A catering party of Kaveri restaurant. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Oct. 27: An order at 2 pm to cater a variety of dishes to a guest list of 1,000-plus, among them then steel minister K.C. Pant, by 8 pm, was met successfully by a small-time caterer who had handled a maximum of 250 guests till then in the early nineties.

There’s been no looking back for Kaveri Caterers, whose business has mushroomed in and around Jharkhand. From satisfying 1,000 and odd guests at SAIL’s research centre, Kaveri now comfortably handles up to 10,000 guests at one party or 15,000 at different parties on a single day.

The caterers with a team of over 250 has specialised cooks for Indian, Mughlai, Chinese, Thai and Mexican who dish out delicacies for Rs 125 to Rs 400 a plate. If a client desires a new dish, Kaveri simply hires chefs from outside.

The catering arm, a sister concern of Kaveri Restaurant, Kathi Kebab restaurant and Capitol Hill hotel, was started by Ashwini Kumar Bhatia, the eldest son of Ved Prakash Bhatia, who established the Punjab Sweet House in 1948.

Recalling the early days, Ashwini says: “Earlier, my father used to handle parties in the traditional way by sending cooks to the site. I started the catering business in a slightly organised way, but on a low scale in 1989. My first client was RDCIS (SAIL’s research centre in Ranchi). I used to hire utensils from tent houses and go to the venue with my cooks in a three-wheeler. Besides me and my brothers, there were about 20-25 cooks and workers of Punjab Sweet House who helped me in the business.”

The turning point came in the early nineties when RDCIS hired another caterer for then steel minister Pant’s visit. But as luck would have it, the other caterer failed to provide quality breakfast and lunch and by 2 pm the RDCIS authorities summoned Kaveri and asked if it could provide dinner by 8. Ashwini said yes and rushed to “Papa” for help. The son’s challenge became the family’s challenge and the food with mouth-watering desserts was served on time much to the delight of the organisers and guests. “This was the turning point of Kaveri,” says Ashwini.

The RDCIS success gave new clients and Kaveri’s image started soaring. In less than five years, it became the most sought-after caterer in the city. “It is team work. I cannot do anything all alone,” says Ashwini, giving all credit for Kaveri’s success to brothers Ashish, Sanjay and Sandeep, and the workers. “From the 20-25 workers of Punjab Sweet House to a devoted team of 250 exclusively for the catering business, we have come a long way. But we have to work hard to maintain the high standards,” he says.

Kaveri’s success story stretches beyond the state’s boundaries. It did the catering at the wedding reception of Lalu Prasad’s eldest daughter Misa in Patna and at the three-day Rotary International conference in Kathmandu. Such is Kaveri’s image that Lalu Prasad had sent plane tickets for Ashwini to come to Patna. Kaveri has also been to Allahabad and Varanasi, besides Jamshedpur, Dhanbad and Bokaro.

For assignments outside the city, Kaveri’s cooks and serving boys travel in buses while trucks follow them carrying raw material.

Once, Ashwini says, he was on the verge of almost committing suicide.

“I was hired by a VIP to cater at his daughter’s marriage in Patna in the mid-nineties. I reached the venue from another client’s place in the afternoon and was shocked to find that my trucks and workers were still not there. By 4 pm, I lost my cool. There was no mobile phone then. I ran from one public call booth to another to call Ranchi. My father kept on telling me that the convoy must have been stuck in a traffic jam, but I was panicking. I did not have money and thought of committing suicide. I could not face
the hosts who had invited over a thousand guests, including dignitaries from Bihar and elsewhere. I did not know what to do when I saw the bus and trucks arrive. We worked on a war footing and coaxed the band and the photographers to ensure that the baraat arrived late. We got an additional half –an-hour and by then the food was ready,” says Ashwini.

A commerce graduate from Ranchi’s St. Xavier’s College, Ashwini’s two sons are outside studying hotel management — one is in Scotland and the other in Noida.
“My sons keep on giving suggestions and I also heed them at times. But I have told them to run the business according to their style only after they take over fully,” he says.
Even as Ashwini works 12-14 hours a day on an average, he is bothered about his weight.

“My weight is increasing every passing day and this is my greatest fear. What do I do? I cannot stop myself from ensuring the food is good and to check that I have to taste a bite. But a bite of butter chicken or kaju curry is also too much for me,” he laughs.