Women, who have made food their business, sat down for a conversation in course of which they shared their experiences and, in the process, toasted each other’s successes.
The chat was occasioned by a Women’s Day programme organised by Ibis Kolkata Rajarhat in New Town. “Each dish you create, every innovation you bring to the table is a step ahead for all women. They are a reminder of how far we have come and how much farther we can go,” said the hotel’s general manager Amita Mishra, welcoming the food entrepreneurs on stage.
But at first, it was the hotel’s own champions — the ladies on the staff — who were celebrated. Speaking on their behalf, Nabadisha Chowdhury, the house-keeping manager, quipped: “We should thank each of the people who told us to our face that the job was too daunting for us. Their discouragement gave us the resolve to prove them wrong,” said the spunky lady. Swagata Biswas, the hotel’s security in-charge, recalled some of the challenges of heading a male-dominated workforce.
Also called on stage were talent and culture (human resources) manager Arshiya Paul and house-keeping executive Poonam Kumari at Novotel Kolkata - Hotel and Residences, another Accor group property from across the road from Ibis.
Sonika Dey said she had started with Krazzy for Waffle. “My son was just two months old then. My husband was not confident about the success of my venture, which he thought was merely a hobby. After a year and a half, when I started earning more than he did, he quit his job and joined me,” she said. Bunaphile was opened later, when her son was seven years old and she was pregnant with her second child. “I was back at the restaurant 10 days after delivery,” she said with a smile. Bunaphile, she added, now has three branches.
The pandemic threw up its own set of challenges. Zara Chisty Abedin had opened a Thai restaurant, Zara’s Kitchen, which she was forced to turn into a cloud kitchen during Covid. “It ran successfully in that phase. Since then, I have opened three branches of a cafe, The Little Bistro. I try to recruit more and more women and train them myself,” said the trained chef who was keeping her Ramzan fast.
Apeksha Lahiri said her biggest satisfaction during the pandemic was not letting go of her staff at The Yellow Turtle. “They ate out of the restaurant,” said the lady who has since opened another outlet, Five & Dime in Sector V.
Mousumi Routh’s career graph is different from the rest. The engineer had worked for 17 years with an IT firm, when monotony made her turn her passion into her new profession. “For a year and a half, I did not take any leave. I had to be firm when the men in my kitchen were unwilling to listen.”
Finance is one of the biggest challenges for women-run start-ups. “The banks wanted my husband or father to stand guarantor for a loan. I chose to sell my wedding jewellery,” said Sonika of Bunaphile, who started with a 100 sq ft waffle outlet.
Food and beverage consultant Priyanka Malik is running three cafes now in New Town and Nicco Park. “Participating in Masterchef India in 2015 changed the course of my life. I started cooking professionally,” said the chef who opened Legendz Cafe at Mother’s Wax Museum six and half years ago and crisscrosses the country curating weddings.