As soon as you pass the busy lanes of Indrapuri locality near
Bhawarkua, you see a simple house occupied by the students. Laced with greenery
and its walls painted with various graffiti’s’, the place is home to many of
its visitors.
Pleasure House, a home-grown café established 4-years ago
is popular among students and has lot of uniqueness to offer. Utilizing the
services of owner Rahul Desai, who
worked in Taj Exotica for 4-years, it precisely defies every convention of
doing business. I caught up with Mr.
Rahul Desai and Mr. Suresh Teredesai
to dwell a bit deep into the history of this place and the way ahead. Here
are the excerpts:
How did the idea of setting up Pleasure House
came to your mind?
The idea of
setting up Pleasure House came to my mind after I saw my younger son’s abject
situation in Goa who was working in Taj Exotica there. He had done Hotel
Management from Pune and worked there for 4-years. When I visited Goa once, I realized
that his salary was not enough to accommodate a family. The hotel being a
five-star was not paying him the deserved salary which compelled me to think
about his future prospects.
I consulted my
elder son, who has his own startup in Pune, and asked my younger son to leave
his job since after marriage things were becoming difficult for him. After two
months, he left his job and came back to Indore. Coming back to Indore, he did
a survey of current trends and demand in the market. Year 2010 was the time
when Pizza and Burger were hitting the Indian Markets with huge success.
Once one of my
good friends came to see us and asked him about what he wants to do. Although
he had job offers from Radisson, he was willing to do something of his own. My
friend advised us to utilize the verandah
and asked us to open a shop at home. He pushed my son to just start and see
the response. His idea clicked to my mind, we built a counter at our garage and
opened up what is now popularly called as Pleasure
House.
What was the initial capital you incurred
and how you marketed your venture since it is said that marketing is the
backbone of a business which is customer-oriented?
It was a low
cost startup because we had our own space. We never believed in making it
luxurious and at a time when I see the area abuzz with luxurious cafes’, we
made the place a simple one to sit. For few years, we used our domestic kitchen
but later on constructed a new kitchen for the shop.
About marketing,
we distributed pamphlets initially but our main marketing job was accomplished
by mouth publicity. Marketing is very vital to a customer-oriented business but
our target customers were different and considering them, mouth publicity
worked well for us.
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| A Cafe-cum-house........Pleasure House....!!!!!!! |
What were the challenges you faced and the
current challenges in this line of business?
See, we started
out only with Burger and Pasta and then expanded our products. On the very first
day, we sold 100 burgers and we were not able to manage the situation. It was a
learning lesson for us. Our business model is totally dependent on a healthy
supply-chain model because we don’t stock a lot of things.
Initially, we
had problems for Burgers because somebody has to go and pick it from the shops.
Over the whole day, if demand increased we were short of burgers which hampered
our business. Then we contacted Bakery 365 and they deliver the burger every
day at our doorstep.
Apart from that,
for garlic bread we used to purchase bread leafs which became problematic for us
after initial few days. So we used a technique to overcome that challenge. The
burger of Bakery 365 was very large, so we cut a piece out of it to make garlic
bread and now we have the regular supply of garlic bread.
What is the most unique thing about
Pleasure House?
Well there are
many but according to me, the most unique thing is that we cook every cuisine
and don’t rely on outside workers. When we cook that, we add good feelings to
that which increase the taste of that dish to a large extent.
Apart from that,
the place though being simple is like a home to most of the visitors. They feel
free and enjoy time here.
What is the success mantra behind Pleasure
House?
Our success
mantra is effective team work. If you look at it from management point of view,
we have effectively delegated responsibility to every member of family and our
communication is flawless. It is a good example of team work. The management of
kitchen is also very good because my younger son has a lot of experience to use
for.
Another thing
is, I never shame in saying sorry to any of our customer if there is any delay
in service because for us they are our god. We exist because they exist. With
that, we don’t differentiate between customers. For us, the one buying
something worth Rs.30 is as equal as the one who buy something worth Rs.300. It
has added value to our relationship with the customer.
What are your expansion plans right now?
We receive a lot
of franchise offers and advise from our close ones to modify this place a bit
according to modern standards. But we believe in our service and the unique taste
we offer. Expansion plans can be considered only when I find somebody equally
competitive to maintain the brand we have created over the years.
If mouth
publicity has made us successful, it can ruin our business too if proper
services are not given to the customers.
What is the message you want to give to
budding entrepreneurs?
Never fear of
hard work. Take prior experience before getting into any line of business. Do
proper planning before starting anything because it is the core of starting a
business. Be humble and polite to your customers and never fear from failure.
There is one apt line fit for an entrepreneur:
“
Karo wahi jo dil kare………….”
