BENGALURU: Come Friday, and Bengaluru will see the launch of SuzyQ on Queen’s Road, the same spot that housed Asian restaurant and bar 1Q1. Once a popular spot which saw packed crowds on weekends in particular, the pandemic in a way changed things. Even as the hospitality sector struggles to stay afloat, some hoteliers in Bengaluru are taking a leap of faith as they open new spaces in the city.
With the emergence of Covid, restaurateur Anirudh Kheny realised that he had to completely pivot from his usual model-- something most hoteliers are working around. The mostly outdoor space (which is 10,000 sqft in total) with close to 50 per cent of it being outdoor seating, is also catering to a different crowd with their new offering. “We just have to work around the pandemic and the new normal which is here to stay for at least the next 3-5 years.
The situation is extremely worrying--there are overheads, staff payments, licences, while cash flow has been slow in the last one and a half years,” says Kheny, adding that restaurateurs are now clinging to hope. “The emergence of new restaurants doesn’t exactly mean the hospitality industry is doing well. But we’ve put our mind and money into it, so we have to see the project through,” says Kheny, whose new space represents a sassy, vivacious and playful side of things. In line with that, the menu explores a global cuisine with local influences with a keen focus on traditional coastal delicacies, regional Indian cuisine, continental, succulent grills, and Tapas.
According to chef Anirudh Nopany, partner at Brik Oven, who has opened a new 2,000 sqft outlet in Whitefield, they decided to go ahead with this because it came at a time when things were really picking up in the second half of 2020. “So it made perfect sense to not miss out on this opening, especially since we felt we had the right kind of space-- a lot of open air-- a requirement in these times,” says Nopany. The outlet was set to open in May but things got delayed because of the second wave of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. “But there’s no doubt that it’s worrying with so much looming uncertainty. Just around the second lockdown, we lost about 40 per cent of our staff,” he adds.
Two new spaces are in the offing for Deepti Kat, who is launching Secret Story, a high-energy bar and Bhola & Blonde, an Indian progressive fusion restaurant and bar.”2020 and 2021 so far have seen some extremely tough times when it comes to the F&B sector. It is a bold move, but we are optimistic that things will start looking up towards the latter half of 2021,” says the partner at both the restaurants.
With branches of Old Madras Baking Company in Chennai and Hyderabad, owner Sweta Garapati is now working on an outlet in Dollars Colony. “Opening a space in Covid times has been much more challenging than any other. Plans have been getting pushed-- we were supposed to open at the end of May which is likely to now be the end of the month,” says Garapati. With people not venturing out of homes, their concept of ‘community tables’ where visitors get to know one another, is something they’re reworking in the new outlet. “Here, we’ve decided to not have too much seating because that’s the order of the day. We’re just seeing how it goes and taking a call,” she says.