Mumbai sees first brick-and-mortar restaurant opening since March

Does Colabas Woodside Inn, that opened a Bandra branch in lockdown, have the answer to F&B surviving the pandemic? Founders say its down to co-operative landlords and tweaking the business model

It's been a year of unprecedented crisis for the restaurant industry. The Coronavirus came like a storm and even as the food and beverage veterans put in a brave face, many of the establishments have taken a hit. Le15 Café in Colaba, Mirchi and Mime in Powai, Indigo Deli in Kurla, D:Oh in Thane and Andheri West, have all shut down. With no news yet about when Mumbai restaurants will be allowed to open, more names are expected to join this list. But, amidst this mayhem, a Colaba landmark, a neighbourhood bar and restaurant that many swear by, Woodside Inn, has launched its third outlet in 13 years, this time in Pali Naka, Bandra West, signalling a ray of hope for the industry.

Now housed where 5 Spice used to be, the brick and mortar restaurant is starting with deliveries (and takeaways) of food and craft beer. It launched with the 13th edition of their legendary beer and burger festival, which the owners say this year, is tailor-made to suit the foodie who is ordering in at home.

Woodside Inn founders Abhishek Honawar, Pankil Shah and Sumit Gambhir say lowering of rent by landlords has been a contributing factor to them sustaining the business

Its co-founders and directors Pankil Shah, 38, Sumit Gambhir, 38, and Abhishek Honawar, 36, of Neighbourhood Hospitality, that also owns The Pantry at Kala Ghoda, discuss what it took to launch a new restaurant, the city's first during the pandemic, and the challenges they are going have to brace themselves to face.

At a time when the food and beverage industry has been hit hard due to the pandemic, why did you decide to launch a new restaurant?

Honawar: We have waited to launch in Bandra for almost 10 years. It's a once-in-a-lifetime situation to launch during the pandemic, and it makes us want to stand for our ethics (customer satisfaction) even more.

Shah: We were ready to launch in March. The Saturday before lockdown was announced was supposed to be our first pre-launch activity. But, it all went awry. So, the Bandra outlet was in a position of readiness. I think with the delivery system working well at the Colaba and Andheri outlets, we realised that people had enough faith in us, and our hygiene levels, so we decided to open Bandra too for delivery and takeaway. But, in a few months, we see it opening up completely. The pandemic is temporary, and in seven-eight months, we may be able to return to normal. The government says by December, we may have a vaccine, so we are optimistic to open fully by April 2021.

Walk us through some of the main challenges you faced during this time.

Shah: Before the pandemic, delivery was a very small part of our business. Now, it's 100 per cent of our business. So, we had to plan for a lot, but we had supporters, who helped us out. We launched a web portal, and we ramped up our in-house delivery system, so we didn't have to only depend on food aggregators. We could also handle hygiene better this way.

Gambhir: The government helped out when they decided that it was okay to deliver beer. So, we could hold our annual beer and burger festival. But this time, we had to test the burgers in a very different way. Usually, a guest would receive a burger at the table in 10 minutes of being made. With delivery, this could stretch to 45 minutes. So, we had to run food tests remembering that people would be having our eats at home. We have also curated playlists for them to enjoy the meal with. It has been a fun challenge.

What are some of the precautions you have been taking?

Shah: Along with regular temperature checks for the staff and maintaining kitchen hygiene, we have also made sure many of the staffers stay at the outlets, to reduce exposure to infection risk. We are also rotating the staff on a weekly basis so that everyone ends up staying put at home periodically.

The restaurant, which also has an outlet at Colaba, went ahead and held the 13th edition of its burger and beer festival, for which it even curated a playlist

How has the pandemic affected your business?

Gambhir: It's affected us badly—especially in terms of sales. Many restaurants have shut down, and many more will, as they have no support from landlords. We have also struggled, and we managed to pay employees in March and April, but post that it's been hard. But we are all figuring it out together, and there have been no layoffs. We worked with the landlords, and they reduced our rentals. We have seen our employees being understanding as well, and as soon as transport systems are fully back in place, we will get more staff back to work.

Is delivery the future?

Shah: For now, yes. Even the government is encouraging deliveries. And we are working hard to ensure that the experience at home is a pleasurable one. But, we are optimistic. Delhi has opened restaurants and can serve alcohol, so we hope that happens here as well. We aim to be a brand that people trust; they just know they can come to our outlets [and still be safe].

Gambhir: In Bengaluru, people are eating out as well. I hope we can also think about converting open spaces into outdoor eating areas. But, we have to make sure it happens in a way that numbers [of cases] don't rise. But, we can't wait endlessly to see if these open-air spaces will open up at all. So we are going to focus on deliveries.

Is business improving now?

Shah: It's all about guest confidence. So, whenever number of cases go up, there is a dip in sales. But, month on month, we are seeing an increase. So, that's the good news.

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