Being a thoroughbred Mumbaikar, the references of eateries in today’s post are from my city. A large chunk of my subscribers are also from Mumbai (though many have fanned out in different parts of the world) and hence are familiar with many of the places I will be mentioning. For those few ones who don’t hail from Mumbai, I think the underlying theme behind this post is something that is fairly universal and I think you will be able to relate to it by replacing the names of the Mumbai establishments with those of the ones in your city.
Hi Shantanu , you have brought out a harsh reality of the once iconic restaurants in a very unbiased yet hard hitting way . On one side , all our fond memories make us go to these legendary places but most of them indeed take their success and customers for granted after a point . I also feel that like like any other business, these places also need to reinvent themselves while keeling the core intact . And I hope they will.
Agree, Swapneel. Like one other reader too compared the restaurant business to corporations. The first generation entrepreneurs do it out of a sense of passion and a higher calling. The succeeding generations see it as a cash cow to be optimised for efficiency and maximised for profits. The core which largely comprises the heart and soul of the entrepreneur is invariably compromised in the process. So we can hope, but chances are the hope will go unfulfilled.
Hi Shantanu , you have brought out a harsh reality of the once iconic restaurants in a very unbiased yet hard hitting way . On one side , all our fond memories make us go to these legendary places but most of them indeed take their success and customers for granted after a point . I also feel that like like any other business, these places also need to reinvent themselves while keeling the core intact . And I hope they will.
Agree, Swapneel. Like one other reader too compared the restaurant business to corporations. The first generation entrepreneurs do it out of a sense of passion and a higher calling. The succeeding generations see it as a cash cow to be optimised for efficiency and maximised for profits. The core which largely comprises the heart and soul of the entrepreneur is invariably compromised in the process. So we can hope, but chances are the hope will go unfulfilled.
Bitter but right analogy