The food industry is constantly evolving and reinventing itself. The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) represents over 5 lakh restaurants across 24 chapters which is 24 cities. It provides newbies to the biz, support and guidance besides helping existing ones with issues. Sagar Daryani says, “We are the voice of the restaurant industry. We focus on not just standalone restaurants and brands that are operating at a very large-scale but also small kiosks and small single restaurant operators. We protect the interests and the rights of the fraternity and work to understand the common problems of restaurants and solve them. We ensure everyone is growing. As a group, there is no bias whether it’s a big brand like Domino’s or a KFC or a small restaurant.”

Talking about the scope for aspiring restaurateurs, he says, “Nationally, an average Indian consumes outside food around 11 times a month and in the US it’s 50 to 60 times, so there is a huge space. You need to have a calling to be in this industry. The guest is like God you need to really enjoy feeding people in this sector.

Talking about his highly successful venture, he says, “15 years back, we started Wow! Momo with just Rs.30,000 and now we are a 3000-crore business with more than 650 stores across 52 cities. Wow! China is our second vertical and we have started Wow! Chicken and soon will start Wow! Kulfi. We are growing at 40% and have 6000 employees. We have great SOPs in place and are in touch with all stores every day. We don’t call our managers, managers, we call them owners. Ours is a Make in India story.

What does it take to start a restaurant?
One can either start a standalone restaurant or take up a franchise. While setting up a standalone restaurant calls for building everything from scratch and branding, a franchise gives you the support you need from veterans.

Speaking from experience, Sagar exhorts you to translate your passion into your reality and shares what it takes, “Micro-entrepreneurship is going to be a very big thing in India, imagine, instead of restaurant managers, you have restaurant owners.

“The three Ps here are Price, Product & People. Be a good people manager and bring out a good product at a price where you create value for the consumer. Being in the right market at the right time is key to success.

“You must have a lot of patience, a sharp memory, an eye for detail, stay consumer centric. Word of mouth is how this industry works, and retention of customers is important. This is a learning and development business, you must constantly innovate, learn, unlearn and transmit that information to your employees. Maintaining complete control over revenues is important as margins are low.

“People want tasty and hygienically prepared food. In India, earlier it was about price and value but today it’s about health, hygiene and happiness. Consumers don’t mind paying extra for a better experience.” If you have a dream, the time to start is now.

He gives aspiring entrepreneurs a reality check, “In India, when it comes to the food space, people want a very quick buck. From outside, it looks like the restaurant business is very fancy and is making a lot of money, but when you actually get into it, it’s one of the toughest businesses. Out of every 20 restaurants that open, 16 get shut within the first 2 years. It’s a brutal business and not easy to survive here. You have to work on holidays and even more on Sundays. A lot of sacrifice goes into it. ROI could take up to 3 years, however, if you are not making profits by the first year, exit.

“A restaurant brand is not everyone’s cup of tea and that why franchising in Indian food has not really clicked, because it lacks quality as people cut corners. Food franchising is very tough that is why you have one Jubilant running all the Dominos. Small franchising has not worked. But I am sure SOPs and brand standards will come into play and Indian franchises will thrive too. Having said that, I would never franchise because when you franchise you are more of an investor and will not be in sync with the larger goal of satisfying the consumer. Today the job of a leader is to walk the talk with store visits, audits etc.

The NRAI and Licensing Challenges
The NRAI works closely with the FSSAI and Sagar adds, “This is a highly competitive and highly compliant industry and some restaurants require more than 15 -20 licenses. There’s a Trade License, Food License, Health License, FSSAI License and so much more. If you serve liquor, for different brands you need separate licenses. We are advocating for a single window for licensing. We also have arranged fast track training from FSSAI which is free for members.”

Rising to Challenges
Sagar feels, “Challenges include the delivery business which is killing many restaurants due to the high commissions. The masking of customer numbers and details by aggregators is a pain point as we can’t track their behaviour. We contribute 1.5% of the GST in the country but get no GST input, so expenses goes up.”

Like other industries, tech is playing a bigger role here too, “The way to go is technology. We have stopped training through books, if a person can read them why would they work at a restaurant? We have made it more fun with videos and AI. There are many AI tools that help detect issues at restaurants and prevent pilferage. For instance, there are AI tools that help cameras detect whether staffers are wearing a cap or not., chewing gutka, putting fingers in the pocket too often indicating pilferage etc. Robotic steamers and fryers are being used at our stores and technology also provides data such as which refrigerator in which store is not working. The industry has reinvented itself.

“The future is going to be a lot about comfort food and finger food. Korean food will be big too,” he signs off.