Biting the Olive

After Mumbai and New Delhi, it's Bangalore's turn to get a taste of restaurateur A D Singh's dining experience.

In 1988, all that A D Singh wanted to do was own a business that'd allow him to earn Rs 4,000 a month. Today, it wouldn't be excessive for a single diner, on a single evening, at a single restaurant of his, to spend that much.

Singh is India's most successful restaurateur by far, his Olive Bars and Kitchens in Mumbai and Delhi on speed dials of society A B and wannabe listers; his face "" along with that of his rich and famous friends"" on assorted Page Threes most mornings.

Ever since it opened five years ago, Olive in Mumbai has been one of the highest F&B grossers. A stand-alone project, it put to shame most five-star restaurants and, along with competitors Indigo and Athena, became the unchallenged king in a city always ready to indulge. Delhi, by contrast and despite high disposable incomes, has been a city of five-star dining.

For years ITC's Bukhara topped the sales, toppled last year by the spanking new 360 at the Oberoi. Olive came to the capital two years ago and promptly changed the way the city power dined, becoming not just the darling of the city's movers and shakers but also the fifth-highest F&B grosser; highest in the stand-alone category.

Now, Singh is all set to repeat the experience in Bangalore. In a charming villa sans neighbours and intrusive signboards, he has created what he calls the Olive "Beach" experience: beach and bbq; more water, more seafood, a "kind of that resort feel that is so big internationally".

For now the trilogy is complete. Singh is categorical he does not plan more links in the chain. The "boutique, high-end market" he specialises in can hardly emulate a McDonald's type operation.

"I studied Pune, Hyderabad and Goa but my gut call is these cities are still not ready for an Olive," Singh says. You'd do well to heed the "gut call". Singh has an enviable track record when it comes to being at the right place at the right time; "that's been my secret all along", he grins.

In 1988, as a 28-year-old, Singh was an America-returned engineer, big on bringing together people, material and funds, working for NGOs like Urmul. "I soon realised they only paid you Rs 400 a month because the thinking was that NGOs stood for sacrifice...it was ridiculous, you can't live in that amount;if they'd paid me more I could have been something in the NGO sector."

Instead, Singh took to organising boat parties for corporates in Mumbai. Event management was just coming into its own and Singh did well, going on to run the business for 15 years. In the meanwhile, more "greed" resulted in more things. Two years later, Singh's love for desserts saw him open the landmark Just Desserts parlour in Mumbai.

"There were these Parsi women who made these delicious desserts," Singh says, eyes shining, "but they'd sell the whole thing, not small slices, for Rs 200-300, expensive for young people and students."

Singh had read about places in America where shop-owners let out their premises to restaurants in the evening once the store was closed and these became evening-only establishments. He managed to persuade someone similarly, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Just Desserts was set up with just Rs 50,000 as investment. Each of the Olives, by contrast, has seen an outlay of Rs 2-3 crore. But more will be needed if Singh embarks on the expansion course he plans next year. While Olive, the mother brand, stays put, Singh plans to launch at least two other brands "targeted at the same high-end, boutique market" in Delhi and Mumbai.

He's looking for institutional investment and local partners as well as to go public by 2007-08. But is there enough money in the restaurant biz? "Oh, yes." Singh is undeterred by the many professed risks such high investments involve in the notoriously difficult F&B business.

"A restaurant takes 2-3 years to breakeven, and if the project is well thought out there's no reason why it shouldn't do well." He quotes the example of TGIF that opened its first outlet in Vasant Vihar a few years ago with an astounding Rs 8.5 crore investment. "It has earned that back several times over." Besides which, he has every reason to be confident about his "innovative marketing".

Take, for instance, the Delhi Olive. The food there is, frankly, average; "the experience" above average; the "buzz" factor extraordinary. In a market where restaurants open and shut with alarming alacrity and every year sees at least one hugely-hyped place bite the dust, how does Olive manage to keep its "buzz" "" and customers? (Competitor Athena, by contrast, also set shop in Delhi and has been a noteable failure.)

For one, Singh has his mantra right. He specialises in spinning business out of traditionally "dead" slots and spaces. In Mumbai, Singh created the city's first "shisha bar", not to mention a James Bond-inspired ice parlour more recently in a dead space at the back of the restaurant.

Concepts such as spa lunches, wine picnics and aperitif evenings are consciously geared towards making the most out of slots that would be empty for traditional restaurants. Some have gone on to become social highlights, others haven't done so well, but even if some "don't succeed, they get talked about".

What also get talked about are the weekly parties "" it would be easy to overkill these and a restaurant may start looking stale as a result. Singh, somehow, manages to get the balance right. The money too; sales go up by 30 per cent, he says, as a direct result. So next time there is a party invite at Olive, don't scoff at it; the man knows his business.