(From top) Movers and shakers at Lascelles Symons’ Divas show at Olive; Olive owner A.D. Singh with actress Kim Sharma; A scene from the play Salome staged at Indigo; Indigo owners Rahul and Malini Akerkar

It’s an experience for people who like to exercise ? and have a good appetite. Two Sundays ago, the Salt Water Grill ? one of the few restaurants on the beach in Mumbai ? decided to offer its customers more than just a heaped plate experience. Patrons who felt up to it, started by playing a game of volleyball on the sands before sitting down to a meal. Meanwhile, DJs Pearl and Nikhil Chinappa spun the tracks as part of the Sunsets at Salt Water Grill experience.

The same afternoon, Zenzi, the trendy resto-bar in Bandra, tossed up a menu of short films called India Shorts for those who prefer to spend their Sundays in a more lazy fashion. A part of the restaurant was rearranged to resemble a living room ? India Shorts is an extension of Zenzi’s Sunday barbeque, which is branded Living Room ? as the guests sprawled down to watch films like Luke Kenny’s 13 th Floor and Satyam Bansal’s Fire Fly.

What’s cooking? The answer: A lot more than just food. From art exhibitions to film screenings to backpackers club and even speed-dating and sports, it’s all happening at pubs, caf?s and restaurants across the country.

Take Ghetto, a pub in Mumbai, which hosts screenings of foreign films every Monday. Or Mocha, the chain of hookah-cum-coffee bars at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Noida. On the first Sunday of every month, Mocha hosts a film club in Mumbai. Last Sunday, it screened six short films besides getting Nagesh Kukunoor to talk about his latest movie, Iqbal. That’s not all. On the last Sunday of every month, Mocha hosts a backpacker’s club, where members and guest speakers share experiences and offer tips.

Zenzi’s menu is not limited to cinema. Every Thursday night, it hosts an Art Night, which features live music and a live art event. What’s on offer is an eclectic range of everything from poetry readings to plays to stand-up comedy and even graphiti artists like Frog Popsicle. Besides, the resto-bar’s walls double up as an art gallery. Last month, the works of six photographers like Ashok Salian and Sharvini Patel were on display.

So what is prompting restaurants to go beyond food and drinks? The reason is simple. The restaurant business has a high mortality rate and with new outlets opening up practically every day, existing ones need to keep up the buzz. In other words, it is all about marketing and customer relationship management.

Says Matan Schabracq, general manager and partner, Zenzi, “Just serving food and drinks is fine but you need to do something more to make people come back, especially as Bombayites like to go out and try new restaurants. Also, we don’t want to be known as just another resto-bar but a place where people get inspired.”

Or as restaurateur A. D. Singh, who owns the Olive Bar & Kitchen in Mumbai and Delhi, points out, “Almost all the good restaurants are looking to expand their relationship with their customers. People are realising that it’s more expensive to attract new customers and that it makes more sense to build their relationship with existing customers.”

(From top) Deejays Pearl and Nikhil at Salt Water Grill ; Sameera Reddy at an event at Mocha; Riyaaz Amlani, managing director of Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality, which owns the Mocha chain and the Salt Water Grill; Denzil Smith at a poetry-reading session at Zenzi; Graphiti artist Robert of Frog Popsicle at Zenzi; Matan Schabracq, general manager and partner of Zenzi

For coffeehouses like Mocha, film and travel clubs also fit in with their concept. Says Riyaaz Amlani, managing director, Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality, which owns both Mocha and Salt Water Grill, “Mocha being a coffee place, we intended it to be a community centre where a particular community, be it geographical or of like-minded people, can hang out. Our goal is to build communities.”

So the film and backpackers clubs are part of Mocha’s “bonfire” marketing strategy, helping it to bond with its customers. In Delhi, Mocha has started a salsa dance movement and hosts a class every Sunday. Besides, it hosts plays like the recent one commemorating Hindi writer Premchand’s 125th birth anniversary, as well as photography exhibitions. The Ahmedabad Mocha taps into the talent pool at the National Institute of Design, offering its space to display sculpture and paintings. “We get around 600 customers a day so artists get a lot of visibility. Also, we make art accessible to people who would otherwise not go to an art gallery,” says Amlani.

Among the first to serve up more than food were restaurateurs like Singh and Rahul and Malini Akerkar. Five-stars like the Taj group of hotels and Grand at Calcutta too have often hosted supper theatre in the past.

