ETW Staff – Mumbai
The second day of the ongoing 24th edition of Food Hospitality World (FHW) 2015 exhibition, held at MMRDA grounds at Bandra Kurla Complex from January 22-24, witnessed yet another power packed series of discussions. The first discussion for today on the ‘Hospitality Knowledge Exchange: Serving up in style’ focused on the importance of striking a balance between food presentation and aesthetics along with maintaining hygiene and food safety standards. Apart from this, the session also covered topics on the emerging trends in the cutlery, crockery and tableware scene. The panelist for the session included: KS Narayanan, CEO, Pan India Foods; Celebrity chef Vicky Ratnani, Manoj Patkar, HOD (food production), Apeejay Institute of Hospitality; Chef Gregory D’Sa, sous chef, Pizza by the Bay; Chef Aungshuman, executive chef, The Lalit Mumbai; Vipul Dalal, managing director, Polymech International and Geeta Wadhwa, proprietor, Aura Essentials. Another highlight in the F&B session was powered by Pause Wines wherein the company organised a wine tasting session for F&B managers of hotels and restaurants.
A presentation on the topic ‘Bio Food ‘Made in Italy’ was done by Lorenzo Boni, Organic Promoter. Besides this, V Rajagopal, chief executive officer, The Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-BIP) also made a brief presentation on the Kerala B2B Meet 2015 which would be held from February 26-28, 2015 at Galfar Convention Centre, Le Meridien Kochi for SMEs from seven sectors. During the presentation he said, “We have been strict in selecting the buyers who would be coming for the meet. Till now we have registered more than 210 buyers among which 28 are international.”
The Power of Purchase organised by the Hospitality Purchasing Managers Forum, saw well-known purchase managers from the hospitality industry elaborate on the role of procurement, its growth, present and future trends. The panel members were Anthony Barretto, purchase manager, Palladium Hotel; Harvey Rodrigues, director purchase, Meluha The Fern; Mukund Vichare, director procurement, JSM Corporation; Mahendra Shinde, purchase manager, The Resort Madh-Marve and Kaustubh Jhadav from KA Hospitality. The session focused on the way forward for 2015.
The Hospitality Think Tank: The GM’s Conclave, held yesterday on the topic of ‘Effective People Management’ saw general managers from leading hotel groups discuss the challenges of skill development and training the next generation of managers. They also stressed upon the significance of continuous training across hierarchy in the management level. The panelist for the same included: Ashish Kumar Rai, GM, The Leela Mumbai; Biswajit Chakraborty, GM, Sofitel Mumbai BKC; Gayle Henriques, GM, Waterstones Hotel; Sumit Kant, GM, Four Points by Sheraton Vashi; Manish Kakkar, GM, Keys Hotel Nestor; Ravi Rawat, GM, The Park Navi Mumbai; Suraj Kumar Jha, GM, Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport.
On the sidelines of the three-day event, FHW 2015 is also hosting the ninth edition of the Great Indian Culinary Challenge (GICC). The Culinary Forum of Goa has extended support to the GICC. This year the GICC has received participation from around 200 chefs working with various leading hotels and hotel management institutes. GICC is supported by the Western India Culinary Association (WICA). GICC is a food preparation competition involving senior and apprentice chefs across India. The competition provides a professional platform for culinary professionals from India to showcase their individual and collective skills, learn, share experiences, partner and network in a competitive environment.
The last day of the FHW 2015 exhibition will witness a panel discussion by AHAR. The other show highlight will be the Cornitos Food Bloggers Challenge powered by the Food Bloggers Association of India. The contest will be judged by celebrated chefs, where contestants will be challenged to showcase innovative preparations, toppings and decorations with Cornitos (nachos and decorations provided at the venue).
The three-day exhibition which began yesterday was inaugurated by Bharat Malkani, president, Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India (HRAWI) along with other dignitaries – A K Singh, principal/secretary, Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai; Bhuvan G M, professor and principal, Apeejay Institute of Hospitality; Ravi Rawat, director- operations, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels; Chef Vernon Coelho, head of department- food production, Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai; Arvind Shetty, past president, Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR); Dr Sudhanshu, deputy general manager, Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA); Mohan Deshpande, chairman, Hospitality Purchasing Managers Forum; Thomas Zachariah, vice president, The Indian Express; and Mehul Shah, managing director, Hannover Milano Fairs India.
Speaking at the inauguration, Malkani, stated, “This year’s FHW exhibition is larger and well organised than the previous year. We have high expectations from the new government for the hospitality sector. HRAWI have made representations at the local, state and the central government. Last year wasn’t beneficial for the hospitality industry. This year HRAWI will be focusing on three key areas – education, dealing with the issue of multiple licencing and policy reform on taxes.” Reiterating the same, Rawat, stated, “The new government should address the issue of multiple licensing, also there needs to be a single-window platform for securing permissions. However, the future of the hospitality industry looks bright and there seems to be a lot of scope for development and growth.”
Adding to the same, Singh opined, “FHW is the right platform for buyers and suppliers to meet and interact and learn from each other about the latest developments in the hospitality industry. I think ARR’s in the hospitality industry needs to increase since it has been constant since the past few years, once it goes up hotels will be able to adapt more technology. Under the Hunar-Se-Rozgar-Tak scheme, the ministry of tourism, Government of India, is planning to train 90,000 students in 2014-15 at IHMs and state tourism corporations for entry level jobs in the hospitality industry.”
The FHW trade show, organised by Global Fairs & Media – a joint venture between Hannover Milano Fairs India and The Indian Express, will witness exhibitors coming from different segments of the food and hospitality industry like F&B, interiors, kitchen equipment, housekeeping, bakery to name a few. Spread across 10,000 sq mtrs of the MMRDA grounds, the trade show is expected to host approximately 200 national and international participants this time. The trade show aims at providing solutions to various industry-related problems faced by hoteliers, restaurateurs, facility managers, prospective students and distributors.