The journey over the last few months has been fairly decent and restrictions on guest seating and staff strength have not adversely affected us to a great extent.

Our team is well equipped to welcome our guests with the same dedication and warmth. Our core food and drinks engineers – the chefs and mixologists and their teams – are working religiously to ensure the experience does not suffer.

Our entire outlet had been coated with Chemtex BioBubble, an anti-viral coating that is effective for 90 days. Guests are welcomed at the entrance with a no-contact, self-initiated thermal scanning tool. From the bar tables to our regular tables, the seating arrangements have been reshuffled keeping physical distancing rules in mind.

The safety of our team is equally important: half of our staff has been provided with accommodation in and around the outlet, to reduce their work-home travel time. For the remaining staff, mandatory pick-up and drop facilities have been initiated to avoid the use of public transport.

Cost & price

It is commendable to see the beverage industry coming together during this crisis like never before. I would like to personally thank Diageo for their unwavering support with sponsorship fees even during these times.

Our procurement costs and product pricing has definitely been affected. To maintain cash flow, we went ahead with a fresh delivery model. We also re-engineered our menus, included our signature dishes and introduced cocktail mixers.

My personal learning from this past year? Hygiene is king! Gaining customer confidence is extremely important for the industry right now. I have learnt that taking out about 1% of your revenue every month, to build up a secret crisis fund, can work wonders for all of us.

Another important lesson the pandemic disruption has taught us is that we can fight our own battles and bail ourselves out in situations like this. Humour has always helped me keep my mind; I would suggest that everyone retain their sense of humour during such troubled times.