Professionally, Dhruv Chawla completed his MBA in International Business from Manchester. Entering the food industry was never part of his plan, but a dinner out with his family gave birth to the idea of launching a guilt-free indulgence brand, Getafix– Guilt Free Indulgence.
He and his family always loved dining out but would return home riddled with guilt, feeling heavy after a meal at a restaurant. This is how the idea of Getafix was born. Chawla, along with his cousin Aanandita set out to create a dining experience that lets you enjoy your favorite food without that horrible heavy feeling afterward, an idea that had not been explored enough by the restaurant industry in India.
The first casual dining outlet was introduced in 2015 in Greater Kailash 1, and the second one was introduced as a takeaway and delivery setup in Noida. The third one was launched in 2017 as a 45 cover casual dining in Gurgaon.
In Conversation With Dhruv Chawla Of Getafix
In an exclusive conversation with The Restaurant Times, Dhruv Chawla talks about the importance of healthy eating, his brand, the importance of food costing and a lot more.
About Getafix
According to Chawla, eating mindfully is not just a trend, it’s a way of life. Getafix is a dynamic space for mindful eating. The restaurant popularized the approach of true guilt-free indulgence in the city. With the use of premium ingredients & alternative cooking styles such as air frying, grilling, and baking, along with serving freshly squeezed, slow pressed juices & smoothies, Getafix is one of the unique places that underlines the concept of guilt-free eating.
Setting Up A Casual Dining Restaurant Brand
According to Chawla, one has to make sure that the casual dining setup is crafted in a way that it embodies a “casual”, laidback, relaxed and comfortable space where the customers can have a good time.
Casual dining patrons expect a space that allows for longer, heartier and merrier conversations that a quick service restaurant or a restro pub can’t provide. It is essential to take good care of the setting to make sure that the tables and chairs are comfortable enough for the customers to sit and enjoy long conversations. The decor and music should also be carefully chosen to create a bright and happy environment.
‘The most important factor that makes casual dining favored over other kinds of setups is that it allows you to come as you are,’ says Chawla.
Importance Of Location
According to Chawla, choosing the right location is one of the critical aspects of opening a restaurant business.
One must make sure that the chosen location has a high footfall. The rentals will undoubtedly be high for such places but it is essential to be visible, and that can only happen in a high footfall area.
Accessibility is also a crucial factor. It is important to note that most of the good restaurants are easy to locate and reach. They are also in the vicinity of both commercial districts and residential areas. If a restaurant doesn’t have good accessibility, then you may not get the walk-ins easily.
‘Since Getafix as a brand focuses on healthy eating, we did a lot of research to choose a location having the right target audience. As per our market research, women are more conscious about healthy eating when dining out than men. So we chose an area with a dominantly female market,’
It is undoubtedly important to focus on the location when starting off, but once a brand gets established and acquires a name, location becomes secondary
Importance Of Menu Pricing and Food Costing
Menu engineering is much more than simply listing down the items that you are serving at your restaurant, and plays a critical role in the success of your restaurant.
Accurate pricing of menu items is vital for a restaurant to succeed. If the prices are too high, your competitors will get your business. If your rates are too low, your food costs will escalate and you’ll miss out on the profits.
A growing trend in restaurants is the “root to stem” technique of cooking that is very beneficial in keeping the food costs in check. The soaring cost of food mingled with the growing interest in “going green” has helped “root to stem” cooking gain popularity. Everyone from the home cooks to the restaurant chefs looks for ways to stretch their food dollar, and this new way of cooking is all about using every viable resource of a product.
Food costing has been no less than an operational challenge for a long time. As our concept is all about healthy and premium items, sourcing them has been the most challenging task and is also very expensive.
Despite the challenges, Getafix has consistently delivered premium and healthy food to its patrons and was also awarded as the best restaurant in the healthy category for 2018 at the Indian Restaurant Congress award ceremony.
Technological Bedding
Technology has now become an indispensable part of the restaurant operations these days and has admittedly revolutionalized the way restaurants function.
According to Chawla, several advantages can result from adopting smart POS software, which can be broadly summed up in three parts – efficiency, accuracy, and consistency.
A smart POS system can make your business more efficient by automating the processes, lend accuracy by eliminating manual errors and ensure consistency in operations and the product.
“I have been using Posist at all my three outlets. Posist has been a blessing for me, as it has allowed me easy integration with different aggregators. It is very user-friendly in the way that I don’t always require the support from the company but can myself add the new menu items. The Enterprise Module gives control for all the three outlets. Every restaurant owner has the complaint of various kinds of pilferages in the kitchen, But Posist’s inventory system helps us keep a check on the stock and manage the inventory seamlessly. Revenue and tax report generation have also become very easy with Posist.
Chwala concludes with sharing his plans, ‘We are planning to expand in Delhi/NCR. Patrons can expect a few more outlets of Getafix in 2019. Also, next year we plan to grow in different other cities.’
