The big restaurant shakeup

As young chefs prove themselves with creative concepts and inventive food, luxury hotel restaurants are being left behind. Is dependability enough to survive or do they need to innovate?

- Smitha Menon

When chef Prateek Sadhu graduated from culinary school in 2006, a job at a big hotel was his primary goal.

After working at The Leela Palaces and Resorts and Indian Hotels Company Ltd (Taj Group) for about eight years and earning a degree at the Culinary Institute of America, New York, Sadhu decided it was time to go small. He ran the kitchen at Mumbai's standalone fine-dining restaurant Masque from 2016-22. The next year, he took a big step to go even smaller. He launched the 16-seater, reservation-only Naar in Darwa, Himachal Pradesh.

Sadhu's career graph mirrors that of many other young chefs in India—starting in a large kitchen and learning the ropes of the food and beverage (F&B) business, moving to work as a chef for a restaurant with a concept, and finally opening a speciality, gourmet restaurant to make a name for themselves. "Back then, if you had a job in a hotel, you had arrived," says Sadhu, 38. "It was the epitome of success. Over time, though, room revenue and banquet billings have taken precedence over dining concepts. The restaurant industry has evolved, but the hotel playbook hasn't changed since the late 1990s or early 2000s. F&B has taken a backseat," he says, explaining why a number of young chefs prefer to go it alone.