Saturday 30 April 2016

QSR Lessons - A few tips to Optimize Costs and generate more Profit!

A restaurant business must run very tight on costs. A typical formula that I follow in splitting the costs Vs Revenue for a ballpark calculation is:

1. Food Costs = 25% of the revenue
2. Salary Costs = Another 25% of the revenue
3. Opex Costs = 25% of the left over revenue
4. Profit = 25% of the rest in a best case scenario. Profit could vary from 15% to 25% depending on the revenue and other variables that may be.




In any scenario, it is very important to keep the cost in control. Unlike other businesses, the more revenue a food business creates, the food costs increase proportionately.  Here are a few tips to keep costs in Control.

1. Do not run your business 24x7:
              One of the important tricks is to observe and identify the lean days and lean periods where customer inflow is so less that the salary costs and OPex are more than the revenue that you make. There is simply no point in keeping your outlet open for just one or two customers. Pick a time in the day where you will be off and also a day in a week where you will be off. This saves a huge amount of OPex and inventory in control.  By limiting your working hours, one also eliminates salary costs by avoiding shift staff and leveraging limited staff for the entire day.

2. Create a Hype - Serve your best Dishes for Limited Hours:
              If you are known in your area for a very unique USP item or Items, then make sure it is available only for a limited period. Two advantages with this approach: 1. You continue to build peak foot fall during those hours and make sure you sell the full stock and cover your costs in this rush 2. You know exactly how much to make and sell, bringing in a lot of predictability into the entire food making process.

3. Avoid middlemen in material Sourcing:

The less the number of players that are involved in the supply chain, the better the profits. Direct from farm is not just a health fad, it is very important to eliminate the greedy sourcing partners who take their cut of profit. This is applicable for every aspect of sourcing that you do on a day to day basis.  Many food businesses, by adopting direct to table policy have been able to pass on the value back to the customers by keeping the cost on the menu very competitive without compromising on quality. This in turn attracts more customers. This is a cycle. Stick to it.

 

Sunday 17 April 2016

Coffee love and the trends that will make us want more!

A coffee is a delight. South Indians like me are very used to a rich filter coffee that is made from coffee powder, custom roasted and combined under our personal supervision at a nearby Coffee Day OR Leo Coffee. For South Indians, a cup of morning Coffee is a ritual that is as sacred and as indispensable as the morning mantras that we chant.

When I first tasted the many coffee variations at Kalmane Coffee in Bangalore, I was swept off my feet. The rich coffee variations of the Mysore kings with cardamom, Cinnamon and other such spice additions were sure a delight to sip up once in a while. I go coffee hunting for multiple South Indian variations. I am generally not a fan of Barista OR Star Bucks where the froth is more and there is more water than Coffee.

Now there is some great news for all Coffee lovers. Restaurant and food trend analysis predict that Quality Coffee at a premium is back as a favorite among customers. Customers do not want just any coffee, but Rich, premium coffee that is custom made with many variations and flavors from many countries such as Ethiopian, Irish, Asian etc. Coffee is now becoming an experience in itself.

If you are looking at opening a QSR serving coffee, this might just be the right time for you.

A few business ideas for a Coffee joint:

1. Curated Coffee: Deliver Curated Coffee beans and Coffee powder online. Craft Coffee is a great business model to follow. Though Cafe coffee day has an online delivery model, the customer base is too huge in India and can definitely accomodate another 10 players in this space if they provide good quality coffee. The online model should let the customer choose the exact ingrediends and beans and create an engaging experience.

2.  Nitro Coffee: Have you heard Nitro Coffee? A super twist to Black coffee lovers, this Nitrogen infused Coffee promises to be a rich and Coffee from a Tap that is served Chilled. This is a rich and hot trend and if offered in QSRs along with some quick food, this will be major consumable for many years.


3. Indian Version of Star Bucks: And I dont mean serving what StarBucks serves in the Americas or the Europe. We want a stylish version of our local Street side Coffee vendor serving "Kaapi". In Indian streets, across Kerala, Tamil nadu and Karnataka we can find a 15 different variations of making coffee either with an Instant powder Or a filter coffee OR a mix of both. I have watched the programme "Food Mad" where they go on a coffee trail to Kerala and find restaurant that serves a 3 layer coffee with decoction, froth and milk on top that brings together a one of its kind coffee taste. Similarly in 
Tamil nadu, coffee is largely made with Buffalo Milk and it is served with    multiple repeated layers of decoction on milk. Kumbakonam Is another famous place for coffee.
Apparently the kings of Mysore in Karanataka were so addicted to rich additions to their home grown beans which Kalmane Coffee serves.

