Authentic Chinese on your TV screens

Mainland China is India's largest fine dining chain, and the only one airing ads on TV.

When Mainland China, now a chain of 12 restaurants spread over major metros of India, boasting of a turnover of around Rs 100 crore, launched its first ever television commercial (TVC), it managed to create a furore.

Served deliciously, like most of the dishes at Mainland China "" courtesy its nine master chefs from Singapore, Beijing and Xindu "" the ad is like a brilliant starter, waiting to create a gigantic appetite for viewers.

"It's the first advertisement created by anyone in the fine dining category in India," says Anjan Chatterjee, the man behind Mainland China. An established name in the ad world, Chatterjee says that the restaurant's TVC "" that debuted mid-November, 2006 "" was an inhouse creation.

But why the need to create an ad for a successful enterprise? "Why not? In advertising parlance, we look at the crucial four Ps, including price, product, place and promotion. We have achieved the first three Ps, and in June this year we thought it was the right time to concentrate on promoting our brand," says Chatterjee.

Made on a budget of Rs 1.75 crore, the ad will continue till January 2007 after which Mainland China plans to work on other TVCs too. Besides creating an advertisement, Mainland China is also sponsoring shows on leading news and entertainment channels, including Discovery Travel & Living, National Geographic, Zee Music and Zee Cafe.

Chatterjee explains the concept of the ad: "In important board meetings, we tend to get easily swayed by food. That's how our team worked on the idea of the ad. We wanted to have a clutter-breaking ad and definitely wanted to tie in the concept of weaving food in the conversation of our characters."

The ad seems to have worked well especially as Mainland China is planning to expand to other cities. While Kolkata readies to get another branch of Mainland China by February 2007, Chandigarh residents too can bite into scrumptious Mainland China delights soon.

With Rs 75 crore planned by way of investments for 2007-08, Mainland China, confirms Chatterjee, will look at acquiring real estate and launch in cities like Guwahati, Bhubaneswar and Ahmedabad, to name a few.

"We are in talks to launch Mainland China in other cities too," says Chatterjee, adding, "Mainland China is definitely going to start its operations within the next three months in Manhattan."

Chatterjee admits to have committed mistakes in the past 14 years of having launched Mainland China. "Our Borivilli branch in Mumbai was a big mistake. We shouldn't have launched an outlet there," he says, adding, "a majority of the crowd there are vegetarians and it was a colossal mistake to open an outlet there."

Clearly Mainland China seems to have grown in leaps and bounds. Those looking for chilli paneer and paneer manchurian at this fine dining restaurant should excuse themselves.

For the rest of you who want generous bites of authentic Chinese, book a table at Mainland China now.