2014-2019
These were the experimental and growth years for us. We took on the role as pioneers accepting the risk for any reward, monetary or social good, that ‘may’ come our way. As you will read below, we explored a lot of paths and experimented with multiple formats.
These initial five years were our proving grounds which gave us the confidence and expertise that are only bearing fruit five years later.
Ladies In Hospitality
This programme was conceived in 2017 and held its first event in Hyderabad in February 2018. Our ‘direct interaction’ format we used at the first event set the tone that’s continues today. We did away with the top-down format of a stage/podium as it formed an unsuitable barrier to honest interactions. Instead, our speakers stood amongst the audience who were seated in a full circle. The eye-level intimacy created wonderful interactions between speaker-audience and inter-audience. The speakers too, having left the safety of the podium, relished the space for movement and rose to the occasion.
Ladies In Hospitality events were also held in Delhi and Mumbai during these initial years.
Int'l Chefs Day (India)
Our effort to ‘democratise’ International Chefs Day (ICD) commenced in 2016. As we had not formulated our plans, the sole goal was to let the culinary community know that 20th October as Chefs Day exists. The effort in this initial year was tentative at best yet received strong support from the new generation of chefs and those celebrated as chefs. Their unflinching, active participation helped us reach hundreds of new establishments and thousands of chefs via social media, bulk telephony and commercial radio. Through our effort, ICD was no longer the preserve of cloistered culinary associations.
2017 was muted in comparison to the year prior due to limitations of our team. We optimised this intervening year with a massive campaign in 2018, a defining effort that established most of our long-term goals and introduced the community support aspect into the celebrations. Henceforth, Int'l Chefs Day in India will always be celebrated with kitchen teams and the local community.
Greening Hospitality
This was our effort to focus on environment and eco-friendly practices within hospitality. Our view then, as it now, was that hospitality operations have a significant impact on its local and large environments. Therefore, rather than be tone deaf and exploitative, hospitality can be re-engineered for the larger good without sacrificing the commercial goals. Eco-friendly can be both environment and economic friendly.
Over 2014-2016, we held a few workshops and interactions on the subject, but sadly, the effort died a slow death due to lack of commercial support. It is something we expect to revive in 2024.
TechIT
This was a two-part conference on technology in restaurants held in 2015. It was in partnership with the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), the largest group of professional restaurateurs. Held in Mumbai and Delhi, the theme shone the spotlight on best practices and industry needs at a time when ‘food tech’ was the hottest topic around.
The format also introduced emerging tech providers to the F&B world by providing table space in the a ‘mini expo’. Some food tech brands, new at the time, have since gone onto immense commercial success.
Invest West
A single day conference in 2017 in partnership with the Govt. of India, the goal of Invest West was to highlight the investment opportunities in hospitality and tourism across Western India. At the time, the Central and State government had launched their ambitious infrastructure programmes such as the Coastal Road and regional airports among others.
Since hospitality goes where people go, the conference had presentations from the NHAI, state government and other nodal agencies to the hospitality sector to help the latter make timely and profitable investments in the region.
Keynote Series (AAHAR)
Held at the AAHAR 2017 expo in partnership with the ITPO, a Govt. of India undertaking, this was a series of five half-day seminars on five different themes: Housekeeping, procurement, culinary, policy and FSSAI.
This was the first and only time, five high profile seminars were organised back-to-back, with five different hospitality trade associations in a single expo with immense success.
Hotel Digital Security
This was the first commercial event we organised. It was in 2014 in partnership with the now defunct HATT, a trade grouping of hospitality-specific technology professionals. The half-day seminar focussed on the latest trends and challenges in digital security across Indian hospitality.
