It’s time to make way for the generation next. Armed with innovative ideas they are busy working on makeovers for their family business. And in the past couple of years, Jamshedpur has seen a many glamorous shops and restaurants take shape. Popular old food joints have taken a new avatar as the second and third generation takes charge. One such restaurant is Novelty at the Regal building.

Style check

Started by Meyer Chand Khullar in the 1950s, Novelty started as a modest dhaba, serving mainly south Indian dishes, snacks and sweets. After the sudden death of Khullar, Ravindra Kumar Soni took over from where his uncle had left.

In 1979, Novelty got its first makeover, from a dhaba to a proper restaurant. Then in 1982, it was finetuned to a multi-cuisine restaurant. Now, Novelty is seeing a major facelift, says Prasant Soni, son of Ravindra Kumar Soni, who now looks after his father’s business.

With a masters degree in hotel management from Switzerland, Prasant, a student of DBMS, pursued his BCom from HR College, Mumbai. He plans to take Novelty to new heights with a change in the menu and ambience. He feels the decor will attract hi-end customers and the youth. But the price will remain unchanged. “We have customers coming here five days a week, so the price has to be reasonable. But the quality is as good as any star hotel,” says Soni.

On being asked about their popularity, Soni says: “For us personalised service and hospitality comes first. Everything else follows next. We know all our regular customers and know exactly what they want and how they want their meal cooked.”

Adding zing

Hotel Boulevard at Bistupur is another place that has seen a lot of changes in the past few years. It was started by Ronald D’costa’s grandfather J.P. D’costa in 1940 with only 28 rooms. Now, it boasts of 40 rooms, a bakery and a restaurant. The Brubeck Bakery is a brainchild of Ronald’s son Ryan D’costa.

Earlier, the bakery would supply only to in-house guests and Café Coffee Day, situated on the ground floor of the hotel but now they are selling their bakery products as well. Ryan, the third generation in the business, is still a student and during his breaks works on new ideas for the business. After completing his studies at Loyola, Ryan went to St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and is now doing a one-year programme at the Entrepreneurs Development Institute, Ahmedabad. When in town, Ryan looks after the entire bakery, from production to sales.

Speaking on his son’s interest in the business Ronald says:“He has given a new twist to the bakery by introducing new items like the farmer’s loaf, English butter loaf, garlic butter loaf and chocolate truffle.”

Branching out

Hotel Karnail at Sakchi has come a long way. Started 50 years ago by Karnail Singh as a dhaba, it was then a makeshift building with non-vegetarian dishes on its menu. In 1965 Karnail became a proper restaurant. In 1986 it was turned into a vegetarian restaurant and remained popular.

In 2006, another branch was opened at Dimna Road called the New Karnail Hotel, which caters to a more sophisticated crowd than the one at Sakchi. While the Sakchi branch is more economical, the new hotel is more sophisticated with a sober ambience.

Inderjeet Singh, son of Karnail Singh, says the family crowd prefers the Dimna Road branch, as it is more relaxing and comfortable. They even host small banquets and parties. The restaurant is equipped with all modern facilities for maintaining hygiene and cleanliness.

At Karnail, too, this is the third generation in the business. Sorabjeet Singh and Happy Singh, sons of Inderjeet Singh, are in-charge of the family business. “My grandfather was an employee with TISCO and my father was in the business from the very start.

After a long struggle he set up the dhaba at Sakchi, which became an instant hit,” says Indrajeet.

Inderjeet has a lot of plans for his new restaurant but complains that the power situation in the Dimna area is poor because of which he is unable to install air conditioners at his restaurant.

Brand value

This brand has gained recognition across the eastern region and abroad as well. Sreeleathers was started in 1952 by Suresh Chandra Dey, grandfather of Sushanta Dey, who now looks after the business along with his father and uncle.

While speaking on his grandfather, Sushanta says: “He was a freedom fighter and had nothing to do after 1947. During that time he noticed that there was a certain class of people who preferred to buy shoes from the footpath than go to Bata and other big shops. And thus Sreeleathers was born, especially to cater to this group.”

During those days cobblers were made to sit in the store and shoes were made to order. Gradually, demand changed and more cobblers were hired. Today, over 400 small industry shoe manufacturers work under Sreeleathers.

It opened its second store in 1977 and the first store in Calcutta in 1987, since then there is no looking back and now they have over 30 stores all over eastern India and New Delhi. Durability is still the magic mantra of the business and the quality is the same as it was when it first started. As Sushanta puts it: “It is a simple formula that we follow. We stick to leather because foam cracks and does not last long.”

A few tanneries from where they get their supplies are in Agra, Calcutta and Madras. With the change in demand, Sreeleathers now manufactures accessories like belts and handbags. Sushanta, a student of Loyola, went to Michigan for his graduation and then to Indiana to complete his MBA.

He now has plans to get into a joint venture with Greece and enter the European market. Within India, too, their Delhi store, which is looked after by Sushanta’s brother has seen an expansion from a 4,000sqft to a 24,000sqft store.