Comparative Study of Two Fast Food Restaurants (small Dhaba kind) at Two Different Places

SAABRA FAST FOOD NORTH INDIAN (MAHABALIPURAM)

27^th-June 2012

Mahabalipuram being a tourist destination has a lot of business opportunities. To explore this, I went to the market near the beach to see what kind of businesses was set up there.  The surrounding places had businesses ranging from coconut water hawkers to big restaurants, from road side jewelry shops to big gold ornament shops, from small arts and crafts shops to really big ones and a variety of shops.

Riding my bike on the road leading to the beach, I noticed all kinds of businesses but what caught my attention was a shop hoarding that read “SAABRA FAST FOOD (North Indian)”.  I was curious about this particular shop in spite of the many options available because it was hardly noticeable from the main road and I wondered how the restaurant was doing.
My first observation was that the restaurant was located on a cross-road around 20 mts away. There was a big restaurant “SRI ANADA RESTAURANT (HIGH CLASS PURE VEG)” situated on the cross-road that would draw everyone’s attention.  It was so prominent that it overshadowed the small SAABARA restaurant.

I parked my bike outside SAABRA and was welcomed with curious eyes, maybe because I seemed an outsider to the people working there. I decided to give a huge order to break the ice and the waiter instantly seemed to take a liking towards me. I also told him to take his time and bring my order after he had served everyone else in the restaurant. He told me that it would take an hour if he did so and I told him I would be happy waiting there.This is where my work started.
The place had a group of people in whites and looked like people from the navy. I started chatting with them and came to know that they were from students at Hindustan Institute of Maritime Training (HIMT). They were deck cadets, Engineers and general course students. From them I came to know the following:

1>     The restaurant was very famous among students of the institute and according to their estimate 90% of HIMT students were big fans of the restaurant and were regular visitors. The students were not allowed out of college after 6:00 pm. So they regularly came there for lunch.

2>     They simply loved the fact that the food was very good and very reasonably priced. In their words  “you cannot get such good food at such cheap prices and that too North Indian food anywhere in Mahabalipuram”.

3>     There was nothing in the menu that they could say was not good. They suggested that I should definitely try the “Tandoori Chicken” there.

4>     The restaurant staff was very warm and supportive to them.

I thanked them for the info and by that time my lunch had arrived. I would say the food lived up to the expectations created from the info HIMT students had given.

After lunch I talked to the guy heading the restaurant. I introduced myself to them and asked them for some information about the restaurant. The guy told me that he was very busy at that time and would be able to answer my questions only between 3 pm to 6 pm. Though, I was disappointed I promised him to come back in a few days. He offered me the help of one of the waiters which lifted my spirits.

The following is the information I received from one of the waiters:

1>     Saturday and Sunday are super busy days with customers filling up the place from 12 pm to 2 pm and 7 pm to 11 pm.

2>     Spartan batch were regulars there and they sometimes used to come there for small parties.

3>     The cooks were specialized in Chinese and Indian food.

4>     Main customers were students and local north Indian people who had shops in the locality. Sometimes South Indian customers and tourists came who also seemed satisfied with their food.

10^th-June 2012

Today I visited the restaurant again and got the rest of the information. As asked, I visited the restaurant at 3 pm. Initially I was flooded with questions like why I wanted the information and what I was going to do with it. After explaining the whole process, the main guy gave me the following information:

1>     The restaurant was started on 20^th-September 2012. The owner of the restaurant was the head cook at Radisson and quit the job to start his own venture. The guys who worked there used to work at Radisson and now had shifted here.

2>     The customer base was very varied and foreign tourists also visited his place sometimes though very infrequently.

3>     Due to the heat customers had reduced and this was taking a toll on their profits.

4>     Even Great Lakes people were less now which was further hurting their business.

5>     Their motto was to serve food of good quality and taste. Their USP was the low costs of food. Even though profits were low, they would not reduce the quality of food. They might have to increase the prices to cope up with the rising inflation.

