Exclusive Interview | Abhishek Singh, Chief Culinary Officer, Ghost Kitchens India
/“I am India’s first Corporate Executive Chef for an Indian cruise line. ”
Tell us about your journey. How did it all start?
I spent my initial days at Jaypee Hotels & Oberoi Hotel for almost 5 years. Then I got on board with Pind Balluchi under the umbrella of F&B Asia Ventures which is a F&B arm of Everstone capital. I helped them open their first Pind Balluchi outlet in South India and took this legacy to Singapore with a little twist over the core menu. I was associated with F&B Asia Ventures restaurant chains for 5 years which included Harry’s International Singapore, The Club Hotel – Singapore, The Tiger’s Milk (Peruvian Cuisine) – Singapore, then I requested for a transfer to India and joined Massive Restaurants at their Farzi Café Cyber City outlet and worked there for a year before moving to Graviss group’s Zaffran Restaurants as Corporate Chef.
I worked at Box8 & Mojo Pizza also where I looked into innovation and new product development primarily. Then I got an opportunity to work with Food Service India which was a part of VKL Seasonings at that time and worked in Food R&D for almost all the major QSR giants and cloud kitchens of India and then elevated to the role of Corporate Chef where I took care of branded product business into B2B segment for Pan India and Internationally. My previous association before coming at Ghost Kitchens India was with Waterways Leisure Tourism which is the parent company for Cordelia Cruises, the only premium cruise company in India. This way you can say I am India's first Corporate Executive Chef for an Indian cruise line.
I am excited to work as Chief Culinary Officer at Ghost Kitchens India and thank everyone who is part of my journey so far.
What do you think it takes to succeed in this industry?
If you get bored quickly and impatience, definitely this industry is not for you. You need to spend at least 2-3 years at one place for a fair learning which will pay off later and this is how you can build the rapport.
Launching something new is both an exciting opportunity and a responsibility. Share with us a deep dive into your process for these new launches.
True, our range of F&B offerings at Ghost Kitchens cover most of the trending food and you do not need to look at other places. We ensure that existing and new launches use fresh ingredients, it is cooked freshly and delivered neat and clean.
We always strive to ensure hygiene, health and great taste and it is our core responsibility at Ghost Kitchens India. We are revamping the menu of Speak Burger by Chef Vicky Ratnani which I am sure people will like. Our quick combo meals are designed for people who wants a daily affair, we are coming up with a South Indian breakfast & Tiffin brand and soon we will start serving in Mumbai. We are working on gourmet pizzas and looking forward to add new excitement in Starboy Pizza offerings and so on.
What does the future look like? For the industry, you, your project / initiative.
From the time of existence, food and life go hand in hand. Commercialization of food took place after the Industrial revolution when we started producing more than required for self-consumption and increased production due to scientific tools. This helped in substantial growth for the food business. The Internet has added another perspective; the way we are making food available for our consumers online. There’s bricks and mortar restaurants for experiential food dining and we have Ghost Kitchens like ours which is a real world similar kitchen like any other restaurants but we service in delivery model.
Going forward, it will be interchangeable. More and more restaurants have already started using their space for online deliveries. Similarly, we at Ghost Kitchens India want to give our consumers – an experiential dining experience at our physical stores. Soon we have plans to come up with our hero brands and I assume consumers will like the added advantages at our dining places, while we will keep the current model running with the same focus and enthusiasm.
Share some of your secrets in keeping an engaged, safe and happy team.
I do not believe there’s any secrecy for an engaged, safe and happy team. I love to interact with people not only professionally but at a personal level. I keep the organizational core value at the center of that bonding and try to be genuine as much as possible. I think we all watch each other very closely and can easily understand the genuineness and fakeness. I monitor if they are keeping good care of self, organizational values and the business health. It works for me.
What makes you strange?
I do not open up before understanding the situation and place. I always want to connect when talking and this closeness sometimes defines me as strange.
How do you think AI will impact our industry? Specific jobs, processes etc?
AI is now a part of life. It will be used for the betterment of humankind. They can make our lif simpler but we have to be the judge before giving it the control. I think it is a great tool in data analyzing and decision making. We will polish it more with time. At Ghost Kitchens India, we use it to understand Kitchen Preparation Time, Consumer feedback analytics, Liking behaviors etc.
We have a team of such engineers who keeps us ahead in the game.
What is the one app / tech solution you would love to see?
I think I would like to see the tracking of food ingredients before they come to kitchens. Traceability of food ingredients with real time temperature monitoring while it is traveling to the kitchen will make us more confident on the quality front and judging the price value it is coming. Sometimes products like ice-cream and meats get thawed in transit and frozen at the time of delivery and it is a biological hazard but there is no quick mechanism to check and we rely on our experience always.
