Raminder Bakshi is having more than 22 years of experience in the hospitality and F&B industry. His decisive leadership quality has helped him in setting up Food Courts, Multinational QSR, Hotels and Restaurants & Resorts.
Famed as “The Young Turk” from his early days, he successfully conceptualized multiple projects and created his own style in the kitchen, blending tradition with modernity in his training and experience right from his grooming days at IHM Bhopal.
Through the years spent in Hilton Group in varied locations like Delhi, Egypt, and the Metropolitan Palace hotel in Dubai, he embarked on a journey of culinary discovery. As a Chef Tournant at Hyatt International where he moved through the kitchens of exclusive Hyatt properties like Grand Hyatt Delhi, Hyatt Regency Delhi, gaining further expertise and training aspiring chefs in the intricate art of gourmet cooking and grooming tomorrow’s culinary leaders.
At present he owns THE ART CULINNAIRE which specializes in conceptualization and execution of restaurants / hotels / base kitchens / banquets / outdoor catering / air catering services / institutional catering / quick service restaurants and much more. TAC also provides services like up-gradation and updating of operational restaurants, facility planning, and recruitment of food and beverage personnel, product development, operational setup, technical trainings to staff and retainer-ship of the day to day running of the business.
The global assignments associated in the past: Hyatt Hotels, Metropolitan Group of Hotels, Hilton Group, Sodexho: Hospitals – Max ,Fortis, DHLI, Software and BPO Industry – Adobe, Cadence, Honeywell, Infoysis , Dell, Wipro, PWC, Fine Dining Restaurants, Quick Service Restaurants, Packaged Food etc.
In an exclusive interview with Salt and Sandals Mr Bakshi gives some insights from his experiences in F&B industry and his personal life.
Amogh Tiwari (AT):In today’s struggling economy, what steps have you taken to continue to attract consumers in??
Raminder Bakshi (RB) : Yes, two things (1) experimentation and (2) innovation. Ready to experiment more but should imply it in a proper manner by keeping the authenticity intact.
AT :When you’re at home or someone else cooks for you, do people feel pressured to cook you something fancy because you’re a gourmet chef/ art culinnaire yourself?
RB : Whenever I visit my relatives or friends , I ask them to tell their mom to cook for me because out of 21 meals in week my 14 meals are outside so I crave more for home cooked food.
AT : What are 3 tips for running a successful restaurant?
RB : (1) belief in your concept
(2) Location matters
(3) passion, dedication and commitment and yes obviously firm control on your cost.
AT :If you were to open a new restaurant, what style of food would you pick and where would you want it to be located?
RB : In India safest pick is Indian & Chinese cuisine. I would start it from South Delhi and then anywhere in Delhi.
AT: What inspired you to be come a chef?
RB : I would say for Chef, I was in 9th class and saw this show called “Dawaat” on Doordarshan and it was hosted by the legend himself Mr Jiggs Kalra and I was curious about how this industry works.
AT : What is your ideal meal ?
RB : Home cooked meal, Chicken or mutton curry with Rice and roti
AT :What or who are your influences?
RB : Two German Chefs Ralfh Spika, He taught us on how to bring taste in food and how to play with ingredients. Chef Karl Karutler, who taught me on how to do administration and he was way ahead of his time.
AT : Mention one project which is very close to your heart.?
RB : Grand Hyatt Delhi – The team which I worked with was comprising of all big shots and the time we had in those 2¹/² years together are still the best years till nowritten.:
AT :Do you peruse food reviews and review sites such as Zomato ?
RB : Yes, both negative & positive reviews are for betterment but what matters the most is the way they are written.
