Sudipta Dev – Mumbai
Bellona Hospitality, a new brand that has been set up as a 100 per cent subsidiary of Phoenix Mills, is launching nine restaurant brands, which is aimed at redefining F&B in malls. The company owns many malls across the country – High Street Phoenix in Parel and Phoenix Market City Kurla (Mumbai); Phoenix Market City in Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai; Phoenix United in Lucknow and Bareilly. “F&B plays an integral part in the whole mall experience. For a restaurant operator, one of the most difficult things to get is real estate, and as we have captive real estate, so we decided to set up our own hospitality division,” said Romil Ratra, group director – Hospitality, Phoenix Mills. He added that the company is looking at creating an integrated F&B dining lifestyle hub that has worked very well in most international markets.
Bellona Hospitality will be opening one outlet of each brand in the next five to six months. By July 2015, there will be nine outlets running. Currently the company is looking at Mumbai and Pune, followed by Bengaluru. The tier II locations will be sometime later. “Over the next 18 months there is a roll out plan for 15-20 restaurants. One of the key things in F&B business is location. Ours malls have been the most successful in all the cities where we are present. We attract a great profile of customers, so we decided, why not go above and beyond the F&B experience as well,” stated Ratra.
The first restaurant, 212 All Day Cafe & Bar, was launched at Phoenix Market City Kurla a few months ago, followed by Sichuan House at the same mall. The next few weeks will see the opening of Amaya and Asia Bar there. “There will be a hub of nine restaurants in the mall. We have a vision for each of these brands. We have been able to come up with a good set of brands and concepts, today dining is all about the experience, not just food,” mentioned Ratra. While 212 offers a chic dining experience, Sichuan House is an upscale Chinese restaurant, and Amaya focuses on cuisine from the North West Frontier Province. The other brands, that are yet to be named, will bring new concepts – a fun Asian bistro that will see an innovative way of presenting Asian food, a fun bar, a top class deli. The night club is also in final stages of completion.
Phoenix Mills also owns the Palladium Hotel in Mumbai, Courtyard by Marriott in Agra and an upcoming hotel project in Chennai.