|
| Hotels, restaurateurs ready to cash in on IPL frenzy |
| Sapna Agarwal / Mumbai Apr 20, 2009, 01:00 IST |
|
To launch value offerings to increase footfalls and sales.
The most awaited and the biggest entertainment show this summer, Indian Premier League, will be the messiah to set the cash registers ringing for the fine dining restaurateurs and hoteliers.
The global financial meltdown, coupled with 26/11, had affected the fine dining and hotels industry in India. Mumbai, in particular, saw the November-December peak season and new years celebration reduced to a low-key affair.
Now, as IPL kicks off, hoteliers like JW Marriot, Intercontinental and Taj Mahal, and popular fine dining restaurants like Olives and Hard Rock Cafe are offering value deals, giving consumers a reason to step out of their homes.
“We are in the midst of a recession and people are conscious of their spends and prone to save,” says Faiek Saadani, director (food and beverage), JW Marriott. For this reason, Saadani has launched ‘value offers’, where at ‘reasonable’ spends of Rs 300-350 per person, besides a cover charge of Rs 500 for nightclub Enigma, customers can watch IPL matches on LCD screens, get entertained by a DJ, order from a newly-introduced a la carte menu and win surprise gifts and raffles.
‘Celebratory Prices’ is the offer at hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower’s Starboard and Vista. The South Mumbai hotel has also hooked on to the IPL bandwagon with a celebratory offer of Rs 1,250 per person offer. This includes 5 pints of beer with snacks during the 5 pm match. The hotel also offers beer-snacks-and-buffet-dinner for Rs 2,000 per person during the evening match. All this is besides prizes every hour.
Likewise, fine dining restaurants like Olives have introduced a Rs 300 package for IPL, where customers can have 3 pints of Carlsberg beer. For Rs 375, 3 pints of beer and 2 plates of tapas, an appetizer, can be had while watching the match on LCD screens.
“After 26/11 and a tepid new year, business has now started picking up. With such offers, we are looking at increasing the footfalls,” said Ashwin D’souza, manager (Food and Beverages), Olives.
“We expect an increase of 25-30 per cent in sales at Hard Rock Cafe during the 35 days that IPL will be played,” said Amit Keswani, vice-president marketing, JSM Corporation, the exclusive franchise owners for Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) in India and in-house fine dining Japanese Shiro. HRC, along with associate sponsor Tiger Beer, is launching a special menu at subsidised rates during the matches, besides screening these on large screens. The restaurant will also re-launch its happy hours menu, where drinks for the afternoon matches will be 50-60 per cent cheaper than the regular price.
Explaining that people will be in a jubilant mood during the IPL season, Monish Gujral, managing director of Moti Mahal Tandoori Trail chain of restaurants, which has also launched IPL-related promotional offers, says: “Such packages will increase footfalls and lead to an increase in sales even as the average bill per head reduces by 15-20 per cent.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Read Business news in |  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Content Guide
