Think big weddings, lavish buffets, high-end dos with an exotic menu, and they have done it all, in India and abroad. Foodlink, one of the largest luxury catering enterprises, recently announced its foray into Hyderabad.
Foodlink, a two-decade-old F&B enterprise established in Mumbai, gradually expanded its footprint to Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Delhi, and now Hyderabad, the last marking its plans to expand to South India. Hyderabad is the first city where it is setting up a full-fledged back-end infrastructure and production facility and will also run its Bengaluru and Chennai operations from here .
Sanjay Vazirani, CEO Foodlink says, “With the announcement of our South India entry, we have already signed seven weddings in Chennai and two in Bengaluru.” In Hyderabad they have signed five weddings for this year.
Over the last two decades, Foodlink has grown from a small, regional catering operation to a global brand. Sanjay recalls the birth of Foodlink as a catering service. “Requests from friends and colleagues to extend my catering business led me to think big. As trained chefs, my friends and I were running a small catering service. Upon experiencing our service, hoteliers and people from the food industry wanted us to extend our service to them as well. We thought why not and decided to go big. After my Bachelor’s degrees from the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai, and stints as a restaurant manager and F&B consultant, I envisioned a company that would define luxury dining globally. This would be possible only by combining the best cuisine from across the world with the highest standards of service.”
The company has a presence in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Through their International offices in Dubai, Milan and Antalya, they cater to the Middle East, European and Mediterranean regions. This also makes them a company that can cater to almost any cuisine on request. “Our entire food philosophy is based on global awareness and offering the best in food. That is why we work with Karigars and not just chefs and cooks,” added Sanjay
The first big break was a dinner that he catered for at Radio Club in Mumbai. This literally made people look up his contacts for events.
Sanjay avers that he did not grow up witnessing the grandeur of hotels in big cities. His father was a forest officer who had a transferable job that took him to mostly remote areas. He recollects, “My first experience of city life was Vadodara (then Baroda). After college, when I enrolled in the Institute of Hotel Management, Ahmedabad, I was awed by the big city stories I heard from my classmates. I decided Mumbai was the city to be in and sought a transfer to Mumbai in my second year.
There, I waited tables at Oberoi to earn some money. After finishing my Diploma in Hotel Management & Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition, I received an offer from the Oberoi Hotel to be their management trainee.” “Instead of accepting Oberoi’s offer, I opted to work at the Holiday Inn Hotel. The idea was to learn rather than be lost in the weeds in a large establishment,” adds Sanjay. That decision was his first step to building his own career
South matters
Why South India when Mumbai and Delhi are considered to be the hub for glamour and extravaganza? “Hyderabad is known for biryani, badminton, and Bahubali and I have always been a big admirer of its rich cultural heritage and cuisine. We chose Hyderabad because it is the hub of trade and commerce leading to a lot of inbound and outbound MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) and grand weddings. We want to transform the luxury catering landscape of the south Indian territories.”
In Hyderabad, they have catered for events for the GVK family, Apollo Hospital family, NTV family and Reddy Labs. As a businessman, Sanjay specifies that his service is not just about the decor, food, and arrangements. “We are here to make people experience something new. We don’t just offer world cuisine, we are also importing new technology in food. Chocolate fountains for tables, individual tabletop grills, and a lot more.
The company will be setting up a sprawling 15,000 square foot facility of international standards in Hyderabad at The Address in Narsingi, including a 6,000 square foot warehouse and 9,000 square feet of state-of-the-art kitchen facility. It will have bulk food processing facilities, cold kitchens, a bakery, cuisine-specific food production areas, walk-in cold rooms, a vegetable processing centre, a staff training facility, well-equipped conference rooms, and offices. “Our team has a strong man power of more than 3,000 people in Hyderabad alone.”
Foodlink also has restaurants and cloud kitchens namely Art of Dum, India Bistro, China Bistro, and Glocal Junction. China Bistro is a testament to Sanjay’s long-standing love of Chinese food. “My first solo stint at gaining professional chef experience was at Sampan in Mumbai. Chef Pempa is a maestro of Chinese cuisine. This is where I saw Bollywood biggies like Amitabh Bachchan, Rakesh Roshan as frequent guests,” he remembers fondly.
