NEW DELHI: Rocky Mohan doesn’t do discretion; nor does Vikrant Batra. They don’t really do a lot of press either, but they’re both household names in the Capital of the country. Meeting Mohan is memorable already.
Generations of my family and friends have formed and, indeed been birthed, due to the Mohans, courtesy the family-owned Old Monk label.
Vikrant, the son of Mrs Batra and Delhi’s first catering family, is as accessible as he is busy, leading to both of their time being restricted. Guess who got lucky?
Obviously, your humble scribe.
“It started off as a book, and I’ll be honest, it was very meagre beginnings. We ran the book for four years and then realised the future is not there,” said Mohan, adding, “My son (Sidharth) said you’re wasting your time, do an app instead.” It didn’t immediately pay off.
“Earlier, we were a single-city product. But three years later, I can say with pride, DineOut’s Gourmet Passport is present across 20 cities, with 2,200 restaurants on board. We seated a million diners last year alone, which is a matter of pride,” notes Rocky.
Those drops have since turned into an ocean, with the Mohans’ now having to pick and choose.
“From previous lists, we’ve had to cut out at least a 100 Mumbai restaurants alone,” notes the younger Mohan. Those with quality concerns needn’t worry.
“I always keep in close touch with business (restaurant) owners, as well as our users. One bad review may not be as revealing as a bunch of them, which then point us to where the restaurant is slipping up. So we then follow up with the owners to see what’s wrong,” says Rocky, adding some restaurants don’t need to be told off even once.
“We were fortunate enough to be invited to the first gourmet passport. And we’ve maintained our quality ever since, despite our growth in outlets,” says Batra.