Of all the adages in this world, I believe most firmly in this one: some things are larger than the sum of its parts. Sometimes, when two individuals come together with a set of skills, what they create can become much greater than anything they may have created on their own. And it’s what I love about collaborations — a somewhat-new but fast-growing phenomenon within the F&B industry.
It also serves a greater good because it reverses the decades-long and customary guardianship around recipes in lieu of a system of exchange and sharing. Incidentally, in my case, it also takes the knife to another — and probably much more important — trope, that women cannot work together. Because they certainly can.
Today, collaborations between women from the industry are on the rise, because female-owned businesses are, in general, a lot more common today. This month alone, I am joining forces with three women who own fabulous food businesses for a one-of-a-kind culinary crawl that’s happening in Mumbai. Whereas here in Kolkata, my restaurant is joining hands with a chef from a well-known Thai restaurant in the Bay. More on this in just a bit, because before that I want to shed light on the logical, human and entrepreneurial benefits of chefs, brands, restaurants and particularly, female-owned ventures joining hands together.
First, it’s kind of a IRL version of the whole “queens who fix each others’ crown” idiom, which, albeit cheesy, plays an important role in undoing the damage caused by a scandal-hungry world that values a catfight more than a friendly, loving cat (and if you follow pop culture, you know that’s hard to come by!). And secondly, it makes a lot of business sense.
In this social-media-first world especially, the moment you liaison with another business you tap into their pool of followers, customers and patrons and likewise, they can benefit from yours. This automatically means more business and visibility. And it is aside from the fact that collaborations bring out the opportunity to do something different and out of the box, because it isn’t necessary that you’ve got all the good ideas alone. So working with another chef/brand naturally would mean being able to see your own product in a new light through their lens and vice versa — you could, for example, be able to see in three editions of a brand’s chocolate, an entire layered loaf. Often, collaborations also go a long way in teaching your staff about operations.
Earlier this month, when Tripti Bhatia — who owns my PR firm from Mumbai, Detales Communication — pointed out that my diner, Cafe Duco, was on a street in Bandra West that also hosted three other women-owned F&B brands and that we should all do something together, I was immediately interested. That’s how Bloc Party emerged, where us, Arshia Siddique’s Kunafa World and Karishma Dalal’s Bombay
Salad Co came together for a food-crawl of sorts — which is novel in itself, because you see pub crawls but not so much restaurant crawls — to offer food from all our establishments at a subsidised rate through a ticket that can be used all day on Women’s Day. To add to this, we also got on board Pooja Dhingra, who owns Le15, which is providing ticket buyers with a free cookie. We decided to channel this boss-lady power further into actually doing some good. So our collective proceeds will be donated towards Vipla Foundation, which works towards preventing women from being trafficked and encourages skill development among them.
While this was a collaboration I could ethically get behind, what was also a drawing factor was the businesses and women itself. I have a great amount of respect for Karishma, because she did salads before they became cool, and has accomplished something exceptional in reconstructing salads into meals. As for Arshia, I have worked with her before and she’s, simply put, a joy! And her product, absolutely delectable. As for Pooja, she has really paved the way for a lot of us in the industry and in showing us how to use different tools, such as social media, to grow our businesses.
All in all, Bloc Party — more than a mere collaboration between women — is testament to what can be achieved when we work together. I mean, think about it — four women and their teams (actually five, counting Tripti) are working together to raise money in exchange for a unique and satisfying culinary experience, and then, using it to help other women, who probably need it more. And personally, I think that’s fabulous.
Back here in Kolkata, I worked together with chef Seefah Ketchaiyo, who owns the eponymous restaurant in Bandra along with her husband Karan Bane, to put together a collaborative menu for our patrons at The Daily Cafe. The prime motivator here was, of course, the fact that her food is exceptional and I wanted Kolkatans to have a taste of it. But apart from that too, it allowed me a peek inside a mind I respect deeply, for Seefah is a Thai woman-restaurateur, who has managed to not only survive but thrive in Mumbai’s highly competitive food space.
The more I think about it, the more I realise that every time I have worked with women, which is many times, the experience has only been good. I wonder then, what those who claim women can’t work together, eat before talking this way. Because I am dead sure it isn’t food from any of our restaurants!
The writer is a chef and owner of The Daily in Kolkata and Cafe Duco in Mumbai
