Social with a distance: Restaurants try new ideas to attract customers

Leaner teams, smaller menus and fewer tables — a forced grounding of six months has stripped the restaurant business of its flamboyance. Still in the thick of the pandemic, new investments are simply quixotic and casual human contact is a luxury we can ill afford.

But Riyaaz Amlani, the founder of Impresario Handmade Restaurants, is planning to open two new outlets of Social — a brand of café-bars that personifies the idea of casual mingling. The irony is impeccable.

According to the Indian Food Service Report 2019, the industry was pegged at Rs 4.23 trillion in 2018-2019. “About Rs 2 trillion has been wiped out of it. I’ll be happy if the industry can be at 40 per cent of it next year,” says Anurag Katriar of deGustibus Hospitality, also the president of the National Restaurant Association of India.

Katriar says that an estimated 30 per cent of the restaurants and bars in the country won’t reopen and about two million jobs could be lost before the pandemic ends.

This also affects two of Amlani’s outlets, including the lucrative Smoke House Deli in Delhi’s Khan Market, where negotiations with the landlords have fallen apart. The outlets won’t be reopening in their current locations. But Impresario is not in the mood for consolidation. And Amlani is sensing a recovery. The new investments will at least make sure that it maintains the number of outlets under the brand.

The first new signing is an outlet in Chandigarh. “Tier-2 cities are seeing a greater demand because the cases are fewer. Chandigarh for us is the highest performing zone right now with the numbers back to 50 per cent of pre-Covid levels,” says Amlani. He says that Impresario’s current revenue is back to about 20 per cent of the pre-Covid churn.

His second outlet, however, will be opening in Delhi where the virulent virus is refusing to back down.

The outlet in Dwarka is a 4,000 sq ft area designed by Sanchit Arora, a young architect at Renesa Architecture Design Interiors Studio, whose layout is a play on a crowded Vietnamese street. The catch: It’s about learning how to be social with a distance. 

The floor plan segregates the space into different zones. It has private booths that completely isolate one group from another. A few tables placed slightly higher than the rest of the space can be reached with small wooden ladders. And the remaining space is fitted with movable wooden partitions that convert open tables into private areas when needed. Amlani likes to call it a “Covid-response restaurant”.

Private spaces in swish establishments have always come at a premium. But thanks to the pandemic that forbids careless revelry, it’s become more of a necessity. It has also sparked off a redesign trend.

Priyank Sukhija’s Dragonfly Experience, a popular bar and restaurant in Delhi’s Aerocity, has introduced the idea of “private pods”. The 9,000 sq ft restaurant floor has now been divided into dedicated party spaces that are cordoned off with seven-feet tall, transparent acrylic sheets on all four sides. The roof is left open for air conditioning and music. “It’s like you are still part of a vibrant scene but also within your own private bubble,” says Sukhija of First Fiddle Restaurants, which has over 30 restaurants in India including Plum by Bent Chair and Lord of the Drinks.

Akshay Anand, who runs Ophelia at The Ashok in Delhi, has made similar arrangements for his guests. Its open-air cabanas have been retrofitted with curtains on all sides and separate AC vents. “A private space brings in a whole new level of safety and it also takes away the obligation of greeting people you may know,” says Anand. Ophelia reopened on September 9 and Anand says that the revenue is back to about 30 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

Social’s new outlet in Dwarka has private booths that completely isolate one group from another

Along with the staff strength, the menu at Ophelia has been cut down to reduce costs. It’s also greener than before, which Anand sees as a trend gaining momentum in the pandemic.

Major hotels, too, have been relying on ancillary revenue from their kitchens till their customers can retrace their steps. Marriott Hotels, for instance, runs “Marriott on Wheels”, delivering food directly from its hotel kitchens in 25 cities. The Radisson Hotel Group has started a service called “Take Home a Chef” to provide catering services and cookery lessons at home. And almost all hospitality companies are engaged in some form of delivery: From signature dishes and fresh beer to recipe boxes and cocktail packs. “But deliveries can hardly compensate for the experience of going out,” says Amlani.

The Maharashtra government has given its nod to dining out. And restaurants in major cities such as Delhi and Bengaluru are greatly benefitting from being allowed to serve liquor again.

“We are seeing a bit of revenge spending since we have reopened,” says Manish Sharma, who runs resto-pubs in Delhi NCR, such as Molecule and The Drunken Botanist. Molecule in Gurugram is also offering its customers a 50 per cent discount on the entire bill.

As innovative as they are, Sukhija would like his “private pods” to disappear as soon as possible. “I don’t sell food and cocktails but the experience. We are meant to be social,” he says.

Not a permanent fixture, but the redesigning should inspire some confidence in people to step into a public space with their privacy intact. And the trend could help restaurateurs dealing with monumental losses weather the storm.