A unique feast

Fulfilling his brother’s dream of running an eatery, Ramesh Velu, MD, Locofeast Restaurant, has taken some interesting and bold choices to serve his patrons with the best of everything
Ramesh Velu, MD, Locofeast Restaurant. (Photo | P Jawahar, EPS)
Ramesh Velu, MD, Locofeast Restaurant. (Photo | P Jawahar, EPS)

CHENNAI : Ramesh Velu, MD of Locofeast Restaurant, is an innovator at heart. “We cannot only rely on the quality of food, customers these days are looking for a fun ambience as well,” he says sitting at the Formula One race car model at the entrance of the restaurant. The travel enthusiast talks to us about life before and after the launch of the Locofeast Restaurant. Excerpts follow.

What are the latest innovations you are seeing in the restaurant industry?
Customers are not just looking for quality of food. Our A category customers look for ambience and 
presentation while a majority of our customers that fall in the B category are looking for pocket-friendly prices and quantity. The latest trends in the market revolve around these. The concept of dining in the dark sparked an interest and created waves among youngsters. Then came the restaurant with robots serving food, which we picked up on and made a magnetic ramp on which food ordered will be sent from the kitchen. The idea is to cut down on manual labour or reduce the requirement of skilled labour because the industry lacks that right now.

From a tourism business in Singapore to a restaurant business in Chennai, why did you make the shift?
I am a Hotel Management student. I studied at the Wells Cardiff University in Singapore for two years. After my education, I had a job in hand but didn’t have a visa. That’s when I came up with the travel business idea and started it with a partner. We do B2B transactions where we provide localised facilities like travel and food provisions to tour groups. My brother stayed in London for a while and was keen to start a restaurant with me there. After marriage, we both shifted back to Chennai and he motivated me and another partner to start this restaurant. It was his passion and now I’m helping him fulfil it.

How do you unwind?
We wrap up things pretty late here. By the time I reach home, my daughters aged 1 and 5 are asleep. On Saturdays, I get some time in the morning to spend with them. With this hectic schedule, that is the only time they see me. Before starting the restaurant, my wife and I made it a point to travel at least once every month. Now, we hardly get the time to travel twice a year. 

Any trial and errors that gave you sleepless nights at the restaurant?
Yes, of course. During our testing period we had digital menus. The customers were given tabs on which they view the menu and directly place an order at the kitchen. We realised that in the curiosity of trying to see how the food was served, customers chose only the first few items on the menu. We have over 200 items on our menu and wanted our customers to feel free to try all of them, so we got rid of the digital menu and provided tangible menus along with our staff to take orders. Another problem that kept me up was kids manhandling the equipment. It took us some time to babyproof the whole place.

Where do you like travelling to most?
I don’t have a favourite place. I travel a lot to Singapore for work, but apart from that my wife and I just pick a new place every time we decide to travel. We would take off to places within five to ten hours of Chennai and spend the weekend there. My first daughter was very young when we started taking her out with us too. We are all on a little bit of a break now considering the time I spend at the restaurant and the birth of our second daughter who is now a year old.

How do you show your support for a social cause?
When the restaurant began, the first customers we served were children from a nearby orphanage. We continued the tradition and feed children from different orphanages once every month. I want to help 
underprivileged children as much as I can. Right now it is by filling stomachs, who knows what other way I’ll come up with next.

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