Why do you keep going back to your favourite restaurant?

The way to a loyal diner’s stomach is, in fact, through their heart

There’s a new restaurant opening somewhere in the country every time you refresh your social media feed, and most look worth a try thanks to their flattering photographs. According to a survey by Rakuten Insight conducted in December 2022, a majority of respondents between the ages of 16 to 54 years in India stated that they dined out once a week. While new restaurants are exciting to visit within the first few months of their launch, why is it that we find ourselves going back to old favourites? Is it the food that feels like home? The proximity of the space? Or is it the warm, friendly service? Restaurateurs from around the country, leading old and new iconic joints like Vinayak Family Restaurant in Assagao, Goa and The Bombay Canteen in Mumbai, share their take on what keeps people coming back for more.

It takes more than two to tango

“Every restaurant is meant to be a part of the community or fabric of the neighbourhood or city it is [located] in—you don't exist in isolation,” says Sameer Seth, founder and CEO, Hunger Inc. (the parent company of Mumbai-based establishments such as The Bombay Canteen, Bombay Sweet Shop, O Pedro, and Veronica’s), adding that an overall seamless experience is the secret to a good meal served.  “We’ve grown up in an environment where service is equal to servitude and it doesn’t need to be true anymore. We tell our team members that if you prefer speaking in Hindi then do so, but speak confidently. When you can have a conversation with the bartender [beyond just ordering your drink], you're blown away. This is what I mean by not realising that great service is happening around you. Your water gets refilled, your table gets cleared—that’s at a hygiene level. The rest of it is an add-on, which equals a memorable dine-in [experience],” shares Seth. 

“On the night of 31 December 2023, Yauatcha Mumbai sold 953 portions of dim sum—a real testament to the city’s love for our handcrafted dish,” says Udai Pinnali, CEO, Aditya Birla New Age Hospitality. The Cantonese chain also launched in-house brands for wine and ice-cream, creating extensions of their signature offerings. “We believe in constant menu innovation with a campaign planned every month, to give the customers something new. However, our best-selling dish—one created by our founders—the Truffle Edamame Dumpling still amounts to 80 per cent of our dim sum sales. The finesse in the food has shown the consistency of the restaurant for 12 years, with many players trying to imitate our success,” adds Pinnali.  

Backed by authenticity

New restaurants and bars are now aplenty, but those that embody their ethos through every element of the dining experience are the ones seeing a loyal customer base. Neil D’Souza, partner at Slow Tide in Goa, set out to create a new-age, shack-like establishment that celebrates the communal Anjuna lifestyle and the cuisine of the western coast of India. “We are a shack by the beach, [we are] happy with what we do and, more importantly, maintain standards set on food, drink, and service,” says D’Souza. “Our [approach to] coastal food involves moving through seasons and festivals over the ages, allowing for periodic and intuitive changes to the menus. The chances of regular patrons remaining enthusiastic becomes higher whilst also breaking the monotony for our cooks and serving colleagues.” 

Izumi, one of Mumbai’s favourite Japanese restaurants, was launched in 2018, and quickly grew from a small outlet to a larger space, eventually setting shop in Goa too, in 2022. What worked for them: Stepping away from the “fancy” tag that is often attached to Japanese restaurants, instead  replicating a warm neighbourhood space straight out of Japan, while maintaining authenticity. “We served ramen in a very traditional way, making the broth and noodles from scratch. Then and now, we emphasised Japanese seafood, introducing diners to Japanese blue fin, which was not seen on [restaurant] menus till we launched. Our teams are also extremely knowledgeable, which helps when they're presenting a menu that could seem complex at first glance,” says Nooresha Kably, chef and co-owner.

Local wins aside, quick success and a loyal consumer base isn’t guaranteed from day one. “The mindset in Goa is still of leisure and vacation—everything happens at a very different pace, which we learned quickly,” says Kably. “We had the benefit of bringing a reputation from Mumbai with us to Goa, but we also had to learn that in Goa, daily customers are not a thing as much as footfalls on long weekends or seasonal guests are. So we had to also learn how to work around a larger number of guests in concentrated periods of time.”  

