Step into the shoes of a foody customer and just give a thought. What makes you happy and satisfied as a customer when you visit a restaurant. Taste of food, cheerful and pleasant ambiance, and quality service, isn’t it? If by and large, this is true, Vishnuji Ki Rasoi stands tall on these grounds. And Vishnuji Ki Rasoi in Dallas(Allen) has earned its reputation on all these fronts within a year of its birth. Indeed, an incredible journey and feat, especially during testing Covid times.
Hemant Kulkarni, who is now shouldering the responsibility of this incredible brand, has a lot of stories to share about his journey in this one year. Originally an IT guy, Hemant was always interested in doing some business apart from his regular IT job. An active member of Maharashtra Mandal since 2017-18 he was searching for the right opportunity. Meanwhile, he happened to visit the already running outlet of Vishnuji Ki Rasoi and got an immensely bad experience in terms of service. He communicated his resentment with the restaurant and even to Vishnu Manohar in Nagpur, India, the founder of a well-known chain and a celebrity chef. Those discussions triggered the idea and Manohar offered him to run the restaurant in Dallas. This started the journey of finding a suitable place, learning from mistakes, trying newer things, taking guidance from Vishnuji, and all sorts of things. And the target was a single point to make the VKR, Dallas a successful venture. And then began actual operation, the restaurant was opened on Feb 7, 2021.
“When I started working on this, I was new to everything. I even did not name of equipment used for preparing food. Due to the good advertisement, the brand name, and discount offer, there was a large turnout on an inaugural day and all planning turned into chaos on the very first day. Thus started our journey of the new restaurant business. After one year down the line, when I look back, I think we have achieved a lot in this short span of time,’’ says Kulkarni.
Learning from Challenges –
Meanwhile, Vishnu Manohar himself visited the US and stayed with Kulkarni for almost four months. His guidance about connecting with people, handling operations, overcoming mistakes, developing networks, thinking process was a learning experience for Hemant. That changed him a lot like a restaurant professional. That also reduced his stress while handling the workload and he started managing his IT job as well as Rasoi in an efficient manner.
“ After handling the responsibility, one thing I have learned is that we all have immense potential, but we never explore it and choose to stay in our comfort zone. Running a restaurant is not an easy job. You need to give good service, manage resources including staff and handle customers. We are still at an early stage in this business and learning new things every day. Why we are growing since one year is good food quality, good service despite fewer resources and guidance from Vishnuji,” shared Hemant. He also gave credit to his wife Priyanka who is handling family responsibilities as well as contributing to the hotel.
Moving towards the next milestone –
Now, VKR Dallas has started a bakery and cake shop. It is also planning to add a feather in the cap by starting a new non-veg restaurant with the name Saoji which would have non-veg food varieties across Maharashtra. They are also trying to introduce Maharashtrian cuisine in the curriculum of local hotel management institutions which would also help them to get trained professionals for their business. Engaged in a social cause like distributing food in temples, VKR is also trying to provide employment opportunities through their venture. They are also doing tie-ups with other Desi restaurants.
“One thing is clear for us that we want to promote Maharashtrian food which has a huge variety. We have now started providing breakfast on weekends which is essentially Maharashtrian. We are very much sincere to this motto and sure that people like Maharashtrian food,’’ ends Hemant
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