Singh has tried many recipes to make sure regulars keep coming back. He once hosted an art exhibition with the SPJ Sadhana School for the mentally challenged, and later staged a performance of Rahul Bose’s play, The Ballad of the Sad Caf?, at his caf?, Just Desserts. “We have done things like theatre and art. We have always found it to be a very nice way to offer variety and entertainment to our customers.”

Similarly, years ago, Malini and Rahul Akerkar began using the walls of their first restaurant, Under the Over, to promote artists, something that the current owner, Prem Chandiramani, has continued. Says Malini Akerkar, “I am an art lover and I wanted to create a gallery restaurant.” She even tied up with an art dealer to exhibit works at Under the Over.

At Indigo, however, Akerkar chose not to create a gallery as “I was in the business of restaurants.” But she has continued to host “shows with a cause” like the Art on your Palate do with Jitesh Kallat and Papri Bose as part of the Kala Ghoda Festival or art auctions with Akanksha, an organisation for street children. She has even staged plays like Salome on Indigo’s terrace.

Singh’s Olive Bar & Kitchen too hosts all kinds of art and cultural events. “We have found that about 80 per cent of our customers at Olive are regulars. So we want to be a neighbourhood restaurant, like an adda where people can come to learn about wine or art or see a performance,” he says.

A few weeks ago, for instance, the restaurant hosted actor Parvin Dabas’s (of Monsoon Wedding fame) exhibition of underwater photography. Two years ago, it even put together an art club, which hosted an event every two months for an entire year. This included talks by artists like Anjolie Ela Menon and even affordable art exhibitions.

Singh has continued the tradition when he moved to other locations. One Wednesday a month, the Delhi Olive honours achievers as part of its MedMosaic evenings. So, for instance, it had an evening that revolved around designer Ritu Kumar and her family. Apart from a fashion show, the restaurant screened Kumar’s son Ashwin’s film, The Little Terrorist. And on one Wednesday every month Olive turns into a flea market.

Not all events are meant to support the arts or a cause, however. Some are clearly promotional events that attract the Page 3 types. Like designer Lascelles Symons’s Divas show at Olive or the speed-dating event at Zenzi recently. Zenzi, in fact, has a theme for every night except Saturdays. Mondays is Friend’s Night where regulars turn DJs or tend the bar ? as model Carol Gracias did recently ? while Tuesday is Lipstick Night, a women’s special. Then, there’s Bling Bling Bada Bing or hip-hop night on Wednesdays and Double Decker on Friday, where a guest DJ teams up with the resident one.

Both art and promotional events nevertheless generate excitement for both the restaurant and customers. Even performers and artists get a new platform to exhibit their talent. Says photographer Ashok Salian, whose works were up at Zenzi recently, “It’s a good thing and brings so much more value to eating out.”

But do these events make business sense for the restaurants? Some look for ways to recoup their expenses. Under the Over’s Chandiramani takes a 33 per cent commission on every sale. Olive charges a 15 per cent commission though Singh says that barely 10 per cent of the works get sold.

Mocha charges a Rs 100 cover charge for film screenings, which is redeemable for a milkshake, while the backpackers’ club has a Rs 500 membership fee. But Amlani says Mocha loses money on every event. “The idea is to build a community place however. So in the short term, it hurts, but it pays off in the long run,” he says. Schabracq believes that sales would drop by 50 per cent if Zenzi did not keep up the excitement with its themed nights and events.

Not everyone agrees. Purists like Moshe Shek, who owns the Moshe restaurants at Mumbai and Delhi, are vehemently against such events. He says, “We value our customers and don’t want even one of them to go back because the restaurant is closed for an event.”

Even Akerkar agrees that in the long run, it is the food that counts. “At the end of the day, you are a restaurant,” she says.

That’s not stopping the others though. Mocha tied up with the British Council recently for its Sundowners at Mocha, and will showcase art and cultural events from the UK for a year. Zenzi is looking at starting a salsa class on Sunday afternoons. Even Ghetto, which makes no money on its film screenings ? “We just wanted to build a fraternity since I am a filmmaker myself,” says part-owner Thomas Cherian ? is planning to feature young bands. The cultural pot at restaurants is clearly simmering ? and if it helps put the sales on boil, all the better.

Photographs by Gajanan Dudhalkar