March 31: Mumbai-based Speciality Restaurants, which is known for its flagship brand Mainland China, will start a catering and hospitality institute in the city.

The chairman and managing director of Speciality Restaurants, Anjan Chatterjee, who was in the city today, said Guwahati would be the second destination after Calcutta where Mainland Institute of Oriental Hospitality would be set up.

Chatterjee said the project, which would require an investment of nearly Rs 30 crore, would fulfil the city’s long-felt need for a world class hospitality training institute as more and more young people are opting for careers in the hospitality industry. “The proposed institute will be not be like any other typical hotel management institute. It will be dedicated to Oriental hospitality. It will offer one-year diploma courses and two-year degree courses to wannabe chefs on Oriental, Continental and Indian cuisines,” he said.

Apart from Mainland China, the Speciality Restaurants, established in 1994, also own well-known brands in dining, including Oh! Calcutta, Sigree, Haka, Just Biryani, Mostly Kababs and Sweet Bengal. It runs 26 food and beverage outlets along with a chain of total 43 restaurants spread across major cities in the country.

Chatterjee said the proposed institute would be set up in the city as a joint venture with a local partner. It will have a tie-up with hospitality institutes in Beijing and Hong Kong. Every year the institute would produce nearly 1,200 diploma and degree holders, he added.

Three months ago, Chatterjee and his team unveiled Mainland China in the city at Dona Planet on GS Road. The company will open Sigree — a chain that specialises in the food of undivided India — in Guwahati very soon.

“I am happy with the way things are going. After Sigree, we are planning to set up a restaurant of Continental and Italian food and another restaurant, which will offer Bengali cuisine, “ he added.