6>     The owner of the restaurant (head Chef from Radisson) personally had taught them how to cook. He would ensure the quality of food was good by giving surprise visits to the restaurant.

7>     Customer satisfaction would always be their priority. At no costs would they compromise on the quality.

8>     They claimed that no restaurant in Mahabalipuram can make “Tandoori Chicken” and “Chicken Biryani” as good as they made.

9>     They were ready to deliver to students at Great Lakes for a minimum order of Rs 1000 but would charge Rs 150 extra for delivery.

Talking with them, I suggested that their biggest problem was their location. I had personally visited Mahabalipuram a number of times but never noticed it, until I looked for something different. I also told them that their visibility was low in the area and they needed to advertise their restaurant to increase their profits. I also suggested they print pamphlets and circulate in nearby areas and colleges so that people know how good they are. I also asked them to put their claim of “Best Biryani” and “Best Tandoori Chicken” on the pamphlets.

The guy was quite happy with my suggestions and said he would try them out after seeking permissions from the owner. He also requested me to tell everybody in college about his restaurant and gave me his card. I promised him to share the link or show him my write up when I was done and started back to college.

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HOT CHAPATI and CHAT (ANNAPURAM)

8^th-June 2012

Disappointed by the dinner served in the mess, I went out to Annapuram looking for something eatable. I remembered that there was a guy distributing cards in the college for Hot Chapati and Chat and decided to try it out.

The restaurant is located after crossing the township on the highway. The place was quite secluded with little shops around. Restaurant reminded me of Saabra and I decided to interview the guys there. I followed a similar strategy like before and gave a huge order.

The owner was quite friendly and answered all my questions. The guy was from Bihar and had worked at hotel Sri Bhavan in Kalpakkam as a manager.  The following is what I came to know from him:

1>     He used to visit Akshaya restaurant near our college and found the food too expensive. Seeing this opportunity, he had decided to open the restaurant.  The restaurant was inaugurated on 2^nd October 2011.

2>     The shop was open from 9 in the morning to 11 in the night. The customers varied a lot from south Indian customers having meals in the afternoon and north Indian customers at night.  In the evening, people from the nearby township visited the place for Chats.

3>     80% of the people from the nearby shops were regular customers at his restaurant and had meals both the time in the day in his shop.

4>     The township people were majorly chat customers and the people working in nearby shops were majorly meal customers.

5>     Profits were much more in meals than in Chats.

6>     Great Lakes students used to frequent the place but now the orders have reduced. He was ready to deliver food anytime in the college till 11 pm.

7>     A few Great Lakers now order food from there. The service is quite fast and the food is damn cheap.

8>     They had a special AC room for people who would want to party there.

       

AC Room of HTC
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Comparative Observations:

1>     Both the restaurants were started at approximately the same time. However, Saabra clearly leads with its location in main market though its visibility is low. 

2>     Both the restaurants are heavily dependent on college students and need to increase their customer base.

3>     They need proper advertising and get themselves to be known.

4>     Both the restaurants are relatively new in the market and need to stay focused to be known.

5>     They will suffer from Great Lakes students’ new batch every year since the new batch never has much information about these restaurants.

6>     One problem with Hot Chapati and Chats (HTC) is that there is no non-veg food there.

7>     Another problem with HTC is that it is located in such a secluded place that people would not want to come there at night.

8>     One problem with Saabra is that they have a strict no alcohol and smoke policy and they highly discouraged people from entering their restaurant if they were very drunk. Customers who would like to drink and then come to the restaurant might find it insulting.

9>     Another problem with Saabra is that the place is very small and would very easily be overlooked by potential customers.

10> Potential student customers who have bikes and cars might frequent both the places but people without vehicles would think twice to go so far and have food at such small places.

11> Owner of Saabra had experience in the catering industry which has worked to his advantage but owner of HTC does not have the same experience and thus is lagging in business.