Interview/ A.D. Singh, founder & CEO, Olive Group of Restaurants
When A.D. Singh transformed a decrepit haveli near the Qutub Minar into a Mediterranean-themed fine dining restaurant in the early 2000s, nobody thought that the place, Olive Bar and Kitchen, would be a harbinger of a restaurant revolution. From stuffy five-star continental outlets and cliched Chinese joints, Indians suddenly discovered a new way to dine―high quality, creatively curated food in a fun yet charming setting. Singh, who is now looking at the next stage in the evolution, talks to THE WEEK about taking it to the hinterland as well as beyond the shores. Excerpts:
Q/ What are the problems faced by Indian restaurants?
A/ The industry has been battered for years. Before GST, there was a Supreme Court judgment banning sale of liquor within 500 metres of highways. So playing it safe, excise departments stopped the sale of liquor even in cities, in hubs connected to the highways. For example, Cyber Hub in Gurugram and Oberoi Mall in Mumbai. Suddenly all those hubs collapsed, and then the court intervened and a clarification was given.
That was the first big setback for the industry. Then the GST was passed, but they removed the input tax credit. That created about a 6-7 per cent impact. And rent also; we don’t get the GST write-offs for that. The impact on our bottom line was about 6-7 per cent, which is a hell of a lot because the industry is not that profitable.
Q/ Is there a restaurant boom?
A/ What has been encouraging for the industry in India is seeing the rapid emergence of tier two and tier three markets. It’s strange; during the pandemic, people were at home, they couldn’t travel, but somehow their exposure, maybe through the internet, through videos, through shows, has really gone up. And their desires, what they’re looking for, the standards, the quality have really gone up. And this provides a great platform for growth.
There has been a huge boom right after the pandemic. In our metros, I would say, there is semi-saturation. But tier two and tier three provide great opportunity for growth for those who have created good products, good brands. And that is encouraging.
Q/ Is there a scope for expansion for high-end places in smaller cities?
A/ In 2012, when there was recession and a bit of a setback, I steered the Olive group to also open a division with casual dining. Those brands, for example, SodaBottleOpenerwala, Fatty Bao and Monkey Bar can really grow across our tier two and three cities. So we are in the process of putting that together.
I created an Olive Cafe product (called Ollys) five years ago. And that is now in great demand across India as a cafe and bar because the price points are more reasonable than that of fine dining Olive. The menus fit that market well, along with our mains here and our pizza and our pasta. We also have sandwiches and burgers on those menus in the daytime. Of course, it is gourmet, it is a great presentation, but that is what people are looking for now nationally. So we opened an Olive in Chandigarh over a year ago that is doing very well. We are about to open in Ludhiana. We are in talks in Chennai and Kolkata (opening soon). We are looking at places like Dehradun, Lucknow, Ahmedabad.
We are still a bit slow in exploring tier two and tier three, but many of our colleagues are moving quite rapidly and are having very good experiences.