Latest posts by Martin Moodie (see all)
It’s been an exhilarating couple of days in Mumbai, where I have continued to enjoy the incomparable hospitality that runs like an artery through the Indian nation.
Yesterday I visited the offices of Travel Food Services (TFS), now a joint venture between long-established Indian food & beverage and lounge services company K Hospitality and UK-based international food services giant SSP.
I emphasise the word ‘now’ because initially TFS was in entirely Indian hands. I know, because I was there on the night the company was launched, way back on 12 May 2009 in Mumbai.
The occasion coincided with the TFWA Asia Pacific show in Singapore but having been informed that TFS was no more a fledgling market entrant but a player of huge ambition and integrity underpinned by years of heritage in the food services sector, I honoured a promise to attend and address the audience.
At the time TFS had just signed a memorandum of understanding with Mumbai International Airport Ltd for a master concession covering F&B space across domestic terminals and some international sites. From that launchpad, the company has grown into one of the heavyweights of airport, road and railway station food services and hospitality.
That success was recognised on the international stage when it entered into the SSP alliance in late 2016, the latter’s original 15.1% stake being topped by subsequent tranches in March 2017 and April 2019.
The partnership has never looked back. Today TFS manages 31 airport lounges of first-rate quality; 380 quick service restaurants (QSR); and more than 40 CTN and other specialist retail stores.
That impressive growth culminated in the announcement last December by SSP and K Hospitality Corp of a planned initial public offering (IPO) for TFS in India.
Subject to the current vagaries of the Trump-affected stock market, the pricing and completion should take place in coming months, a triumphant landmark in one of our industry’s most notable success stories.
On Friday I visited TFS’s offices and spent quality time with CEO and Managing Director Varun Kapur and chatting with his father, the extraordinary Sunil Kapur, whose own father JK started the whole success story rolling back in 1972 with the opening of the now famous Copper Chimney Restaurant in Mumbai.
That legacy is being proudly embellished by Varun and his brother Karan (K Hospitality Corp Executive Director and TFS Director).
Varun, Sunil and I dined at one of what is now a trio of Copper Chimney restaurants in Mumbai, enjoying the outstanding cuisine of Executive Chef Suresh Shelar (pictured below with Varun and me) and his team.
If you’re looking for fine North Indian food and a really nice dining experience, put Copper Chimney at the top of your list next time you are in Mumbai.
Later that day I attended the K Hospitality and TFS annual party, a fabulously fun occasion. Asked by Sunil to say a few words, I took the audience back all those 5,806 nights to the TFS launch and summed up the extraordinary narrative since. What a journey this has been.
Tonight, Sunil and I enjoyed dinner at Bombay Brasserie, an award-wining, K Hospitality-owned bar and eatery, showcasing Indian ingredients and flavours from across the country.
Not just flavours of food but also of wine. India is producing an increasingly interesting array of quality wine and on this occasion I opted for an oak-aged 2023 Sauvignon Blanc from The Source, a beautifully balanced oak-aged drop, brimming with tropical fruit, produced by Sula Vineyards in the Nashik Valley.
We were joined by Karan Kapur, who along with brother Varun is ensuring that a family and company legacy dating back to 1972 is growing in stature by the day. Vintage moments indeed. ✈
