CHENNAI: After having globe-trotted as an intrepid explorer, Rohini Chandrasekharan decided to translate her touring nostalgia into a cafe back home in Chennai, Cafe Coco Jaunt 1728. Co-founded with Vignesh Marimuthu and Senthil Ekambaram, the cafe welcomes you with painted automobile tyres, miniature cycles, car number plates and walls tessellated with immigration stamps. She speaks about her love for food and the food industry.
How did your stint with the hospitality industry begin?
I worked as a cabin crew with two reputed airlines. So I travelled a lot. Initially, I was hesitant to try out new food, but once I did, I never stopped and that fuelled my desire to start a cafe in Chennai. After that, I worked as head of corporate sales for a restaurant chain and realised that a 9-5 job isn’t my thing, as I did not have a lot of freedom. I stayed with the chain till I attained the knowledge required to open a cafe and discussed the idea with my colleague, who is a co-founder of the cafe.
What is the set of knowledge required to open a cafe?
You need to have a little knowledge about all the departments in the restaurant, because in the initial stages, you have to manage a few departments on your own. Most importantly, one must know about where to cut down expenses and understand what is bringing down the profits of the cafe.
What is special about Coco Jaunt 1728?
When I was travelling to different places, I realised that most of their local dishes were not available in Chennai. So, we have started incorporating such dishes in the menu. For example, we have Mexican Tres Leches, which I had at a friend’s house in Brazil. We also have the South African fast food dish, Bunny Chow. To make it appeal to the Indian palette, we tweak a few dishes.
What are the dishes you have tweaked?
In the West, grilled chicken is served with herb rice and mushroom sauce. Our menu has grilled chicken with spicy rice and makhni sauce. Similarly, we have Lemon Butter Fish Pollichathu, which is the traditional lemon butter fish cooked in Kerala style.
Rohini at home vs at work?
At work, I am a very assertive person and always to the point. I spend most of my time at work, planning ahead for the months to come. I do random food quality checks every day to ensure the standard is maintained always. But when I come back home I am a daughter, sister and mother to my pugs (Margazhi and Mowgli) and not a businesswoman. I like to spend my down time reading books. I spend my mornings working out, taking care of my pugs, spending quality time with family and helping them with daily chores. These things recharge me, and I can get back to work every day — it’s not worth it.
What are the tips that you want to give to aspiring restaurateurs?
Always understand the market need and understand who you will be catering to and their pulse. Spend a considerable amount of time planning your overhead cost, especially with real estate rentals, labour and food cost. Rather than going and trying out everything, if you strike a chord with people, that will do the job.
How do you plan on supporting the budding restaurateurs?
I own a company called Mowgli Marcom. It is mainly to support the start-up or existing food and beverage brands to position, build, promote and increase the revenue of the business.
Your future plans?
We are working on expanding Coco Jaunt 1728, and designing and launching another restaurant in November. There are still a lot of places and culture to see, so I will be travelling and I hope to set my feet in Antarctica, the only continent I haven’t visited.