This October, ITC Maurya gave a taste of its seven-year-old progressive South Indian gastronomy brand Avartana to Delhi-ites as it opened the restaurant in its flagship hotel.
At the preview, the playful and magical food and cocktails blew away one’s mind. For instance, the dessert — a raw mango pudding, served with an edible candle made with ghee, over which you crack a papadam — is culinary artistry at its finest. The Delhi launch made it the fifth Avartana, which was launched in ITC Chola, Chennai, and subsequently opened in the hotel chain’s Mumbai (ITC Maratha), Kolkata (ITC Royal Bengal) and Colombo (ITC Ratnadipa) properties.
Earlier this year, ITC Maurya had grand celebrations for 45 years of Bukhara, the iconic restaurant that has been wowing the global food world with its minimalistic one-page menu, rustic setting, generous portions and no-cutlery (you are provided only if you ask) eccentricity.
It’s also celebrating 35 years of Dum Pukht, the Awadhi cuisine brand with such lip-smacking fare that it has many industry leaders checking into the hotel simply to savour the slow-roasted, flavourful delicacies.
Flavourful portfolio
ITC Maurya is perhaps the only five-star property in India that continues to operate the two signature restaurants it launched way back in 1978 and 1988, the iconic Bukhara and Dum Pukht, respectively. Both these signature restaurants have been listed in Patricia Schultz’s 1,000 Places To See Before You Die.
So, what’s the secret behind creating such long-staying, winning restaurant brands, especially at a time when other hotels keep chopping and changing their fine-dining outlets? And also at a time when Indian consumers are growing experimental and their palates crave new tastes, and they flit from one new eatery to another? What’s more, it’s not just one or two brands, but a flavourful portfolio of many that ITC has in its stable — ranging from Peshawri, Dakshin to Ottimo.
The answer is surprisingly simple. Since the time of opening, none of ITC’s iconic restaurant brands have changed their menu. And even when they have taken the brands to different cities, they have resisted the temptation to customise the menu for that particular city. For instance, although there is only one Bukhara, making it the most special of ITC’s restaurant brands, there are 10 Peshawris today, five Dum Pukhts, five Dakshins, five Ottimos, and six Kebabs and Kurries with the experience the same everywhere.
Legacy brands
Pointing to the resounding success of its longest-running brands, Bukhara and Dum Pukht, Anil Chadha, the affable Chief Executive of ITC Hotels, says, “Their success lies in the kid-glove attention to detail, uniform level of service, the excellence of their cuisine, and the fact that the master chefs connected with the restaurants have adopted them as their own. The fact that the menu has not been changed in the 45 and 35 years, respectively, since opening, has also made it possible for chefs to become real specialists in their craft.”
He adds that the hotel chain’s R&D in cuisine is extremely strong, and is a factor too.
That same ‘honed to perfection’ formula has been applied to Avartana, which promises to be a big winner. You taste the food at Avartana in Chennai or Delhi, there will be absolutely no difference, promises Chef Nikhil Nagpal, one of the culinary architects behind the magical fare — so rigidly uncompromising have they been in matching quality, taste, presentation. Lessons here for FMCG marketers?