More than just reinvention

While there are some restaurants we go back to for the sake of nostalgia, others manage to consistently reinvent, making us revisit for newer experiences. “Olive Delhi became hugely popular from the start owing to its charm, good food, and the gorgeous banyan tree that's our soul,” says AD Singh, founder and managing director, Olive Group of Restaurants. “Over the years our food and service have gotten even better; our cocktails are now top-notch and we have worked hard to keep the experience feeling fresh. It’s the ability to innovate and consistently improve an already great product that has helped make us iconic.”

According to Seth, the decision to change the menu with every season at The Bombay Canteen right since its launch in 2013 is what worked for them, despite uncertainty from the industry. “We’ve done hundreds of menu changes over the last decade. We very much opened with the notion that we will change our menu seasonally, and I’m pretty sure we were the first restaurant in the country that decided to do that back then. People in the industry told us that diners in India don't want to see change, they want to come back to the regulars, but that's how you become irrelevant overtime, you get bored of going to the same places. Keeping that excitement level for the product, innovating, creating events—all of it plays a huge part in not just retaining people but also getting new people in. It’s a constant performance.”

Word of mouth > every other form of marketing

Apart from consistency in the quality of food, word of mouth works as the best tool to bring in new consumers through the door. “We make it a point to ask our guests how they heard about us, and most of our marketing strategies are then directed towards those mediums,” says Shrijith Ravindran, CEO, House of Malaka Spice, Pune. “Our data reveals that more than 50 per cent of our guests hear about us from their friends and family who have had an excellent experience [here]. And when you club this recommendation with reviews on Zomato and on social media, the chances of a potential new customer choosing us over a fellow restaurant is much higher.”

For Rajesh Govekar, co-owner and chef at Goa’s Vinayak Family Restaurant, their customer-first approach alongside the freshest seafood at affordable prices is what has led to their success, ever since they opened in 2013. “Our customer’s happiness is our priority. If they’re happy, they will come back and bring more customers. Hard work and consistency is what has worked for us.” On an average weekend, the restaurant goes through a minimum of 20 kg of prawns alone in a single day—their seafood thali and prawn masala fry are perennial favourites—despite a minimum wait time of 30 minutes for tables. 

Matter of the heart (and stomach)

Speak to any regular patron of The Daily All Day in Mumbai and they will tell you how it’s one of the few bars where they greet their favourite on-ground staff with a hug. “When we opened, people didn’t view staff as somebody they can look into the eye and say, ‘Oh, he gets me’, or ‘I'm on the same wavelength’,” says Dishant Pritamani, founder of The Daily All Day Mumbai and Pune, Tsuki Pune, and The Second House Goa. “The minute they started engaging with me, the fact that I spoke to them made their drink taste better, just because they received extra care and attention.” Pritamani inculcated this personal touch and culture into the rest of his team, who are now the reason why people feel at home. “If there are 300 people inside The Daily, four [staff members] have their eyes on you and they will make sure you get your drink before you would at an empty bar. They know who their people are and each one has 30-40 such people who they will go out of their way for—they almost do their own PR. They are the ones who have created consumer loyalty,” he adds.

Pritamani understands that every five years, his batch of regulars changes. “The older people are now old—they want backrest, space, and I’m like that as well. The new generation is coming due to the word of mouth that the old generation is passing on, and I’m ensuring that the staff understands that they need to rebuild relationships, especially with the customers they see coming in often. When you go to a restaurant a couple of times and eventually someone remembers your name or drink, you’re not coming back for the space but because you feel like they care. When the old batch comes in, it’s not like they’re forgotten; they get the extra love and care as a reminder of why they used to come here.” When Pritamani opened Second House in Goa in 2023, he took some of his seasoned staff from The Daily’s Mumbai and Pune outposts to build a new team there, transferring the same people skills to the new members via an old and new buddy system. This would provide a consistent experience at all his outlets, to humans and pets alike.

