The corporate world is going through bad times. Pink-Slips are flying all around. The person who sits next to me every-day in the company bus, is not seen the other day. Talk to any one, you have daily updates on which company has fired how many people. Yes, the situation is scary. Losing a job which is a standard source of income, is a tough pill to swallow. What would i do if the same happens to me? What other job am i qualified for?
How have people survived in past few decades ? Why have we dependent so much on these jobs which pay fat salaries? Who is currently not affected by the current crisis?
There might be a few sectors which fall under this category. I will speak about something that is most convincing to me. Its the local food industry (The Local hotels ie. messes). We are hearing about people vacating houses and moving to places with lower rentals. We are hearing about decline in the purchase of gadgets and other luxury items and decreased number of people going to big restaurants to party. But, the local messes remain un affected by any changes in the stock markets.
Why is this so? Because they operate in a different business world all together. Because, what the daily customer pays in these hotels is a very reasonable amount. Here, its the volumes which matter rather than the margins.
At the same time, it is not at all easy to run a hotel of this kind. Not all of them see great profits, which can match our salaries. But there are a few of them which really excel above others and earn much more than our earnings.
Let me give you an example. I stay in the Whitefield area of Bangalore. I usually have food at home, since mom stays with me. This week, mom had gone to visit a marriage at our home town and i had to depend on out-side food. There are three Andhra messes in the lane i live.
The first one is close to the main road, and one of the oldest. It does attracts a decent number of customers every day. Since it was the first mess i encounter on the way home, i had food at this mess for the first 2 days. Though the ambience in the place didn’t appeal much to me, food was okay.
The second one in the lane, is owned by one of my local friends. He became a friend of mine, while i was searching for a house in the white-field area and he is the one who helped me find the beautiful house i currently live in. Out of gratitude, i did go to his hotel a couple of times. The food wasn’t great and the atmosphere wasn’t very comfortable. But, yeah.. this is how these hotels operate. Since, i am not from a rich family, and such places are not new to me, i could peacefully finish my food and go home.
On Wednesday, one of my bus-mates informed me that a new hotel was opened recently in the same lane, much beyond these two hotels. Though i was lazy to walk a few more steps, i did go with them as i wasn’t convinced with the first two hotels (People who have food at home cant be convinced that easily)
The third hotel was named, “Sree Lakshmi Venkateswara Andhra Mess” and with a first look, i could understand that the hotel ambience was great. I could see lot of people in the hotel, and couldn’t believe it was a new mess. I had food that day, and let me tell you.. It was awesome. I didn’t eat anywhere else after that. Everything else i had towards other hotels got shattered, leaving only this as the preference. There are a few reasons for this hotel being a success.
1. Quality in the food: “Nothing else sells your brand, better than the product itself”. Ex: The sambar is not a colored liquid, but full of necessary vegetables and as good as the one you have at marriages.
2. Variety: You have food ranging from normal meals to biriyanis both in the afternoon & in the night. In addition, you have all kinds of tiffins. The other hotels lack on that front.
3. Awesome Service: You owners who do the administration always have smiling faces & the boys are more than happy to serve. You don't have to ask for anything. you always have more than what you want. It can be clearly understood that they follow the mantra “ Customer is god”
4. Word of mouth Advertising: The impressed customers, who were pampered bring more people the next day. And the hotel doesn't bring down the expectations.
Its a family business and everyone (from the old father to the young brothers of the owner) work together to keep things in place hygienic, lively and full ! I love the way they do business. They can make much more money if they put up a hotel near the ITPL area or near our JFWTC campus (Vydehi hospital circle). The caterers inside our campus charge humongous for the quality they deliver. People are craving for good taste and there is a huge business opportunity.
If i had money for building the infrastructure necessary for the hotel, i would go and partner with the owner, let him bring the cooks and boys from his home town in AP, and give 60% profits to him and keep 40% with myself. I still think i will break even very fast and make lots of money. Shit! i don’t have the money for investment. Some one else will grab the opportunity now !
Become a Baniya. Let me tell you.. It works!
