General Manager
Travel Food Services Pvt. Ltd.
Total years of experience :23 years, 9 Months
Manage Airport 100+ retail & Lounge businesses, also contributing to Highway expansion in southern India. Successful Implementation of training modules in QSR, Lounge's, specialty restaurants, Kiosks & bars, improved service level, reengineered menu & Customer service, won FAB award for year 2017, 2018. Partnered in successful implementation of retail outlets, Lounge & Bar design in International & Domestic terminals. Active Participation in launching food brands for first time presence in India such as Brioche Doree, James Martin, Wendy's, Jamie Oliver & Gully Kitchen All Lounges design & aesthetic revisited via infusion of CAPEX & undertaken agreements closure on service with more than 40 International & National airlines such as Air France. British Airways, Etihad, Emirates, Lufthansa, Kuwait, Oman, Sri Lankan, Cathay Pacific, Jet, Indigo, Spice Jet etc., tied up with all banks on card usage in Lounge services, tied up with various travel & tourism, OTA's, Hotels and Corporate sector all Lounge usage to passengers. Formulated strategic growth in building up local, global brands & In house outlets by reducing retail space currently occupied & increased number of retail space of outlets from 56 to 100+ multiple brands. Increased turnover of Airport business in southern India by 50% with YOY incremental growth of +28%, Increase in profitability by +12% Conceptualized, created & built India's first commissary (15000 Sq. ft.) & cloud Kitchen in Chennai Airport along with of AAI (Airport Authority of India). Commissary is equipped with high end equipment's with cutting edge technology cooking jobs such as stewing, braising, deep frying, grilling, boiling along with blast chillers is undertaken, LPG based automated cook woks, Vegetable cutter, rice washer, coconut scrapper, high pressure jet washer, refrigerated vehicle for dispatch are key features. Commissary is certified in ISO 22000 & FSSAI, equipped with VRV air conditioner, hydro pneumatic system for water supply, fire suppression systems, 13 cold storage facility, high capacity ventilation equipment, recognized by AAI, Civil aviation ministry (Government of India) Part of team in planning of retail, Lounge's, F& B spaces in upcoming T2 Terminal in Chennai. Successful in battling the economic impact of the pandemic, ensuring the safety of both customers and the staff, facilitated Covid patient's by serving 2500 meals per day during pandemic time, simultaneously ensuring zero business day loss. Devised a success feature for ensuring seamless new store openings through internal staff promotions to handle leadership roles. Implemented Box in Box strategy for retail adopted for incremental sales Concept of Food@ gate introduced for increase in transaction penetration First to go plastic free and all products under biodegradable introduced in Airport Specially abled staffs inducted, 3 outlets run & operated in Airport, the first initiative in airport's in India. Local brands such as IBACO, Café Coffee Day, The Thick Shake Factory, SKS Fly, French Loaf, Krug & Co., Wow Momo, Sangeetha Veg Restaurant, ID restaurant, Hatti Kapi, Cookie Man, Thalappakatti Biryani & Madras Coffee House brands launched at Airport, played pivotal role in getting brands onboard in airport. Revisited all inhouse brands design, menu, planogram strategy, staffing & provided new concept, brands revisited such as Cafeccino, Flying Bites, Coffee n More, Chennai Food Express (Food court), Martini Bar, Idli.com, Chaat Wala, Coffee Box, Irish House, Cooper Chimney & CBTL, this yielded in higher margin from food products & increased profitability by + 12% in span of 12 months.
Providing strategic consultancy and advisory to start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures into
the well renowned brands space in India/USA. Middle East
Consulting for Private Equity on business expansion and growth planning
Enabled smooth leadership transition and operations stability by retaining 92% of the core
team and seamless information transfer and successfully handed over to new leadership
for 2 organizations.
Fostered effective communication between team and leadership to promptly resolve issues
and initiated Employee engagement schemes such as Employee of the Month/ Employee
Appraisals/incentives and build faith in the organization
Strategized FSR (Free Standing Restaurant) model for Paradise restaurant for expansion in
Southern India
Participated actively in conceptualizing signage, Uniform design, Stationary, Photoshoot,
Menu, Imagery graphics, restaurant layout & kitchen design for rebranding of Iconic brand
“Paradise”
Onboarded Ray & Keshavan Pvt. ltd, Hundred Hands Pvt. Ltd., Brand union Pvt. Ltd. for the
restaurant deliverance & execution in CMH road, Bengaluru.
Post 62 years of Paradise brand being established the 1st outlet outside Telangana state
commenced business in 2015.
Executed projects for all phases of the business life cycle from conceptualization to
operations
Optimized operational set-up for the business covering Product Portfolio (Menu),
Operating Procedures, Customer Experience, Equipment
(sourcing/installation/maintenance) and building a robust pipeline for cost-efficient
Supply Chain.
Created momentum for exponentially increasing sales, market share and leadership
position by taking P&L & ROI accountability, defining brand touchpoints, Menu design &
Pricing Strategy and targeted marketing strategy -both for local stores and online.
Consulted to Director’s M & A for Pizza Hut & KFC.
Designed and created a commissary kitchen to enable 50+ restaurants in Karnataka, Kerala
& Maharashtra state
Limited the restaurant Capex to the minimal leading to direct impact on profitability.
Drove marketing and promotional activities while focusing on social/digital media platforms;
ensured adequate PR coverage across media, food magazines, food bloggers and portals
Scaled up&grew the Franchisee Businessfor KFC, Pizza Hutrestaurants in Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, New Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh.
Scaled up from 1 to 250+ KFC Restaurants
Scaled up from 1 to 150+ Pizza Hut Restaurants
Launched Home Delivery Business pan India for KFC & Pizza Hut.
Relaunched & scaled up 30 + KFC brand in North India
Played a vitalrole in the launch of iPan, Crown Pizza, Magic Pan, WHRM for Pizza Hut Delivery
Drove winning in-store culture by delivering innovative sessions
Spearheaded inculcation of customer-focused culture; implemented process improvements
for enhanced customer satisfaction and mystery shopper program scores
Conceptualizedand implemented several innovative initiativessuchas best practice transfers
and upgrades and rewards & recognition programs
Received recognition as pioneers in converting select restaurants with respect to social
awareness and other similar relevant topics
Ramped up the employee strength from initial 50+ to 1, 400+ during tenure; achieved
employee satisfaction score of 7.8/10
Optimized labour costs forstores from 14% to 10% by improving the staff mix and ratio
Received higher ranking for stores managed in Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra & Gujarat in terms of Employee Satisfaction Survey, internal operational audits,
sales, and global audits.
Sales drive Initiatives such as Own the Zone, Table turns, Sales by suggestion’s lead to
incremental sales Dine in / Take away & Home delivery Channels
Improved Management attrition by Internal promotions, high potential managers got trained
on breakthrough coaching, root cause analysis, building great restaurant, walk of 8, 7 habits
of highly effective people.
Trained & implemented all operations, area, restaurant management on Area coach success
routine, running greatshifts & success by design to improve productivity & business results.
Delivered Best guest metrics in the country at 78% OSI (Overall satisfaction Index)
Improved Net Promoter score YOY.
Idealized and developed new model, which included developing, testing & analyzing the
model & Pizza Hut express model, was launched in India.
New design of KFC vol 4 was created & showcased in factory to the directors of YRI prior
going live with 250+ restaurant in marketplace.
Home Services LOB was contributing nearly 20%-25% of the business revenues y-o-y