In Conversation With Dr. Vikram Kamat, Founder & Chairman, The VITS Kamats Group
/“ The ideal hospitality professional is one who is very practical because only practical people can take pragmatic decisions depending upon the need in situation.”
Editor: What does the new year herald for our industry, for Kamats, and for you personally?
Dr. Vikram Kamat - The New Year looks very exciting because the entire food and beverage industry is doing phenomenally well with people dining out going out and spending out. There is a tremendous prospect for food brands in all categories and segments that has emerged.
Personally, we are very happy because while the last two years were tough we have been well rewarded because of our size strength scale. I myself have been quite reformed in my thought process post-Covid and I’m looking to work on various aspects that I have come to realise in these two years
Editor: Tell us about your journey. How did it all start?
Dr. Vikram Kamat - It all started having grown up in the Kamat family. Food, hospitality Restaurants is not a way of life, rather it is life itself. Observations suggestions and discussions are bound when you grew up in a business family. While it started very early I was able to build and develop the Kamat chain first on the highways and then slowly expand into the cities with our premium dining space - Kamats Legacy.
Editor: Making a vision into a reality can be very daunting. We would love a deep dive into your process for all your initiatives. Do share details on Kamats Legacy, VitsKamats Hotels, and Khas Academy
Dr. Vikram Kamat - No doubt to convert vision into reality has many challenges. The first being that when you envision something, you do not realise certain practical challenges including people problems, ego, competition and so on. And these are the real things that really determine why some peoples’ vision become reality and other peoples’ vision only remain a dream.
Kamats Legacy was born out of a vision. After having tried other things a realisation that we are seeking diamonds in other peoples fields hit me. But below our own feet were hidden acres of diamonds, waiting for us to unearth them. And I realised that while I can do many things nobody can do this, better than me. That’s when I put my mind like I had done the first time when I started on the highways and developed Kamats Legacy to truly be an iconic brand which can seduce The entire world To fall in love with food that is so beautiful and tasty Yet being so healthy!
And like anything I like to go into the depths like the oak tree whose roots run deep. I realised that we need to create our own people who understand and believe in Kamats and its philosophy yet being employable and teaching them job skills which led to KHAS.
Editor: Describe an ideal hospitality professional
Dr. Vikram Kamat - The ideal hospitality professional is one who is very practical because only practical people can take pragmatic decisions depending upon the need in situation. And hospitality situation, customer mindset, team members etc all are different at different times. In fact, even the same people behave differently based on different situations, and what has just happened before the situation.
Editor: What do you look for when you hire? Do you have any favorite interview questions?
Dr. Vikram Kamat - My favourite question is, what is your dream to be or do you want to be in 3 / 5 years.
Editor: What does the future look like? For the industry, the Kamat brands?
Dr. Vikram Kamat - The future looks very very bright and we are investing heavily in our greatest asset which is Kamats and our objective is to keep developing blocks and adding value to make the kamats pyramid not just the tallest but the biggest food brand in the South Indian space.
