Drink this to grow in size

RESTAURANTS

From fine dining to fast-food, the leisure division of Chateau Indage is growing segments of the restaurant and spa biz.

Athena, the nightclub lounge in the basement of the Eros Intercontinental in Delhi, is as deathly as its white sofas. Next door, its fine-dining restaurant, Merlot, has just been commissioned "" the formal launch, though, is still a few weeks away. Together, the pairing (much like its wine dinners) have opened in six cities. But with Athena a dead brand in Delhi, will Merlot work?

For Vikrant Chougle, who heads Chateau Indage's Rs 30 crore leisure division, these aren't imponderables. "Nightclubs in Delhi have a short life," he says, "so we'll reinvent ourselves by March, soon after the Mumbai revamp." As for Merlot, its "international dining experience and world wines" indicate a winner.

Chateau Indage's leisure division, though, is on the fast track of growth. Besides revamping Athena in Mumbai (after a successful five years there) and Delhi, launching the Tantra fashion cafe, the Zaha nightclubs at the Leela hotels, and opening the Athena-Merlot combine in Bangalore, Chandigarh and Pune, it's now spearheading its first international import.

The company has tied up with South African fast-food chain Nando's (think peri-peri chicken), the first of which opened recently in Mumbai.

"It's a scaleable model," says Chougle, who's hoping to replicate the model with 200 Nando's over five years. "Each one costs Rs 70 lakh, so 200 would mean an investment of Rs 140 crore," he says. However, only a few will be self-owned, with most being joint ventures or franchises.

In addition, the division is pushing the Chateau Indage Wine Bars in the same manner, hoping to grow from the six currently to 35 by year-end.

But the most excitement is in the hospitality segment where the family's Kolhapur base will see a Vinotherapie Grapevine Spa being commissioned in the 300-year-old Shalini Palace, followed by two others at the winery (in March) and in Nashik.

"What's unusual," says Chougule, "is that the massages use oils enriched with grape seed oils, and have anti-ageing benefits."

Chateau Indage's wine making division too is expanding "" out of Maharashtra and in Himachal Pradesh, in two locations, Kullu and Manali. "In Kullu, construction of the winery has been initiated, and we will have a boutique hotel as well as our spa there," confirms Chougule.

Fine, fine: but we'd still like to see some faces in Athena, not empty seats