We serve, but we are not servants, hotel staff needs to be treated well: Sanjeev Kumar, Partner, Dakshin-5
Hyderabad, March 2022….Dakshin-5, a newly opened Hyderabadi boutique restaurant located in IT corridor as well as Financial corridor at Khajaguda in Hyderabad came up with a novel idea, “COURTESY disCOUNTS” on the occasion of its launch.
Dakshin- 5 is the one stop restaurant for the famous dishes of all the five South Indian states 01. Andhra Pradesh, 02. Karnataka, 03. Kerala, 04. Tamil Nadu and 05. Telangana.
According to Mr A.K. Solanky and Mr Sanjeev Kumar Blake, Managing Partners of Hotel Dakshin-5, the patrons to the 56 seater restaurant can avail discount on the food bill ordered by showing common courtesy.
Say please, thank you, have a nice day, ……….show common courtesies and get discounts. More the courtesies, the more the discounts, they added.
The restaurant has put up a board very prominently announcing this initiative(discount on Thali), probably a first of its kind in the restaurant industry. This will not only encourage customers to be more polite, but it is putting a smile on their faces too, adds Solanki.
The restaurant business is routine and repetitive. The staff is busy people, performing myriad tasks due to which sometimes they may not serve customers to their satisfaction. It may annoy guests. This is an initiative that I have seen in the west. It breaks unpleasantness and will help forge food relationships and cultivate a win-win culture, Sanjeev Kumar shared.
We are in the service industry. We are taught from the very first day in the industry onwards to treat guests as equivalent to god. Similarly, though we serve, we are not servants. We needed to be treated well. Many times restaurant staff is badly treated for no fault of theirs. The common courtesy has become very uncommon, and we are trying to bring back that culture, he said.
Do remember to use common courtesy words like please, thank you, good morning, good afternoon, how do you do, have a nice day ………when you visit Dakshin-5 in Hyderabad restaurant next time.
The management has also inaugurated another restaurant called The Wok Nation, a Pan Asian Restaurant which brings special dishes from different cultures of the Asia continent at one place.
To mark the launch they also felicitated Food Delivery Workers. A rare gesture indeed!!. One of the boys, Adarsh had tears in his eyes for the rare honour meted out to him and his friends. These delivery boys were few of the top 50 in Khjazaguda/Manikonda area, where the Dakshin-5 located, chosen for the honour. The city has well over 30,000 delivery boys, who have done a great service during the lockdown. That is why we chose to invite some of them and felicitate informed Sanjay.
The restaurant has also hit up with yet another unique idea “Elder The Better” to encourage more people to come out and dine. This is a special offer for next one month for the revered senior citizens of the city. Any diners accompanied by an elderly person will get a flat discount on the total food bill, equivalent to the age of the most elderly person of the group.
Unlike other restaurants in the industry, the hotel management also chose to serve rice that is diabetic and fitness freak-friendly. It is sourced from responsible organization. It has a low Glycemic Index(GI). GI is a measurement system that ranks foods according to their effect on blood sugar levels. The foods with a Low GI ranking are a preferred choice for weight watchers.
Do all these mean high tariff? No, it is very affordable. The costliest dish is just Rs 300/- says Solanki.
These two restaurant are new age restaurants, reflecting customer preferences, incorporating pandemic imposed changes. They are small and offer value for money. They also embraced technology. You just have to scan the QR code on the table, place an order and pay online. There is not much human intervention seen in the process..
