Devesh Sonthalia, a roaring restaurateur

In our recent talk with the master franchisor of Fat Tiger East India and owner of multiple Subways in the region, Devesh Sonthalia, we have discussed his journey and what kept him roaring even in the difficult pandemic times.

After passing out from the college Mr.Devesh Sonthalia started his first outlet in Liluah(Howrah). The zeal of becoming a successful restaurateur was always there in him which led him to own chain of Subway restaurants and the master franchise of Fat Tiger. He believes that no work is small and with this believes he opted to not get fully involved in his family business.

While replying to the question ‘You own chain of Subway restaurant, What are the strategies you implement to execute the expansion’?, he stated “I have led one of my outlets without any profit for almost 5 years, but I did not give up and today results are in front of everyone. A successful franchise expansion should be based on the crystal clear basics and every execution should be in a planned way. One must be well prepared for the worst and one must forecast and prepare a plan B for critical times”.

Mr.Sonthalia’s move for expanding his business during the pandemic time was quite shocking for the industry’s experts, but his 4’P’ mantra has illustrated that what approach makes him different from all ” I believe in 4’P’s, Prior Planning Prevents Problems. After witnessing the condition of Covid cases globally, I was clear with the fact that Covid is here to stay but for this reason, we can’t put ourselves back. I am in the hospitality industry from nine years, but the zeal to come in this industry was in me from my early days. Informed decisions always led you to the appropriate path and with the experience, your decision-making ability grows. Not only expansion, I have not even laid off any of my employees during this pandemic.”

On replying to the recent facts that show many franchise models have touched the sky in very less time but not all of them had managed to survive for long, he quoted” expansion should be well planned and you must aware with the losses which will be there. It makes you to plan your expenses and to strategise your future moves. You can’t just go on expansion without sketching out proper plans.

Fat-Tiger is a brand with a creative, multidimensional and easy to go menu. Mr Devesh has shared the uniqueness of the menu of ‘Fat-Tiger’. “We are serving mainly Teas, Momos and meals. Our Teas are very unique called Cheezo’s which are iced tea served with Cheese on top. We have bubble teas which are made with boba pearl, absolutely unique. In momo’s apart from regular momos, we have a variety of offerings like Whole wheat momos, Italian Momos, Kurkure momos. We are also serving Baozi’s, Shogo Momo’s and Xialong Bao (Soupy Momo’s) we are launching new items like Tandoori Momo and especially Kolkata being a market where fish is loved, we are planning to launch fish and prawn momo’s.

While talking about the team Fat-Tiger which consist of Gurus from various industries he said ” I call our team Champion of Champions as we have Mr.Sohrab Sitaram, with the finest history of leading the brands from the initial to the new heights. We also have Mr.Sahil Arya, the India franchise for millies cookies and Sahaj Chopra from Yash raj films. A perfect team consist of the masters from various sectors and yes, we have the same on the table.

On his future expansion plans, he quoted “I am targeting 25 outlets by end of 2021 and 50 by 2022. We have multiple models starting from Restaurant to a kiosk/cart to a food court model.

For franchise enquiry contact:

Phone: 98300 32240

E-mail: [email protected]

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