Parathas and more: A study of the food business in the food court of a big mall

Introduction: 

I was always interested to learn about the working of restaurants in the food courts of big malls. What are the costs involved in setting up an outlet of your own in the food court of a big mall and the strategies involved in competing with established brands like McDonald’s and Kentucky fried chicken. In a quest to understand this better I went to Express Avenue mall in Chennai.

PARATHAS AND MORE: 

As I moved through the food court I stumbled upon the outlet called PARATHAS AND MORE. It was a perfect choice for my study as it was not an established brand. Also I wanted to understand how people in Chennai responded to Parathas which is essentially a North Indian cuisine.

MENU:

The menu comprised mainly of Parathas of all types. They also served Non veg parathas , frankies, combo meals( veg and nonveg) comprising of dal, roti chicken or a vegetable curry.

DETAILS: 

As I talked with the store manager I found out the below information:

• ·         It was their own brand. They had not taken any franchise
• ·         The monthly rent for the shop was Rs 1,40,000 / month
• ·         The shop was set up 1 year back
• ·         Mode of working: The chefs prepared standard gravies according to different dishes and kept it in the refrigerator. It was normally done in the morning. Later according to the orders placed the gravy was taken and vegetables and chicken tossed into it.
• ·         Inventory: On an average in a day :  7-8 kgs of chicken, 2 kgs of paneer, 4 litres of oil,5kgs – 8 kgs of onions were required
• ·         The cost of inventory was around Rs 30000 / fortnight including supply charges
• ·         They had contracted a local supplier for the supply of inventory. Also the manager sometimes brought inventories personally from retail outlets like BIG BAZAAR to save costs.
• ·         There were 4 chefs in the kitchen including 1 head chef. The head chef was paid Rs 12000/month and the other chefs were paid Rs 7000/month
• ·         They had hired a part time sales/receptionist girl. She was paid Rs 5500/month.
• ·         The cost of electricity was around Rs 15000/month
• ·         They also had a contract with Pepsi for the supply of beverages and packaged water. The supply for 15 days was given in advance on payments. The movement of these beverages were constant and fast and supply frequency of 15 Days was perfect.
• ·         On an average the shop received around 100 customers / day
• ·         The demand fluctuated around the year with the value being maximum in the months of May and June on account of the summer vacations in schools. As a result the demand dropped down in the months of July and August when the schools reopened. During festivals like Diwali, Christmas the demand again went up.
• ·         The USP of the outlet was good food. In order to cut costs they never compromised in the quality of their food. In the words of the store manager “  No matter when you come in our restaurant  you will find our dal very thick like you get in feasts in North India our chicken tender and our paneer very fresh. We also do not cut on quantity of the food in the dish and any dish will be very filling for a grown up individual” . I could absolutely relate to this point as I had ordered a chicken paratha. It was very tasty but still I could not complete the whole thing as it was very heavy and filling. They had a filled the paratha with loads of chicken unlike other places where you have to literally find the fillings of the parathas.
• ·         Profits and Revenues: Although I was not given exact figures, I was said that they just manage to break even and the huge monthly expense of operating in a mall was a big problem.

Problems:

• ·         Huge operating cost in the mall
• ·         Tough to advertise the brand. They had put banners in the entry of the mall and inside the mall on rolling banners with a cost of Rs 15000/month but it did not increase footfalls significantly

Solutions Provided:

• ·          The main aim was to create a loyal group of customers who would trust the brand. The food quality and taste was very good and every customer who came liked it, But we needed an effective way to keep the loyalty of the customers. One option was to create a face book page and keep a laptop in the counter. Anybody who came and liked the food should be requested to like the face book page of the outlet. In this way they can keep themselves connected to the customers. Any promotional act can be put on in the facebook page so that the target customers can be informed about it. Also a presence in facebook can create a domino effect with people suggesting about the restaurant to their friends. Above all this form of promotion was free of cost.
• ·         Once a group of loyal customers are created they can venture out of the mall and rent a place of their own which is not so costly. In this way they can save on the huge operational expenses of the mall.
• ·         Try and put more lights in the outlet to attract customers.