What’s the Future of Foodservice? “Food and beverage outlets have already become an essential part of social interaction. So what we knew as chinwags at home on weekends will become daily affairs in various places in not-so-planned ways. There will be friends who will be made in real-time, with interaction becoming more varied and interesting. In other words, F&B outlets are becoming poles of interaction culture.”
Anjan Chatterjee deployed innovation and astute marketing to convert a soul’s urge and childhood passion into one of India’s most powerful foodservice companies. Armed with a Diploma from the Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology, Kolkata in 1982, Anjan Chatterjee’s first job was at Hotel Taj Palace, Mumbai as a Management Trainee.
A self-proclaimed ‘foodie’ by birth, his entrepreneurial instincts led to creation of his first restaurant brand in 1992 –‘Only Fish’ (presently Oh! Calcutta) in Mumbai. He went on to create the first authentic Chinese restaurant – Mainland China – in 1996 before taking the brand to a pan-India level from Mumbai to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi.
Mainland China is now India’s single largest stand-alone fine dining Chinese restaurant chain with over 52 outlets in the country and abroad.
Over the past 20 years, Chatterjee has created multiple brands, including Sigree, Machan, Global Grill, Asia Kitchen, Hoppipola, Café Mezzuna, Gong, POH etc. In May 2012, he achieved his long- cherished dream of taking his enterprise public, and Speciality Restaurants Limited was born. Currently, it has over 129 outlets in over 25 cities in India, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Qatar, Sri Lanka and UAE.
Speciality Restaurants is also a pioneer in foodservice skill-development; much of the company’s staff comprises youngsters recruited from remote, rural areas of India.
Anjan Chatterjee, Founder, Chairman & Managing Director, Speciality Restaurants Ltd.
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