For Singh, Seth, and Pritamani, loyal customers being recognised and appreciated is what has put each of their restaurants on the map. “We believe that you're as good as the last drink or meal you serve someone,” says Seth. “The world of entertainment or cinema is very similar to the world of restaurants. You're creating worlds that didn't exist earlier, but unlike a movie, which is made and it's on screen, an eatery is like theatre— it’s a performance every single day and requires consistency. If you become a regular with us, the teams are trained to have conversations, make you feel at ease and at home. We have a software in place that allows the team to track what you like and don't, and a count of past reservations telling us how many times you've visited. We can keep notes of what you've liked, and if we've made a mistake, the staff is extra careful the next time.”

“What resonates with me is how a place makes me feel, which is intangible, but also a combination of things,” says Smitha Menon, food and beverage journalist and India’s only 50 Best Taste Hunter. “Is the food delivering on the promise of the restaurant, staying authentic to the cuisine they claim to serve, service is  friendly, the lighting isn’t too loud, music isn’t bothersome, servers who don’t constantly ask you how the food is? The restaurants I want to visit often are an extension of my home. They allow me to have conversations and also to treat myself. A place that makes me feel special in more ways than one.”

Consistency combined with nostalgia is key

If you’re a fan of chicken biryani, you’ve very likely heard of Meghana Foods, the iconic Bengaluru chain, serving Andhra-style boneless chicken biryani since 2006. “The consistency in the taste, quality, and quantity of the food since the inception of the restaurant is what keeps people coming back,” says Vikash Prasad, partner, Meghana Foods. “We believe it is the ‘Meghana Experience’. You take excellent taste and excellent quantity, and in turn provide a dining or delivery experience that people won't forget.” Their biryani has nationwide demand, which is apparent from the fact that it is available via Zomato Legends, the food platform’s intercity delivery option for iconic dishes from restaurants around India. 

Think of Pune and one of the first restaurants to come to mind—or one that will highly be recommended—is Malaka Spice, the 27-year-old Asian spot in Koregaon Park. “The standardisation of our recipes and the stringent following of SOPs has ensured that our recipes taste the same at all our locations,” says Ravindran. “The constant training of our crew and upgradation of their skills has ensured that our guest experience remains excellent over the years. We are one of the very few restaurants in the country to grow our own farm produce without any chemicals. For example, all the ingredients that go into our Thai curry are sourced from our very own farm. We use cold-pressed oil to prepare all our dishes (except those involving deep-frying) at all our outlets. Having said that, our customers also know that we keep reinventing our menus or beverage offerings in parts. So they have the option of trying something new or can stick to their usual Thai curries and lamb chops.”

China Garden, one of Mumbai’s most popular Asian restaurants, consistently witnesses multiple generations of a single family dine in. “Most customers I speak to tell me that they feel like they are at home when they eat at China Garden,” says Edward Wang, the restaurant’s managing director. “They keep coming back for the quality and consistency of the food. Everybody has their own favourites and a number of items that are on my menu are not found in any other restaurant in the city. We have some customers where four generations from the same family have been eating at the restaurant. And we don’t even have a social media presence! People tell people and that is the extent of our advertising.”

Familiarity equals comfort

Whether you’re celebrating a milestone birthday at your go-to restaurant or heading to your neighbourhood bar after a long day, familiarity is always comforting. Ordering without looking at the menu, the bartender knowing your drink before you even take a seat, the consistency in flavours—every little thing adds up to make a great experience. A particular dish may be your family’s staple order, or a cocktail could remind you of the first time you tried it with your partner—dining out is a part of plenty of our core memories. As a consumer, the only way to receive better service or innovative dishes, is to ask. Loved a meal? Let the staff know. Didn’t have a great time? Ensure the management is aware of what may have gone wrong, giving them the chance to rectify it. Often, we choose to simply walk away from a subpar experience without sharing with the restaurant what they could have done better.  Constructive feedback could lead to a new relationship with a restaurant, that may very well have you coming back for more.

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