Shubham Gupta is a native of Gaya, a small town in Bihar and did most of his schooling from Ranchi after which he shifted to Delhi to explore higher education options. Shubham did his graduation in event management and worked with a very prestigious firm for a couple of years after which he decided to set up his own venture. Shubham’s quest to ‘make people happy’ led him to open his first event management business.
Shubham moved further into the event industry and constantly thrived to fulfil the needs of his clients, be it gifts, décor or food. This made him want to set up his own catering business, for which, he needed a fully functional kitchen. This is what led him to open Good Spoon in Ranchi.
In Conversation With Shubham Gupta of Good Spoon
In an exclusive conversation with The Restaurant Times, Shubham Gupta talks of his journey in the industry, the story behind Good spoon, choosing the right location and, a lot more.
The Story Behind Good Spoon
Shubham Gupta has always been a self-dependent person. When he decided to open a restaurant, and connected with Petoo, an online food startup, he realized that he would just be a franchisee, which wasn’t something he agreed upon.
Shubham wanted something that he could call his own. This is why along with the Petoo chain, he started his own fine dining restaurant, Good Spoon. Now they are working towards establishing it as the face of the endeavor.
Good Spoon is casual fine dining located in the main youth hub of Ranchi that gives a premium feel of dining experience with a delectable menu. A fusion of Continental American with a touch of Indian Street of Tandoor. It also has flexible Chinese, Indian combos and a broad range of beverages to compliment. There is also a separate smoking zone in the outlet. They have a beautiful ambience with great music and a live kitchen as well!
Finding The Right Location
For today’s restaurateurs, finding the right location for setting up the restaurant is the biggest challenge. To retain new and old customers, restaurateurs need to identify some basic criteria, which creates a permanent impression. To make the location perfect in every aspect- scientific, demographic and psychographic information is required. Safety is also important while choosing a location.
Gupta says it was destiny that led him here. He was constantly looking for a prime location in Ranchi. A prime location would automatically mean a high footfall of youngsters as well as adults. It’s no secret that restaurants need more customers to succeed, and attracting new customers is one of the ways in which you increase your customer count. If an area already has heavy footfall, while setting up a new establishment, attracting customers who come to eat in the same area but couldn’t get a table elsewhere becomes easy.
Good Spoon is located in front of one of the biggest malls of Ranchi, Nucleus Mall. Gupta was lucky to have met the landlord of the same place while attending an event and he finalized the location in no time.
Marketing Mix and Current Trends To Be Followed
Gupta feels blessed to have set up Good Spoon at East Jail Road, Opposite Nucleus Mall as it has helped him to save money on marketing the restaurant.
‘I have more footfall of youngsters here, which automatically helps me catch their attention being at a prime location,’ says Gupta.
According to Gupta, they promote Good Spoon through social media. They have their Facebook and Instagram pages where they post creative and innovative infographics promoting their food. A good social media marketing strategy helps one’s brand to tackle its goals with a sense of purpose. Regular campaigns are run on Zomato and Swiggy as well.
The Indian Food and Beverage (F&B) service retail Industry is one of the most vibrant industries that have seen unprecedented growth in the recent past and continues to expand rapidly. Today, the business potential of Tier-2 cities is as much as that of big cities. Sometimes, restaurants in smaller cities outperform those in the metros. The trends in Tier 2 cities are changing constantly. With the penetration of social media in smaller towns, people’s preferences are becoming universal. A food trend would take five or six years to catch on in a Tier-2 city. Now, it takes a year.
“We plan to soon launch a tab integrated system, wherein, customers will be able to view the menu on a tab and order through it. We are also working on inventory management, and also working towards a smart kitchen to minimize wastage. We also have a biometric attendance system and manage breaks in a similar manner,” says Gupta.
Leveraging Technology
“Technology plays a major role in restaurants, be it a metropolitan city or a Tier 2 city. We are very tech-savvy and believe in keeping ourselves updated with the technology here at Good Spoon”, Gupta continues. The POS system is an indispensable part of every restaurant business. It has come a long way from massive permanent cash registers to a mobile system. Today, cloud POS systems for restaurants have many more advantages due to the increased functionality offered by suppliers. The cloud automation system is like a whole team of specialists working behind the scenes and making sure that everything goes according to plan, swiftly and efficiently. Today every business owner has the ability to track sales, manage bookkeeping, inventory and monitor other business processes using a reliable POS system, which is much simpler, easier and quicker.
Gupta says that they are very tech-savvy and believe in keeping themselves updated with the technology at Good Spoon.
“We have been using Posist at our outlet. Apart from being user-friendly, every loophole that software can or may have or every kind of problem that a user may face has already been dealt with Posist. It has helped us to minimize wastage, rectify loopholes and handle our operations smoothly,” says Gupta.
Gupta believes that a little competition never hurts anyone. While concluding he says, “My team and I are self-focused on delivering the best. For us, customer satisfaction is of the utmost priority. We do keep on upgrading but I let my team focus not on competing with others but with our own selves, as that is what helps us perform better.”
