"India is Definitely a 100+ Store Market for us"

In an e-mail conversation with Restaurant India, Suraj Naik, co-owner of Indian Summer, elaborates about his Indian-themed restaurant in Dubai and how he is competing with other Indian restaurants

In the luxurious city with an ultramodern architecture that is Dubai, Indian Summer is like a home away from home. That’s because it strives to make every guest feel special with its varied menu, quality of food served, and personalised service. This restaurant is jointly owned by Suraj Naik and Khushru Mistry.  

The 184-seater restaurant has a la carte menu, fast lunch time menu, lunch buffet, and a menu catering to special diet needs. Indian Summer has two outlets in Dubai. The first one is at Jumeirah Beach Road and the other one is on Zabeel Road. This spacious restaurant reflects the Indian theme of art and traditions through its dishes. Apart from the in-house dining service, it also provides services like home delivery, takeaway and outdoor catering facilities.

Indian Summer lays a lot of emphasis on the quality of the ingredients and claims to use only the freshest of the varied products that are individually quality-controlled. One can also enjoy specially prepared dishes from their extensive menu, cooked according to diners’ specific requirements. They offer personalised service with great value for money to their esteemed patrons. One can also book their multi-functional suites for special occasions that can accommodate up to 80 guests for a party celebration. These too offer a wide range of facilities, which can also be tailored to customers’ requirements. There is ample car parking too, including for those with different physical needs, and the management also arranges for mini buses and taxis. Excerpts from the interview:

What is the concept behind your restaurant?

Our concept is contemporary authentic Indian cuisine, predominantly North Indian, with a variety of kebabs, curries, biryanis and desserts. Our menu also offers an elaborate Indo-Chinese menu consisting of signature soups, starters, mains, sizzlers and desserts.

How have you designed your menu? How often do you change or make some extensions to your menu?

The menu has been designed keeping in mind the region and the customer preferences as well as the sales mix. We offer a rotating chef’s special menu which changes every three weeks.

How have been the footfalls? Is it a first choice for Indians?

In countries like the Gulf and Saudi Arabia, we predominantly cater to local patronage with a sales mix ratio that comprises 80% locals except for a particular location in the city at Ollaya which has a large Indian audience and our customer mix is equal at 50-50. Similarly, in Dubai certain locations have a majority of Arabs and locals while areas like Zabeel Karama have a predominant Indian footfall.

How do you compete with other Indian restaurants in Dubai?

We let our quality, variety, ambience and level of service speak for itself. Of course there is no shortage of Indian restaurants here, each trying to be unique in terms of offering and value perception. We are a contemporary concept offering authentic food at good value with excellent ambience.

What is the road ahead? Any expansion plans in the offing?

We would like to grow in multiple units and collaborate with likeminded and passionate partners who can provide local support with new territories while understanding the market conditions and trends to scale down the models to about 60 cover units catering to dine-in, carry-out, home delivery and outdoor catering.

How FiLLi Café has change the way tea is served across the UAE?

In beverage industry tea business has not given as much importance as coffee. Cafes were only meant for coffee and the concept of conversing over a cup of tea didn’t exist in the UAE. This was the biggest challenge in the journey of FiLLi. I created a homely ambience at FiLLi that made visitors feel like home. The signature FiLLiZafran Tea was appreciated by people as they could chat for hours while immersing themselves in the joy of a warm, soothing cup of tea.  Thus, this way the journey of FiLLi was began, where visitors could ‘Tea n Talk’ and gradually made FiLLi as their second home in the UAE.

What new product range you are offering for your customers? Which is the fastest growing product?

We have introduced breakfast menu, milkshakes and loose tea. Milkshakes are the fastest growing product and we have 21 flavours of milkshakes.

Which section of market you love to focus?

Dubai has a serious food culture and that is what we are tapping into. By 2020, Dubai is expecting 20 million tourists with a rise of 10.6 over 2012. Even the local market is also very strong and willing to try new concepts. With the increasing appetite for out-of-home dining and growing discretionary wealth in the Middle East, there is plenty of room for brands like us to expand their business.

Our main target is low and middle class, working, students and tourist people. And our average ticket size is AED 20 (USD 6).

What is your marketing approach to survive in this market?

Since, we completed our franchise plan; we have a serious approach towards marketing. Recently, we have done smart and effective branding for our existing stores. As marketing strategy, we are also focusing on our brand positioning, menu re-engineering and employee training. We have a very active social media pages as part of our digital marketing.

What is your expansion plan in terms of numbers of outlet?

100 outlets and still running; by 2020, we have ambitiously planned to have 100 principle stores in the UAE. And by 2017, we intend to have 30 stores in UAE along with 70 franchises around the world. In India we have plans to open 300 outlets in 10 years.

Are you also planning to take franchisee route?

Yes, we are expanding our business globally using franchise program. The franchise option will be available in all the other countries except UAE. In fact, the plan has been set in motion with the first franchises for five outlets already being signed off in Qatar. The brand has also set up a dedicated team for expansion in the UK and India.

Tell us about your journey as a young Indian entrepreneur who started with a small roadside café FiLLi.

I am very fun loving person and enjoy being with friends. The history of the name FiLLi traces back to my school days, where my friends gave me the title FiLLi. But little did anyone know that this name was given for the sake of fun would one day lead to the establishment of FiLLi.

The signature FiLLiZafran Tea is a result of my own determination to introduce a specialty tea that people would love. After being a hit amongst UAE’s tea lovers, my aims is to take this taste global by reaching out to every tea lover and make them fall in love with tea all over again.

Meet this Young Entrepreneur and Speaker at Franchise India 2015 on 18th and 19th of October at Pragati Maidan.