Hotel industry in its present 'Avatar' of glamour, hospitality and services first emerged in India in early seventies - Taj Intercontinental in Mumbai, Oberoi Intercontinental, Ashok and Akbar Hotels in Delhi and Ashok Bangalore were among the first of these avant-garde hotels to come up in India. These hotels had strong international influences in service, food and liquor. Industry leaders managing these hotels were Indian hotel professionals with extensive international experience.
The accent in these hotels was on service which was definitive. Food and Beverage section was show cased Primary attraction to the hotel was not the size of room or lobby or even location, but the restaurant's popularity. Some of the famous restaurants in Delhi back then were 'Sheesh Mahal' in Akbar . 'Rendezvous' in Ashoka . These Restaurants served the elite and influential of the city. Twenty four hour coffee shops were an obsession and were termed as 'Happening Places' where the presence of young & trendy made a “statement”. There was great excitement everyday of the year. Buffets were sold out, every coffee shop in the city boasted of their unique food and signature service with a happy smile. It was quite apparent that hotels ruled, Food and Beverage Market. Free standing restaurants became fewer and not frequented. No one wanted to eat anywhere other than at the hotels, because they assured of quality, style and great service, “indeed these outlets were immence attractions to the who's who of that time regardless of the age”. Same thing happened to Banquets and weddings segment when new hotels came up with better banquet halls to meet the demand. Marriage dates were finalized subject to availability of a Hall. This phenomenon continued for years and Hotels ruled the food and beverage market. 
We Indians - for historical reasons -
are still in awe of our European masters. We choose to remain enamored by their dress code and lifestyle in absence of a substitute that is equally decent. Curiously enough no one ever deliberated to explore the rich 'Indian Style Hospitality', instead we conveniently emulated the American and European style service format, in the process we found ways of cutting down labor cost. Consequently, till date we are happily providing services similar to Europe and America. On the other hand, the industry witnessed a sea change in the service approach of Southeast Asian countries. They used their inexpensive manpower to inculcate their inherent style of sophistication, dignity and humbleness to improve their service standards, without compromising on American technology. The style of service that emerged out of this fusion became synonymous with care, efficiency and warmth. Since the nineties, hotels in Singapore, Bangkok, and Hong Kong are considered the best Hotels in the world. Brands like Four Season, Regent, Shangri-La, Mandarin Orient, Peninsula, Amman Resort, Lebua are all the products of Southeast Asia and are considered hallmarks in the world of hospitality industry. In India Oberoi Group introduced Raj Villas, product is very compatible but their snobbery remains a restricting factor to match the level of their counterparts in the Southeast Asia.
are still in awe of our European masters. We choose to remain enamored by their dress code and lifestyle in absence of a substitute that is equally decent. Curiously enough no one ever deliberated to explore the rich 'Indian Style Hospitality', instead we conveniently emulated the American and European style service format, in the process we found ways of cutting down labor cost. Consequently, till date we are happily providing services similar to Europe and America. On the other hand, the industry witnessed a sea change in the service approach of Southeast Asian countries. They used their inexpensive manpower to inculcate their inherent style of sophistication, dignity and humbleness to improve their service standards, without compromising on American technology. The style of service that emerged out of this fusion became synonymous with care, efficiency and warmth. Since the nineties, hotels in Singapore, Bangkok, and Hong Kong are considered the best Hotels in the world. Brands like Four Season, Regent, Shangri-La, Mandarin Orient, Peninsula, Amman Resort, Lebua are all the products of Southeast Asia and are considered hallmarks in the world of hospitality industry. In India Oberoi Group introduced Raj Villas, product is very compatible but their snobbery remains a restricting factor to match the level of their counterparts in the Southeast Asia.
Today after 25/30 years Hotel and Food & Beverage scenario has changed drastically in India. Nearly all top International brands are here to stay. Every hotel has 3 or 4 F&B outlets with large banqueting facilities. But overall volume of food and drink business has gone down substantially. Market has grown over ten times but that clientele is preferring free standing Restaurants, researches point out that for every cover sold in a hotel, 20 covers are sold in freestanding outlets. As compared to what is available in Hotel, outside has much larger choice, better food and of course better service. Service and Food in most of the hotel restaurants are expensive; food is average with inconsistent quality, service is below average. Random interactions with guests reveal a lot about their experiences, some common reactions are 'staff was rude', 'food was rotten', 'nobody cared', .service was really bad'. 'it took them half an hour to take our order and when food came, it was not what we ordered', 'glasses and cutlery were full of stains', 'tables were not clean', 'there was no one to attend'. I can keep going on; When the matter is taken up with the management, they go to the floor team, they promptly launch a campaign to extract forced opinions and comments from guests to prove they are right (the bad comments are destroyed). In this process who gets fooled- I know for sure the Guest does not.
