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The warming brew... It's cool!

If the way to the heart is routed through the stomach, the Indian restaurant industry is striving hard to wean consumers away from mom's cooking to the cosy ambience of cafes

A ROOM WITH A VIEW The café experience is now much more than drinking it up and moving on Photo: K. Gajendran

`The best cook I know is my mother,' is what most of us would say when asked about our ultimate food choice. This is because of the quality of cooking and one special ingredient in mom's recipe, that is love. It all boils down to the quality of the product and the overall experience in the end.

Food and beverage trends all evolve around the demands of people to experiment with tastes and also to establish themselves as part of a social group. However, only those food joints survive that give the total package in terms of good quality, a location that suits the customers and choice.

What has helped the Indian palate to evolve is constant integration of foreign influences. Over the years the Greeks, the Chinese, the Arabs, the Moghuls, the Afghans, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the British have disclosed their culinary secrets to India. It was this confluence of styles that encouraged us to experiment, modify and adapt to a taste, be it food or beverages.

The café culture

On my recent visit to China I came across Starbucks coffee outlets. What amazed me was how a traditionally tea drinking nation has gradually shifted not only to coffee drinking but demanding gourmet coffee instead of instant coffee. Similarly, Japan followed by Britain offers the closest example. The BBC, on Starbucks' entry into Britain, announced, "If the company succeeds in establishing itself in the U.K., it will be like carrying coal to New Castle". Apparently, the English are now drinking more coffee than tea.

Coming back home, the café fever has also caught up, with Barista, which proved to be the forerunner, followed by various outlets such as Café Coffee Day, Café Mocha, etc., and among the newcomers from the West is Costa Coffee. Starbucks is rumoured to be entering soon.

The typical consumers of the expensive foreign brands are a part of an expanding middle class comprising wealthy and educated young people who are enthusiastic about chasing `taste' and `fashion'. These young go-getters frequent bars, enjoy vintage vines and unwind at the cafés, which offer a different friendly and casual experience apart from serving good wholesome coffee. The new avtaar of the coffee shops, which used to be only in hotels a few years ago and frequented only by the opulent wealthy class, has come in the form of these casual cafés with access for all. The customer is not only looking for a hot beverage but a total package in terms of ambience, location and product. Consumers will be happy to pay premium prices for what they perceive to be a premium quality experience.

The café trend is what the future holds, to transform a mere hot cup of coffee into a recharging break from the workplace, or a cosy place for a date. As more and more players enter the market, they vie to create the difference in the overall experience: comfortable leather sofas, chic coffee tables, relaxing music, perhaps a hookah to take a puff from... .No matter if you prefer your coffee cold. It's still the hottest!

MONISH GUJRAL

(The author is MD, Moti Mahal chain of restaurants. He can be emailed at motimahal@vsnl.com)

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