Idli, Orchid and I: Vithal Kamat

For some reasons, we don’t have a Restaurant chain like McDonald’s or Pizza Hut started by an Indian. But, if there is one name that can get closest to the popularity of McDonald’s or can be called as Indian McDonald’s (though a hyperbole!), it’s the Kamat’s chain of restaurants. Today’s Gyan is based upon the captivating Marathi autobiography “Idali, Orchid aani me” (“Idali, Orchid and I”) by Vithal Kamat who owns the chain of restaurants and the famous 5 Star “Ecotel” - environment friendly hotel “Orchid” in Mumbai.
Born in a Gaud Sarswat family of Kamats, Vithal Kamat grew up along with 5 siblings under the strict discipline of his father Venkatesh Kamat. Venkatesh Kamat owned a couple of hotels “Satkaar and “Sanmaan” in Churchgate, Mumbai. Vithal used to help his father in handling Hotel business, learning first hand how to run the catering business. For some reasons, they had to sell of the Hotel “Sanmaan”.

Venkatesh Kamat had created a lot of goodwill amongst his customers through prompt service and quality of food items. He instilled the same qualities in Vithal, too.

One day, A tailor having his shop adjacent to their hotel, stitched a Safari suit for little Vithal as a goodwill gesture. Vithal gladly accepted this generous gift worth about Rs.200/-. But his father didn’t quite appreciate this, he barked at Vithal,” If you yourself are not worth Rs.200/-, you don’t deserve to wear a suit like that” Hurt, Vithal decided to prove himself. He started selling Glycerin and also appeared in an interview at a company. When the interviewer told him that he’s selected and will get a salary of Rs.50, 000/- per annum, Vithal politely refused the offer saying he just wanted to test how much worth he really is. Gaining confidence in himself, he asked his father to sponsor his one way ticket to UK. He promised his father that he would manage on his own and would prove himself.

Within 3 days after landing in London, Vithal managed to get a job as a cook in an Indian restaurant named “Shaan” run by one Mr. Tanna. Although, Vithal himself wasn’t great at culinary skills, he had the business mind to figure out what would appeal most to the customers. He introduced Idli with the name “Indian Rice Pudding” The renaming and improvement in quality quickly made “Indian Rice Pudding” – the Idli very popular among the English customers. One day, a Punjabi came asking for 2000 “Bundi Laddus” for a marriage. The hotel owner refused to prepare them. Vithal quickly grabbed the opportunity. The Punjabi offered to pay £200 for the order. Now, Vithal didn’t have the necessary expertise for making the Laddu but took this as a challenge. He persuaded the owner to let him use the kitchen overnight. He got a couple of Englishmen to shape the Laddus once he prepares them. But as soon as, the English assistant caught hold of the hot Bundi to roll it, his hands started burning. Vithal quickly remembered that his mother used to apply spirit to her hands so that they shouldn’t burn. He sprinted to a nearby bar and brought “Bacardi Gold”. The assistant applied it and managed to give the required shape to laddus. Finally, they could deliver the laddus the next morning. After a couple of days, the Punjabi came running to Vithal. Vithal thought that the Punjabi came to know about the Bacardi thing and is going to beat him to death. But as it happened, he congratulated and thanked Vithal for the Laddus. He said that his mother was so impressed with the taste and the added “Kesar” that it reminded her of the laddus back home in India! Well, the credit goes to Vithal as much as to Bacardi J

Vithal didn’t settle in London. He moved on to Italy and other European countries to learn their delicacies and managing business. Soon after he came back to Mumbai, he was given an offer to open a restaurant in Japan. “Namaskar! Indian Restaurant” was launched in Japan and became an immensely popular. Vithal made sure that the food items are customized to suit the Japanese eating habits. To cook Naan, they were using a Bhatti – a hearth. The Japanese authorities objected to that asking for certificate. Vithal, then, asked a Japanese coworker to operate Bhatti, and published photos of him operating it along with the hotel’s advertisement. This publicity stunt not only gave good publicity to the hotel but also got rid of the license problem as it portrayed bhatti safe to handle.

Again, after coming back to India, he opened a restaurant on the Mumbai – Ahmadabad highway near Wapi. “Kamatani Wadi” became extremely popular amongst the travelers and rose to become a famous rendezvous point for dealings etc. The billboard would advertise, “ramat gamat ane Kamat”!

Vithal, by now, was well established in the hotel business owning about 50 hotels in and outside Mumbai, sharing the ownership with his brothers. He could have easily managed the existing restaurants. But that was not quite like him. And another opportunity was knocking his doors.

A hotel near Sahar airport named “Airport Plaza” was up for sale. Vithal wanted to buy it but his father out rightly refused the proposal. Finally, after much persuasion, he bought the Airport Plaza and renovated it to “Kamat Plaza” Vithal believed that rather than advertising better customer service results in more goodwill. Usually, passengers used to wait for an hour or so in the transit period. Kamat kept a couple of shuttles ready at the airport to carry the passengers to and fro from the airport. Quality food, clean rest rooms, toys and other games for kids, in short, all the amenities guaranteeing a total family satisfaction quickly made Kamat Plaza a favourite hopping point.

But Vithal was aiming even higher. He decided to totally rebuild Kamat plaza into a five star hotel. Many of his well-wishers tried persuading him against scrapping Kamat Plaza. But Kamat was determined. He also managed to get loans from various banks. Of course, everybody was willing to give him as much money he wanted, thanks to his brand name

And then came the major setback. His brother made his father write off all the hotels to him and Vithal was left with nothing! Moreover, he already had a loan of staggering 100 Crores for building his 5 Star hotel. The banks and friends who were ready to pay him any amount of money turned their backs.
The story of his sacrifice, dedication and determination is really touching.

Fighting against all odds, Vithal again rose back to his feet and opened “The Orchid” – the first environment friendly hotel in India in 1997. Every thing used in Orchid, right from the Cement and bricks used to the Garbage Management, is eco friendly. Orchid went on to receive lot of accolades including Green Globe award (in 1998 and 2000), Green Hotelier Award and Industrial Pioneer in 1999. It also went on to achieve the prestigious “Best Ecotel in the world” award in Durban.

The key to success of Kamat lies in maintaining quality, cooking innovative food items and putting the Customer Service first. Even today, Vithal Kamat tastes the food left by the customer to see why he didn’t eat it completely and if something was missing in it!

The man famous for selling Idli Sambar finally became a world acclaimed 5 Star Hotel Owner, representing a country whose motto for centuries had always been “Atithi Devo Bhav ”.

Regards,
Abhishek