Some factors that are responsible for receding trends of the 'Hospitality Quotient' in hotels are;
· Basic standards have been compromised drastically,
· The warmth in guest services is at all time low
· Attitude is casual –Thanks to the Americanization
· Guest dealing has become rigid, and is at times even rude
· Operations of F&B outlets in hotels are left to the supervisory staff who 'double up' as managers of the restaurant
· Most hotels judge these fine F&B restaurants as ornamental accessories of the hotel, because all international chains consider that their profitability comes from Room revenue.
· Guests remain largely frustrated and disappointed as they are made to pay high cost for the kind of Food they can get in any small Restaurant at a star class hotels – be it a coffee shop or a Indian, Chinese (Asian),Italian, or be it a wood paneled bars with leather sofas.
· Foods in most of these hotels remain's average as nothing is freshly prepared.
· In Hotels, price of food is very high as compare to the free standing restaurants.
· Menu's today are prepared, not on the basis of each Hotel Chef and his team's specialization; instead every one sticks to typical standard menu –which is hassle free.
· As for service, if restaurant is doing well you are forced to abrupt and hasty service that is made to look like a favor and if the restaurant is not doing well then service will be even worse - as manager and supervisor are most probably not around.The banquet business has gone down substantially taken away by all kinds of new venues for weddings and parties around town. The reason again is soaring banquet rates which are much higher than those being offered by the best outdoor caterers in the market. Menu offered by these caterers have wide and diverse choice and the quality of food is far superior to hotels. Only the area where hotels are able to score is, air-conditioned banquet halls and rising demand.
This is not true of all Hotel Restaurants and there are exception to the rule, for example Hyatt Delhi's China Kitchen and La Piazza, ITC Murya's Bukhara and Dum Pukht, quite surprisingly all these are 20 year old concepts and are still going strong. What a Pity ! We have not been able to create even one exceptional food concept in last 20 years?!?!?
On the other hand free standing outlets have mushroomed all over, with dozens of novel concepts and all are doing equally well. Along with food, it is their personalized service which is helping them retain guests with repeat visits. Even their branches are well off with queues getting longer every year. In Delhi locations like Pandara Road, Defense Colony Market, Cyber Hub Gurgaon, Vasant Kunj and Saket Malls have become discerning F&B locations for middle and upper class masses. Today Cyber Hub sells more food and beverages in one day then the rest of Gurgaon Hotels put together in one week.
Keeping in view the present trends and growing competition, it is my well considered opinion that it's time to seriously work on a major strategy overhaul if we want to improve the F&B sales and its contribution in improving Hotel's fincial performance.
How and what should be done to bring about a change for the better?
It is simple! We just need to go beyond the basics of F&B.
· Hotel Management must have a strong conviction that high quality Food and Beverages with good concepts can lift the hotel business. They must research and plan re inventing restaurants with personalized services.
· F&B Manager, Chef and the whole team must believe in their ability excel and must strive for zero error and complaint system.
· Training of operation, attitude, motivation and guest relation must be thorough.
· Quality of food must be researched and placed on menu after meticulous planning. Every dish must be distinct and prepared to perfection right from a boiled egg to Lobster Thermidor and served with proper presentation with right accompaniments & garnishes and miss out on simply nothing.
· Every Guest must be treated like God – Atithi Devo Bhava.
· Whatever the menu may be, never say no to special requests, and treat them as an opportunity to score and show that you truly care.
· Choice and variety is important, not the number of dishes.
· Be competitive in price and be reasonable. The menu rates must be attractive and quality of food excellent. Then let the word of mouth do the trick. It just can't go wrong.
· Use most modern technology to improve storage and preparation techniques and to enhance quality and freshness.
· For Banquets, be a perfect host, guest is spending his life's saving for his family function. It is his reputation not yours, online at stake. Make it happen for him; give him the best experience of his life. See how banqueting flourishes
· While finalizing banquet function, negotiate hard and once finalized, no further talk of money- just provide pure unadulterated hospitality to him and his guest.
· The Host should taste banquet food before the function starts, so that you can make changes if required.
· Banquet Service should be personalized. Meet every whim and fancy of the guests.
As hoteliers please remember that good hospitality, classy service and tasty food are sure shot success formula world over, it also increase occupancy, improves room revenue and profitability.
as integral part of Hotels success. All these hotels had restaurants that made bold statement in terms of both quality of food and services. Every guest was treated like God, staff was trained to memorize the menu along with the definition of each entry. Food variety although limited was of very high quality. They had right accompaniments', with authentic garnishes and proper dressings. Suggestions of right beverages were a part of service and so on. Every guest was made to feel special. Complaints
were handled fanatically with respect, every appreciation and complaint would go to the managing directors of 'The Group Company'.
Written by Anil Chak & Virat Varma
