On the gravy train

The attempt is to make kitsch, chic. And the local street, hip and cool. A bunch of miscellaneous entrepreneurs "" filmmakers and garment and furnishings exporters "" have turned restaurateurs to launch a kitschy street food joint, Khaja Chowk. Located in Gurgaon's Plaza Mall, the ambience at Khaja Chowk is distinctly faux dhaba.

Bright seats, old film posters on the walls, tables showcasing assorted cosmetics that are found in moffusil kirana shops complete the street scene. And the piece de resistance is a red autorickshaw that has been turned into a table for four.

Adding to the atmosphere are the pithy one-liners, painted on the autorickshaw that talk about everything ranging from alchoholism to love and god.

"The whole aim was to start a place that was fun. And street food in India can easily morph into fast food," says Vikram Nair, a garment exporter and promoter of Khaja Chowk.

Incidentally, filmmaker Mira Nair, (Vikram Nair's sister) is also a co-promoter in the food venture in addition to furnishings exporter Shefali Nair and garment exporter Bal. The other two partners, Vijay Toley and Anil Tandon, are management professionals.

Vikram Nair says that the idea is to serve ethnic Indian food in clean surroundings with value for money being the key element. On offer are a host of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, including kebab ganne pe, gatte ki sabzi, methi paneer, chicken achari and boti curry.

Prices range from Rs 25 (for a ganne ki ras) to Rs 110 (for a non-veg dish). Besides the corporate crowd, Khaja Chowk has also found favour among the local Haryanavi population.

An investment of Rs 1.5 crore has been made in the project and is expected to be recovered in 16 months. With an average daily footfall hovering around 250, the promoters are quite pleased with their effort and are planning to open more outlets. Talks are on with a large call centre company to open four outlets in its multi-storeyed office complex in Gurgaon.

By July, another restaurant is likely to be inaugurated on Delhi's Bungalow Road (near the North Campus) to cater to the university crowd. The same month is also likely to see one more outlet opening at the capital's Basant Lok complex in Vasant Vihar.

There are plans to open Khaja Chowk outlets in Noida, Dubai and London. "Our international expansion plans are still on a drawing board stage. However, talks with various parties regarding opening more outlets in the capital are at a final stage," says Nair.

It is not difficult to see why filmmakers to garment exporters are jumping onto the gravy train. The organised food and hospitality sector is pegged at Rs 2,000 crore (and estimated to touch Rs 6,000 crore by next year).

At Khaja Chowk, one would expect the sharp focus on Indian street-food to be augmented by old Hindi filmi songs or traditional folk songs. But instead what one gets to hear is remixes, MTV ishtyle. Even diet colas are present on the menu. "Well, one has to bow down to market forces," says Nair as a matter of explanation.