‘What’s beneath all that make up?’- An expert piece by Abhimanyu Chauhan, a freelance restaurant designer and consultant!

Its not hot models or ladies we talk about here today, it’s make-up of the industry, so called thriving food and beverage industry. There are many who agree and are amazed to hear someone working as a chef or a bartender and do like the glamorous job they have and even dream about doing it them self. With the television, bringing in culinary shows everyone wants to cook and be a chef, but what really goes on in this country behind the curtains. Is it really that glamorous and amazing?

Eating meals cooked in the morning through the day sitting on an empty oil container by the sink, working 12 hours each day with hardly any holidays, that’s just the lipstick on the well-done face of the industry! That’s okay because that’s what we chose to do at the end of the day. But for what price, to excel and create the art of cooking food into something amazing? To provide with experience which is magical, to cook and thrive into new dimensions. Yes, that’s surely glamorous and artistic something which motivates you every day out of your bed, at work with sleepy eyes yet so dedicated. That’s a dream professionals of the industry go to work for! Read Marco Perrie White and Gordon Ramsey quotes and share the confessions of the chefs at Facebook pages. Get ink tattooed on their body with  inspirational stuff like chef knives, and beer bottles and sip espresso all day to be awake. That is some kick a normal day to day 9 to 5 workers will never experience. It’s magical surely a worth make up of the industry to be cherished. But how many of these dreams and talks are being true in our country, the bitter truth is hardly any.

We are not in Europe, where professional and passionate workers get loans from banks to start up their own workplace hard and make it so beautiful with the product and the experience that they most of the time achieve at Michelin levels. Put their heart and soul into the product and make it into something magical. We are in a country rapidly growing and the money investors are the one who decide what product will come out and how it will be achieved. A newly become rich who has yet to experience the level and sense of art himself travels to big cities of world dine in expensive restaurants and wants to imitate it here with 5 % of capital investment and says he knows it  all and has the most and major feedback in bringing up a place. Wow, it’s like someone watched a formula one race and decided to give tutorials to Ferrari on making their car go faster than Macleran. To every ones surprise a professional hired to run the place just breathes in heavy and nods his head since he’s the one paying his bills.

It’s sad how the industry turned out to be following the monotony and everyone to join the race of making money selling cheap booze and cooking highly overrated food cooked with lack of passion and often foul. Today this industry is crippled by those who invest and every individual who wanted to be the best and really do something has been sulking hopping jobs in a hope that’s some day he will get something worth working for. It’s sad how cheap beers are mixed with spirit to avoid the full brewing cycle  and sell it before its brew date, its sad when most of the chefs are educated and want to cook something authentic and remarkable and are told to cook the nations favourite street snacks which is apparently easy for a consumer to understand on the menu. As professionals we should not be scared of educating customers about new trends and styles and new ways of experience food and wine, rather we choose a conservative approach to adopt to method to sell what they already  know. The future is dark, as there are less risk takers and the skill-making its way out of the country to places where they fit in rather choosing to work in their own country and bring it out in the global competitive market. There’s not much time when this industry will  be so monotonous and left with semi skilled and complacent people. With thousands of places opening every day one really wonders which restaurant to call quality. The truth is its a rare thing.

As a part of this industry, I can just wait and expect it to come on workers term to compete on the global level or take matters into your own hand. Prove the difference what good quality product can give you over quantitative product being produced everywhere. Our nation loves imported stuff and we will always praise the imported professionals, product, and individuals. Let’s start competing and that’s a dream and I wish its true some day.