EP Magazine

The span of control

 Over the course of the last two decades Masala World has grown into the largest Indian branded restaurant chain in the UK. With three fine dinind venues and seven "Masala Zone" outlets, directors Ranjit Mathrani his wife Namita Panjabi and sister-in-law Camellia Panjabi epitomise true entrepreneurial spirit and how structure and procedures can be as important to the success of a restaurant chain as the food and beversage offerings themselves. ARLENE TOBIN met RANJIT and CAMELLIA to find out what sets them apart.

Masala World comprises the fine dining establishments: Chutney Mary (purchased by Namita in 1990), Veeraswamy (London’s oldest Indian restaurant, which the trio took over and reopened in 1997) and Amaya (opened in 2004), operating alongside the seven Masala Zone restaurants, which opened the doors to its first venue in Soho in 2001. As a group Masala World has in excess of 350 employees, welcomes around 18,000 guests through its collective doors each week and has an annual turnover in the region of £20million.

Where some may baulk at the idea of working with a sibling or partner, this intrepid trio of family members have created a working relationship which accentuates the talents and know-how of each player. Both Camellia and Namita are well regarded the world over as leading authorities on authentic Indian cuisine. On paper it is perhaps Camellia who stands out as the restaurant specialist. Having spent 40 years at Taj Hotels, she opened such landmarks as Bombay Brasserie in London and Ile de Kashmir in Paris. She also wrote what is the world’s best-selling Indian recipe book – 50 Greatest Curries of India. However she and her sister clearly work well together on creating individual restaurant ambience, the menus and the food concepts. Ranjit, on the other hand, is the numbers man, and where the business model for the company sustains its momentum.

With degrees from Cambridge, Manchester, London and Delhi universities, Ranjit began his own advisory and consultancy firm in 1993, having held director positions in such firms as WestLB, Lazard Brothers and Standard Chartered Bank. He freely admits to having fallen into the restaurant business by chance and refers to himself as “a latter day convert to culinary integrity”. He says that although he appreciates good food, he leaves control of that side of the business in the capable hands of his wife and sister-in-law. Ranjit’s expertise belongs in the planning, control and management of the service standards and the products on offer. His strong financial background and experience in large corporations mean that he is adept at looking at a business plan with cool, calculating eyes and a dispassionate demeanour.

That Masala World was essentially his wife’s brainchild doesn’t alone differentiate it from any other potential business venture. As a financier, Ranjit places a high value on the importance of systems, procedures and CRM. With this in mind the company has gone against what many would see as the norm and with centralised restaurant stock control, budget planning and P&L management from the on-site management team. Managers’ time is freed up to allow them to ensure the guest experience is enhanced rather than thinking about the bottom line. That, says Ranjit, is his responsibility.
This model enables the company to strictly monitor each venue’s profitability, stock control, most popular dishes, return clientele and so on. As opposed to running a business based on opinions and one-off events, Ranjit can monitor the company as a whole with all the relevant data.

Proactively sought customer feedback is also essential to this business model. Between 800 and 1,000 customer feedback cards are collected every week and a team at the company’s head office in Marble Arch sift through each and every one looking for ways to improve upon the high standards set by Ranjit, Camellia and Namita. Indeed it was customer feedback in this form that led to the £1.5million renovation of “Chutney Mary” as customers’ comments indicated they were less than impressed with the decor. Everything is analysed, good or bad, and used as a tool to improve. Ranjit observes, “the importance of knowing the customer cannot be underestimated. We start with ‘What does the customer want?’ and ‘What can they be persuaded to take?’ as opposed to ‘This is what we offer – there you go.’”

Though undoubtedly entrepreneurs and justly proud of the company they have created, I get the impression that both Camellia and Ranjit are able to step back from the emotional attachment of the business and look at it as just that, a business.

It was Camellia and Namita who had the initial idea of creating Masala Zone – a completely new concept to the market when it first opened in 2001. The fiscally minded Ranjit set his wife and sister-in-law a challenge: create a concept selling better food at the same price point as the typical British curry house. The sisters worked tirelessly looking at dishes that could be recreated in multiple units on a regular basis, that were truly representative of the mouth watering cuisine they were used to in India and at a price that wouldn’t scare customers off. And so they landed upon what Camellia calls “traditional Indian street food”.

Once the original idea was expanded upon and deemed to be a worthy business plan, it fell to Ranjit to find the right locations and create a set of procedures and controls to manage the business on a day-to-day basis. The strategy for Masala Zone is not entirely different from that of the three fine-dining restaurants. Stock control, financial reporting, supplier details, food and beverage costing, customer and employee data are all managed and maintained in one place – head office.

The business model is certainly not standard to the restaurant industry. Some may go so far as to call it micro-managing on a greater scale, however, Ranjit and the team at Masala World see it differently. They are business owners who take an active and in-depth interest in every facet of their company. Between the three of them, they have covered every angle, and the results are there to prove it.