Born into one of the most prominent families in Chennai, Nivruti Reddy, 35, says business was all she knew while growing up. However, for her, choosing a career in hospitality was not about joining the family enterprise.
“Unless you are passionate about it, you cannot make it big,” says the Managing Director of The Brew Room at The Savera Hotel.
“My parents never told me or my sister (Ritika) what to study or which career to choose. My initiation into the field was of course, with a firm hand-holding by both my parents (Nina and Vijayakumar Reddy). At the same time, they also gave me the freedom to explore,” adds the management graduate from the University of Warwick.
Having taken her baby steps in the industry with a brief stint with Savera’s sister company Shyam Group of Restaurants in 2008, Nivruti’s first project was Baker’s Code that specialises in fresh bread, cakes and cookies. She recalls, “Here, I got to try a lot of new things with respect to the menu, customer experience and marketing.”
Opened in 2014, The Brew Room is one of the first cafés in the city to introduce different brewing methods, including Japanese, Turkish and Italian. With Auroville-based coffee consultant Marc, they also introduced the concept of an interactive coffee bar where the beans are ground and the coffee brewed fresh in front of the customer.
Mother knows best!
Being the daughter of Nina Reddy, joint MD at the 50-year-old Savera, we ask her what she has learned from her mother and her list goes on. “My mother’s greatest ability is to turn most of the things she’s passionate about into successful businesses like fitness and people management. Her interpersonal skills, positivity and perseverance shine through anything she does. She pioneered a health studio called O2. Today, the brand has nine gyms. She believes that growth is the only way to sustain and constantly strives to bring out the best in all the teams she works with.”
Talking further about working with her mother, she says, “We are constantly bouncing ideas off each other. We value each other’s opinions a lot. From something as simple as introducing a new product to something as big as creating a new restaurant brand, every idea is discussed among us. She encourages me to dream and also gives me the courage to make decisions.”
As for her future plans, she adds, “Right now, my main focus is to expand The Brew Room brand through franchising. We have opened two outlets in Chennai, one in Delhi and Pune, and want to expand to other cities.”