BENGALURU : Restaurateurs whose plans were stalled during the pandemic are taking that leap of faith to set up shop now. The result. It’s raining restaurants this month with several spaces cropping up in different parts of the city
June has been a busy month in the F&B space with a restaurant cropping up every other day. And many more are on their way. One of the latest has been The Big Baadshah in Marathahalli which launched on June 3. They planned to open before March 2020 but the pandemic had other plans. Owner of the Bollywood-themed bar and restaurant Udaya Mogaveera says, “We had just finalised the design plans and the pandemic hit. So, we had to wait it out. And once the market started opening up post the second lockdown, we decided to finish up the pending work and finally launch it.”
The pandemic hasn’t been kind to the food and beverage industry, but the rise in diners now has been a big relief. And restaurateurs want to fully cash in on this. “Being near a corporate hub means that we have several working professionals coming here to dine and unwind,” says Mogaveera. Targeting those who have the luxury of working from home is Paper and Pie in Indiranagar.
“The coffee lounge resto cafe set up also has conference rooms and podcast rooms that can be used to shoot videos,” says co-founder Vamsi Reddy, adding, “The amount p aid for these rooms can be availed through food and drinks as well. It works on a credit system.” While the launch of Paper and Pie just happened to be around now, Meter Bar, which is launching today on Bannerghatta Road, was a strategic move by the owners. “June is also the annual liquor renewal month so that gives us an edge,” says Shylendra Kumar, director, Aventhi Hospitality.
Explaining the ‘drink by the meter’ concept they have employed, he says, “Once an order is placed and served, an individual meter will start keeping track of time. It can be paused when the drink is repeated. The meter starts with a base price of each drink which stays constant for a select period and then increases by a certain amount after set intervals.” Different drinks have different meter rates based on the drink’s MRP. A hotspot that’s been the talk of the town has been Jalebbi on Cunningham Road, which launched in the last week of May.
Coming from Mumbai is Hitchki in Whitefield. Speaking about the bar format with a Bollywood theme, Aji Nair, chief advisor and consultant of Mirah Hospitality, says, “While we understand that there are other bar options also on the premises, customers are mostly from the corporate crowd; thi s ha s been great for us as offices around the area have opened up. Those who want to dance and enjoy Bollywood music stop by on Fridays for our Bollywood music night. We have been strategically changing the light set-up to become dinner over night so that we create more of a bar vibe, something we haven’t noticed our neighbours do.” He adds that they also serve nostalgic food and drinks like Maggi noodles and Iranian chai.