Hyderabad, January 28, 2022: The Hyderabad Chapter of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) the Voice of the Indian Restaurant Industry, was formally unveiled by the Chief Guest Shri Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries & Information Technology, Govt of Telangana and Advisory Body Member for the NRAI Hyderabad Chapter; today at Hyatt Place; in the presence of Kabir Suri, President, NRAI; Shankar Krishnamurthy, Chapter Head, NRAI – Hyderabad; Sampath Tummala, Co-Chapter Head, NRAI – Hyderabad; Sagar Daryani, Vice President, NRAI; Prakul Kumar, Secretary General, NRAI and Shaaz Mehmood, Member, National Managing Committee, NRAI. The National Restaurant Association of India, founded four decades ago in 1982, represents the interests of 5,00,000+ Restaurants, QSRs, Bars, Cloud Kitchens and Catering, an industry valued at over INR 4,23,865 Crores.
Speaking on the occasion Shri Jayesh Ranjan said, Hyderabad is known as a food hub, the city is reputed for its rich culinary tradition not just in India, even abroad. The restaurants and hospitality sector contributed enormously to Hyderabad gaining recognition as a global and cosmopolitan destination, besides contributing immensely to the economy of the State. An Association of national repute like National Restaurant Association of India establishing a Hyderabad Chapter is an important milestone for the sector. The industry is also contributing by generating employment for locals and for several workers coming from all over India. Hyderabad has the nationally acclaimed IHM and National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management, besides several hospitality industry specific skill development institutes in private sector, providing trained manpower to the industry. In the last two years due to the pandemic like all other sectors hospitality sector too suffered immensely, but still the restaurant associations came forward and contributed their bit through various CSR initiatives supporting the migrant workers and others who didn’t have a steady source of income. He assured the gathering of Government support for any challenges the Hospitality Industry faces.
NRAI has been at the forefront and leading the Indian Restaurant Industry to greater profitable growth, besides representing interests of members through advocacy, training, research and industry events. The Association, at the National level, has been relentlessly advocating changes in the laws governing the Indian Restaurant Industry at Local, State and Centre levels; providing opportunities to educate members and is playing a key role in promoting skilling and career opportunities for industry professionals through the Hospitality Sector Skill Council.
The NRAI Hyderabad Chapter, which currently has 250 members and intends to have 2000 members on board in a year’s time and later spread its wings across Telangana. The Association aims to place Hyderabad firmly on the national map and shall focus on positively building the food service industry. As per NRAI India Food Services Report 2019, the Organized Market Share of Restaurants in Hyderabad is INR 6,037 crores with Standalone Restaurants market share as INR 4,657 crores and Chain Restaurants at INR 1,380 crore.
As an Association we hope to be the voice and focal point to coordinate groundwork and actions pertaining to Government issues, regulations and representations, facilitate the exchange of knowledge, experience, and passing of information related to various essential compliances/requirements by conducting seminars and knowledge sessions with the industry experts, says Shankar Krishnamurthy, Chapter Head, NRAI – Hyderabad.
One of the areas, Hyderabad Chapter intends to give strong impetus is attracting investments into the F&B sector, commensurate to Hyderabad’s growing stature and encourage national and international brands to actively foray into this rapidly expanding city with global prominence. The Chapter will simultaneously give fillip to locally developed brands to go national and global.
Locally, the Chapter apart from helping raise service standards through training workshops, will work towards building a strong platform for right vendor management and develop social impact initiatives to ensure the industry grows with its heart in the right place, says Sampath Tummala, Co-Chapter Head, NRAI – Hyderabad.
Industry’s expectations from Government
The industry has high expectations from both the Central and state governments, especially to revive the industry after the severe impact of pandemic on the hospitality sector. Some of the measures the industry expects from the Government to provide immediate succor are, ease of doing business from over regulation and excessive licensing; restoration of Input Tax Credit (ITC) under GST and to have a fair & equitable E-Commerce Policy.
Globally, the Food Services Industry was amongst the hardest hit by COVID-19 pandemic, with India being no exception. In FY21, Indian Food Services Industry contracted severely leading to permanent closure of over 25% of Food Business Operators which resulted in job losses of nearly 24 Lakh people. In FY21, the Food Services Industry in India declined by 53% and was estimated to be worth INR 2,00,762 Cr, compared to INR 4,23,624 Cr in FY2020. In FY22, the Food Services Industry is expected to recover and reach a size of INR 4,72,285 Cr. The industry employs ~73 Lakh people and is one of the largest employment generators for the economy.
NRAI’s CSR Initiatives
During these challenging times NRAI initiated collective assistance by to its Members through several CSR initiatives, especially during first two lockdowns including; ‘Feed The Needy’ Initiative, served over 67 Lakh Meals; ‘Rise For Bars’, direct fund transfers to thousands of employees; Free vaccination camps for employees; ‘Family Ration Kit Distribution’ served more than 25 lakh meals to restaurant employees; Blood donation camps; Provided free meals to senior citizens and COVID patients; ‘Mission Vayu’, provided Oxygen Concentrators and NRAI SOP & Safety Guidelines for COVID-proofing the Restaurants.
Congratulating the NRAI Hyderabad Chapter Team, Mr. Kabir Suri expressed “I am extremely thankful to each one of the Members for agreeing to contribute their valuable time, expertise and efforts to strengthen the Restaurant Industry in Hyderabad. With their significant contribution, I am sure Hyderabad Chapter will soon become one of the leading Chapters of NRAI.”
ABOUT NRAI – Hyderabad Chapter
The NRAI Hyderabad Chapter already has members with national presence like Domino’s (Jubilant Foods), McDonalds (Hard Castle), Barbecue Nation, Wow! Momo, Mamagoto (Azure Group) Olive Group, Farzi, among others. In Hyderabad, members like Paradise, Absolute Barbeque, Ohri’s Group, Cream Stone, Tibbs Frankie, Fusion9, The Spicy Venue, Thickshake Factory, Almond House, Pista House, Fat Pigeon, Moksh, Heart Cup, Zero40 and many others are already members.
