Are restaurants in Bandra West influencing the soaring real estate prices?

Every other day there is a restaurant, café or bar opening in the Bandra, or at least that is a positive running joke among Mumbaikars, who are now finding it difficult to keep track of where they should eat next. Most of us have lost count of the number of restaurants, bars and cafes that have opened in Bandra West alone in the last year. While the neighbourhood is known to be one of the top spots in the city for food establishments to open, the number only seems to be rising.

Soaring real estate prices
City-based second-generation realtor Rahul Kewalramani, "Bandra is a premium surburb filled with celebrities and ultra High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs). So, real estate prices for residential areas in Bandra are on the higher end. The cheapest that you can get a place for is station side ranging from Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000 per square feet, and in other middle-average locations, you are looking at anywhere between Rs 50,000 to Rs 65,000 per square foot, and some of the premium areas like Pali Hill, you are looking at Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh per square feet. For those even higher than that, the sea-facing ones go from Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 2.50 per square feet."

Particularly for commercial spaces, including restaurants, cafes and bars, the city-based real estate professional gets inquiries for Colaba, Worli-Lower Parel, Bandra, Juhu and Andheri. While real estate is prime even in these areas, what makes it the ideal place to open a restaurant?

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Particularly for commercial spaces that include restaurant, cafes and bar, the city-based real estate professional gets enquiries for Colaba, Worli-Lower Parel, Bandra, Juhu and Andheri. While real estate is prime even in these areas, what makes it the ideal place to open a restaurant?

Kewalramani explains, "Bandra is the ideal place to open a restaurant because you can cater to a crowd that is very niche, upscale, decent, educated and international. You have a lot of expats that come too. When you walk into a restaurant, you see you find people of different colours as compared to when you go to Borivali or Kandivali, where you may not find them, and that compares to Colaba, and even BKC in Bandra East. Bandra West is buzzing. It's nice. The crowd is good. You see celebrities, you're rubbing shoulders with TV actors, upcoming TV serial actors, and even industrialists." The fact that Bandra is frequented by SoBo crowd as it is well connected as compared to Andheri and Juhu.

Choosing Bandra
It is exactly why Keenan Tham, a member of the Tham family, that has successfully been running restaurants in Mumbai over the decades, saw it fit to not open one but three restaurants in the region. With Pebble Hospitality, they have opened Pompa on Linking Road, apart from Foo that has been there and in Bandra Kurla Complex in BKC. He explains, "Bandra is such a vibrant district, attracting people from all across Mumbai for the various F&B offerings it has. It is also home to families, expats, celebrities, elites, a proper melange of audiences required to run a restaurant, all days of the week. It has a lunch, dinner and late-night crowd, so there is an audience to cater to, no matter what segment you fall into. That being said, having the right location is central to running successfully."

In the last one year, Pompa came out of the Thams seeing a growing demand for Mexican and Latin American food in Mumbai. He shares, "We have seen a fair share of Mexican restaurants that come and go, it hasn't been successful and there are various reasons for that, but we thought the city and especially Bandra, being the buzzing hub for F&B, is ripe for the restaurant. We saw a big gap in the premium Mexican dining segment, pretty much all that was available was takeaway and delivery models."

It is no different for Sahil Sambhi, co-founder Of VietNom, who did not think twice when thinking of location for the Asian diner. He emphasises, "We chose Bandra for VietNom because it's a vibrant culinary destination, renowned for its diverse and thriving Asian gastronomic landscape. The area attracts sophisticated and well-traveled clientele who appreciate high-quality cuisine and are eager to explore new dining experiences. Additionally, acclaimed restaurants like Izumi and Misu reinforce Bandra's status as a premier culinary hub."

The diverse clientele is only a further motivator for restaurateurs like Tham and Sambhi to set up their unique offerings in the region. "The area is home to a diverse and a well-traveled clientele who appreciate high-quality cuisine and are always on the lookout for new dining experiences. The consistent foot traffic throughout the day ensures a steady stream of potential diners, which is crucial for maintaining high volumes and achieving business success. Additionally, Bandra's dynamic and vibrant environment fosters a thriving culinary scene, making it an ideal location for any ambitious restaurateur," Sambhi adds.

Interestingly, while the residential spaces are going at a premium in Bandra, the commercial spaces are inversely proportional. It is also maybe why it is not always easy to find the property of your liking. While some like Sambhi have been lucky, others like Tham had to check around a bit before they arrived at their perfect spot.

Beating real estate prices
Sambhi explains, "Transitioning from Delhi, we encountered the challenge of limited space available for storage and preparation kitchens in Bandra. This constraint required us to think creatively and outsource these functions, allowing us to make the most of the dining area." It came from their learnings with opening their previous restaurant in the city. "Our prior experience with Bawri gave us a clear vision of where we wanted to establish VietNom, with Bandra and BKC being our top choices. Despite the challenges posed by soaring real estate prices, we were fortunate to find a property that perfectly matched our size requirements and budget on our first attempt."

On the other hand, even as they have been running the space successfully drawing from their experience of being third-generation restauranteurs, Tham admits there were many challenges while setting it up. Any guesses for what was the most difficult part? Undoubtedly, finding the perfect venue. He explains, "There are always certain challenges while opening a new restaurant, some include the retail space, the sourcing of ingredients, especially for a new cuisine like Mexican, getting the right service staff, training, and so many more. Bandra by itself is quite crowded with restaurants, but we wanted to stand out, so I think finding the right venue to fit our vision for POMPA was probably the most challenging."

He adds, "We saw quite a few places before we narrowed on Linking Road and specifically the location we are in currently. It is situated close enough to the sea link, to cater to the South Bombay crowd, being in Bandra, it is close enough for the suburban audience as well, and by being accessible and close to BKC, we could tap into the central Mumbai market."

With that being said, do the restaurants, cafes and bars influence the real estate price in Bandra? Kewalramani breaks it down. He says, "They go hand-in-hand because it is a premium location, demographic of people. Even if you see the food prices - for something that you get in Andheri for Rs 200 will be Rs 400 in Bandra. So, that's why the people who come are also different - HNIs and ultra HNIs."

This in turn makes getting a property in Bandra challenging. Not only is the rent high but also the purchasing price high for residential and commercial properties making it difficult for people to particularly look for places for their restaurants like Tham and Sambhi.