at the back-end with farmers. The honey we have is regional, season-specific and flora-specific, about 14 varieties. We found - couple of things — when the customer comes in the direct sales space they ask for ‘normal’ honey. Then we have to say but this is normal honey and what you’ve been used to is blended honey. We also have a lot of imported honeys in the market. So many people say, I’m getting my honey from Iran, is your honey as good? So, there’s your conversion process.

One of the things we’re trying to promote is to get people to have ‘a’ specific honey with ‘a’ specific dish, so we have an orange blossom honey which goes really well with a salad dressing or with a sesame chicken.

SK: I think craving for not just new food, but wanting a whole new experience with it.
Has the demand for health-conscious food gone up?

VP: I don’t know; people say ‘I’m taking honey to lose weight, but there’s a myth. We don’t get into that discussion. There’s no ‘jamun honey’, there’s no jamun forest. We have desert bloom and jamun, it’s a mixture. We are organically certified, but there’s a lack of understanding as to what is organic. People are looking at honey differently.

DR: I think people want good, authentic honey as it is good for health.

RM: We have to cater to the health conscious. Like, we have a different line itself of ‘light’ food and that is more popular... in south Mumbai, at least. We also do open sandwiches, which are only in wheat bread that sell like hotcakes.

ML: Yes, people do inquire if we ‘do low-fat and diet stuff’. The regular food is also as popular as the diet food. It’s the youngsters who want this more than middle-aged people.

SK: Yes, definitely. The first thing the customer realises is whether the food is fresh or not and we have adopted a strict policy where we cook without any preservatives MSG or added colours. I think people want a home-cooked experience outside.

Has recession affected demand?
ML: No, in fact there has been an increase, because people would rather not go out than entertain at home.

DR: Well, for me, I’d rather cook a meal at home and just get a few dishes from outside.

ML: That’s the reason why catering is getting popular. Because it’s coming from the house, it’s hygienic and has a personal touch. In my case, I do all the cooking myself, so the food is not passing through different hands.

VP: No, there has been no decline.

SK: Not at all. Since people in Mumbai entertain themselves either by dining out or catching a film, I don’t think we’ll see a dwindling demand. People want to go to places that may not be five-stars but can offer quality, ambiance and variety.

How do you all stay competitive with such an upswing of so many places?
ML: See again, people don’t mind paying for quality. I think if you’re entertaining at home, it still works cheaper than going to a restaurant.

RM: A lot of youngsters would like to have their friends over on a Sunday where they play games or just chill out. Makes more sense to have a caterer bring your food over.

SK: It’s the pricing, for one. I think it’s also important to be consistent with the quality of the food served, plus we constantly upgrade ourselves in terms of variety and trends.

DR: I guess its’ about maintaining the right taste, plus offering a reasonable price.

VP: We get the customer to taste it and find out the purity of the honey than talk about it. Has the concept of TV dinners found a foothold here?

ML: No, at least not in larger families. This could be a trend with a single unit family.

RM: I would say the younger generation, yes.

DR: If that happened, I think it’s quite sad.

VP: Well, we might have pizzas and ready-made masalas, but I don’t think we’ll see a demand for full-on frozen dinners yet.

SK: Actually, I think nothing will beat coming out and having a lively experience. One might have a TV dinner once in a while but it won’t be a regular affair.