By 2020, coffee Cult will be back and we coffee lovers will neither have it Black or white BUT our favorite Brown Filter Kaapi with Beans imported from Ethiopia!

Sunday 10 April 2016

Cutting right into our sweet tooth are these delicious trends!

 



The Indian foodie loves desserts. Indian tradition has it that we have more than 100 plus distinct sweet variations. Now that is a huge contribution from India to the rest of the world. Our adoption of the western desserts such as Cakes and Cake pops have added to the rich spread of desserts that we so enjoy to have in parties!

And we see some very interesting trends that twist the dessert platter:

 

1. Tea infused Sweet somethings


We have seen Coffee infused desserts and caked, but on the rise is Tea Infusion in desserts. Green Tea ice-cream, Rhubarbs infused with Earl Grey Tea, MatCha Green Donuts, Chamoile Tea Cookies, Chai Chocolate Stables and the list just goes on.
 

 

 

2. Quirky ice creams


Long gone were the days of the Single Scoop plain ice-creams.  We have already seen Stoners and Cream Stones trending well in India with customizable variations added to a plain flavor to create a WOWing ice-cream experience. But what we see here is a change in basic ice-cream flavors. Fruits are entering heavily into the ice-cream where ice-creams are made with the freshest seasonal fruits. Not to forget other flavors such as Pan, Lemon Grass, popcorn, Gulab/Rose into the flavor. Ice creams Just got bigger and more Quirky. Bina’s Homemade Ice-cream in Mumbai is a telling tale of the future Trend in this space.

 

3. Go Hybrid


In Dessert land, Fusion is called as Hybrid.  An interesting trend to watch out for, where ice-creams sandwiched between Donuts and Cookies as a base are making a major headway. What is more delightful is the Donut Cone, where Donut base is used to Fill in a delicious ice cream scoop. Thai fusion has Ice-cream in a Coconut, Ice-cream filled Tacos, Gulab Jamun ice-cream are just the tip if this huge Ice-Cream-Berg.
 

 

4. Sugar and Spice


Well its not all sweet anymore. Customers are beginning to develop a liking for spiking up their sweet somethings with spices and ofcourse Beer, Wine and Vodka. The Margarita cupcake includes lime, tequila, triple sec and fleur de sel. Cinnamon and Ginger are becoming common spices in Cheesecakes, Ice-creams along with Chilli.

Saturday 2 April 2016

Move away Cereals, Quirky Veggie Dishes are becoming mainstream!

Whatever happens in the US or the west soon catches up in India. Usually finds it route to India Via Mumbai and spreads as fast to Bengaluru, the NRI capital of India and from there all over.  The Paleo diet that has become a massive people's movement now in India was popularized by the Americans.  The biggest element of Paleo diet is to avoid Cereeals and dairy and largely thrive on Plants, Fruits, Nuts, Meat etc. No Sugar, Refined Oils and Flour.  This trend has also resulted in the large scale leverage of Vegetables as a base to make noodles, Waffles, Buns etc. Spiralizer has become a big hit Kitchen aid in many restaurants lately. I found a whole lot of recipes when searching for Sprializer dishes:

http://inspiralized.com/2014/05/15/the-best-beginner-recipes-for-the-spiralizer/

Whats more, the food trends of 2016 and beyond predicts the serving of Plant based food variations over cereal/Pulse based creations. I have seen Buns, Rice, Noodles, Tarts being created out of spiralized veggie variations...The pics below of the actual creations are simply mind blowing!



What this spiralizing trend could do to the Indian food industry? Here are some healthy Variations for the diet conscious Indian foodies:

1. Vada Pav - Spiral Vada made from noodles and potato instead of flour
2. Briyani - Ambur Dum briyani might as well get prepared to serve briyani variations made from spiralizers
3. Dosa - A mix of spiralized veggies and a little wheat flour could create a magical healthy variation of the regular dosa
4. Paranthas and Kulchas stuffed with raw veggie variations of Paleo base instead of fried stuffings

Healthy eating is the new normal and the Indian Urban crowd is already avoiding heavily prized and unhealthy eating as a regular habit when it comes to dining outside.  Latching on this, Restaurants are frankly admitting the use of GMO or MSGs in their food and vouching to replace them with fresh farm produces and natural ingredients. Some of them declare the calorie count as part of the menu so the end user know precisely what they put in their mouth. For such restaurants that serve honest and healthy food, this trend among consumers is a breakthrough and a huge opportunity!