“People look for quirky things and innovative concepts in summers”

Amit Johari, Co-Founder, House Of Commons, which is located at Connaught Place, Central Delhi, talks to FoodService India about how summer trends differ from the other seasons in terms of the choice of beverages & appetisers, and on the profitability prospects for restaurants during the season.

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With summer approaching, how do restaurants like House of Commons tweak and innovate their foodservice operations to be in step with the season’s special demands and requirements?

In summers, people tend to prefer foods that are light and have less spices. The demand for chilled beers along with summer mocktails and cocktails also goes higher. We have a wide variety of beers in place to cater to summers. We also offer unlimited beer deals like ‘Beer Bladder Burst’ every Wednesdays, to quench the thirst and demand of the guests. We have added special mocktails with the quench of lemon and mint and special cocktails like smoked apple mojaito (with smoked rum, apple, mint, lime and cinnamon), “silly brown cow” (with rum, chocolate, Ice cream and coke) and twisted gin tonic (with gin, mint, passion fruit and tonic) to our menu, to keep up with the summers.

Which particular foods and dishes your restaurant focuses on in the summer months?

Apart from drinks, we focus on pita and hummus, palak patta chat, maska pav, Greek salad (summer salad made with tomatoes, cucumber, onion and pepper, seasoned with oregano and topped with feta cheese), dahi ke kabab, pastas and pizzas, which are mostly liked by people in the summer season! Our Signature, British Raj Mac & Cheese are also very popular during summers. My personal favorite is mezze platter and classic fish & chips.

What are the subtleties and nuances in food preparation for the summer months as compared to the other seasons?