The Hindu Business Line : Dosa now on world cuisine

Ask Mr T. Ganapathy, Managing Director of the Dosa Plaza restaurant chain, and he will tell you that the dosa is no longer just the south Indian breakfast staple but something that lends itself to an amazing range of variations including Mexican, Chinese and hold your breath, American!

Mr Ganapathy has a mouth-watering 104 exotic varieties on his menu and has the trademark right on 27 of them. Puritans from the South, who swear by the ubiquitous coconut chutney and milagaipodi will probably faint at the thought but Mr Ganapathy's repertoire has fusion dosas such as his best-selling paneer salad roast, a crisp dosa with oodles of salads, mayonnaise and paneer, a mexi roll dosa with lots of salsa and a mushroom schezwan dosa. "At a time when traditional cuisine is losing its dominance due to a competitive fast food industry dominated by burger and pizza joints, my idea is to become a brand serving traditional south Indian cuisine worldwide with an oriental and western twist," says Mr Ganapathy.

From a humble beginning turning out crispy dosas from a kiosk at Mumbai's Vashi station to 19 different outlets across nine States has been just a three-year journey for Mr Ganapathy who was spotted by Mr Ravindra Kamat and partners who manufacture billing machines for restaurants. Business has since grown to the level of Rs 7 crore upwards annually and such is the demand for the dosas that the company is planning to set up forty more outlets in the next two years.

"Our competition is not from the Udipi restaurant but McDonalds' and Pizza Huts. We are the healthier choice," avers Mr Kamat who says that the restaurant will capture retail space across high-footfall destinations such as malls and multiplexes and also go the stand-alone outlet way. Also on the anvil is the quick service outlets, typically kiosks outside railway stations and other destinations, which will have limited menu but served up faster for urbanites on the move, much like the hot dog kiosks in New York.

D Max Foods, the company which owns the brands, opened its first outlet in Pune on Thursday and has already firmed up plans to kick of 10 more such outlets. With demand coming in from expats in the gulf and from the US, Mr Ganapathy says he is in the process of working out just how his brand can establish itself in Dubai and markets in the US.

The company is also planning on foraying into dosa country, initially with outlets in Chennai and Bangalore but says competition does not come from brands such as Saravana Bhavan and MTR.

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