Chapter 8 - Hotel Sunshine

I asked the 'autorikshaw' driver to drop me just outside the 'Hotel Sunshine' gate; the tall smart guards would not have let it slip in as a policy. I walked through the porch towards the entrance, the doorman gave me a strange look - I was dressed in a worn-out shirt and a distressed jeans. I politely said hi to him as I walked past him and he returned my greetings with a smile - slightly embarrassed. I went straight to Neena; she was busy behind the counter. She flashed her best smile and directed me to Mr Raj - the GM.

Mr Raj was a middle aged balding fellow whose love for fancy cars was evident from the fleet of imported cars daintily parked in the parking lot of the hotel. Mr Raj appeared arrogant and spoke haughtily but softly. He was ambitious and beautifully laid out his dream of taking 'Hotel Sunshine' to great heights. He asked me a few customary questions and quizzed me on my understanding of the Italian cuisine. He appeared a hard task master to me. He already had a menu and a plan to launch the event. I made some suggestion in the menu which were shot down by Mr Raj citing the reason that we need to give them what they want rather then what we want.

The head chef of the hotel was comparatively gracious and polite in his manners. He showed me around, I was impressed by the layout of the kitchen and his staff members appeared to respond well to him. He discussed the details on procuring material and indented for the stuff required. Most of the items on the menu were plucked from the menu of the coffee house and the staff was skilled in preparing them at a bark. I make suggestions to improve the overall appearances, taste and texture of some of the dishes after carefully studying the recipes and the chef readily agreed to it.

All this while I hid my identity and passed myself as a touring chef who is working on a book on the different tastes of India and Dehradun apparently fell on my itinerary. Mr Raj agreed to pay me Rs/-10,000 or 10% of the total sales (whichever would be higher) for the job - weekend lunch and dinner Italian buffet. On my way out I whispered 'ten thousand' into Neena's ear and in return she puckered her lips and blew a kiss in my direction.

The first session (lunch) of the Italian food festival was a tough one. 21 dishes were redone, 7 orders were late and 2 customers complained about the food. Dinner was quieter with poor footfall. The cashier counted Rs/-22856 in the till at day end. The team did a fantastic job but the event seemed to lack the buzz. I rang Mr Raj and told him about the situation and asked him to give me a free hand in running the show. He finally gave in when I assured that if my attempts fail to take the sales over 1 lac I would not ask for compensation.

I called a meeting before we left for home to debrief the team. I had a completely new menu for them which was designed to appeal to all the age groups. Earlier, I had asked Neena to print fliers, I handed out 20 each to everyone present and asked them to hand them out to anybody who they feel could be a potential guest to the food festival. I asked chef to pull some strings and plant a story on the food festival in the morning paper through his freeloader journalist friends.

The next day antipasti, minestrone, risotto, ravioli, lasagna, tiramisu flowed from the kitchen into the lunch/dining area. We made a gross sale of 1.57 lac - the highest ever in the history of 'Hotel Sunshine'. Neena and Joe were also among the guests.

The two days experience at 'Hotel Sunshine' took me back to 'The Nights Tail', I felt a bit nostalgic; I overcame my emotions and was looking forward to the Challenge 3 of 'The Big Race'.

[SHARK IN THE POND]