Sip and bite are no longer hooks enough to get GenX to a bar, you’ve got to press the button of play. That’s the lesson Anjan Chatterjee learnt from the success of Calcutta’s first Hoppipola in Acropolis. And that’s the button he is pressing at the second Hoppipola, Mani Square, that was launched on Thursday evening. Before that, t2 caught up with the Speciality Restaurants Ltd chief to get a taste of Hoppipola 2.0.

Thank you for giving Calcutta another Hoppipola! First, tell us why you chose Mani Square...

We were in discussions for a long time whether to keep that space or not, because Shack was not doing that well. By and large Hoppipola has been accepted as a brand and we are doing fairly respectably. We wanted to open a second one, so our option was Sector V or Mani Square. When we have a space ready, there’s nice connectivity, it’s got liquor licence, so why not optimise and do it there? So we have done a small one this time, but going forward we will do one in Sector V definitely.

In Mani Square, for brands like Flame and Grill and Machaan we have been very happy, and Haka has also started doing well now. With the kind of revamp that they’re planning, I think Sanjayji (Jhunjhunwala, CEO of Mani Group) is planning to do some good work over a period of time.

What will be new in this Hoppipola?

There will be some evolution, some value-additions, because people every time want some new things. The basic unwinding feeling will not go away, the bar-next-door feel will not go away. But there will be some interesting features. There will be three menus now — Eat, Drink and Play. One of the reasons they come to Hoppipola is to play, so we are focusing more on that by putting it on a menu, like there will be a list of games to induce people to play. We are going to have some new concepts like tap beer. And we are making it tight, because we’ve realised tighter the place the more is the camaraderie.

So are you targeting the Salt Lake crowd primarily?

Yes, and the catchment area of Kankurgachhi, Lake Town. A lot of people from Salt Lake come to Hoppipola in Acropolis, so there will be a 15 per cent cannibalisation.

What’s the one lesson you’ve learnt from Hoppipola Acropolis?

Press the button of play. That’s why Hoppipola is working.

So you are focusing on the youth with the new places you’re opening…

Absolutely. See, I’ll be very honest, we have always been a very serious dining company but family dining is going now. How often does my son, or say if you have a son aged 13, 14 or 15, how often does he go out to eat with his parents? It’s not like our times when whether we were 15 or 17, we were going out with parents. Whether it is New Year’s Eve or Puja, now all kids have their own plans. What’s happening is, the drinking age has gone down, parents have become more progressive. What I say now is, aage chhilo obedient children, ekhon hoye gechhe obedient parents... peer pressure. The whole focus has changed.

So my point is we have to look at this new animal, who is a nocturnal animal and for whom khana toh bahana hai, daaru jo peena hai. We have seen that with Mezzuna. So today the trend is, people are not going into fine-dining… even if they do, they will do it less. Everybody wants to be informal. The intimidation of going to a formal place, reserving tables… fortunately Calcutta still has that formal dining culture a bit more.

The spending age is between 21 to 30. They have the disposable income and this generation doesn’t want to live for tomorrow, they live for the present… the whole philosophy has changed. So you have to track that philosophy and map that with your brands.

While Calcutta is seeing a spurt of standalone restaurants, you are opening only in malls. How do malls work for you?

If the mall does well, we benefit, it is directly related to the mall footfalls. South City Mall is a winner, City Centre Salt Lake is a winner. Also slowly what is happening is people are wanting to go to a destination where they can spend a day, they can shop and they can eat. So destination dining, which means standalone restaurants, will only work for people who are slightly eclectic and niche. But in malls, there is a technical issue, you have to pay a CAM (common area maintenance), so the recurring investment is much, much more in a mall.

How is Acropolis as a mall working for your restaurants?

Very good… I didn’t expect this much... both the brands (Asia Kitchen and Hoppipola) are new in Calcutta and both are doing extremely well.

What about Silver Arcade?

That is going to be a new destination. There’s a spurt of guests from JW Marriott, the foreigners who are staying in Marriott are going to eat at Oh! Calcutta. Also with the new ITC coming up, it is going to open up over a period of time. There will be another Asia Kitchen in a new modern format, with focus on sushi, maybe in Silver Arcade.

Text: Smita Roy Chowdhury & Deborima Ganguly
Pictures: Rashbehari Das

MORE HOPPI TIMES AHEAD, WITH HOPPIPOLA OPENING AT MANI SQUARE. t2 GETS THE FIRST TASTE