SurFiré The Coastal Café which serves Tamil, Goan and Kerala cuisine has become the city’s favourite because of its range of delicious seafood. Ishani Priyadarshini, chef and owner of Surfiré The Coastal Café talks about her entrepreneurial journey, ever-changing tastes of the customers and food trends in the future.
How did you decide on the name of your cafe?
Surf is for the sea since we do Coastal food. Fire symbolises spice! Combing those made SurFire but we wanted a name with a meaning, so we put an accent and made it SurFiré the Coastal Café. SurFiré means crazy.. as most people thought I was crazy to open a non-vegetarian South Indian restaurant in Kolkata.
Starting out as an entrepreneur, what were some of the initial challenges you faced?
The hardest part was identifying a location and arranging the funds. Most commercial places in Kolkata are way too expensive for a new business to afford. While many government schemes have been announced for small business and women entrepreneurs, it is extremely difficult to convince banks to actually offer them.
Next are the licences. There is no one stop shop. You have to approach each authority individually and no one is fully sure what other licences you need. And most of these licences need a “contact” for issuance or renewal.
Contractors are also very easy going here. It is extremely difficult getting any work completed within a deadline because it seems people disappear for a week before and after any public holiday.
Finding educated and skilled staff is a huge challenge. We finally changed our hiring strategy to hire freshers with great attitude and train them from scratch.
I had by my side the entire alumni of IHM Kolkata so at least I did not have to worry about finding the right vendors and suppliers.
What are your views on the transformation in the taste of customers especially in Kolkata?
Kolkata has always been a city that has been open to new experiences. Every Kolkatan loves good food.. no matter where it comes from. Post Covid, some categories of guests have become a little more aware of expenditures so we see them choosing slightly budget friendly places, while another category has decided that life is too short and they are splurging on whatever their heart desires. So it is a very interesting situation right now!
According to your experience, what are the food trends to look forward to in future?
People are slowly stopping cooking at home everyday. So I guess we will see a rise in home-style food delivery. We will also see a trend towards “healthy food”. All these will probably come from Cloud Kitchens which will grow in leaps and bounds.
I expect a lot of national brands to come to Kolkata within the next two years. This will be good for the industry as well as the guests as standards will improve and more jobs will be available. And guests will have a wider variety of choices.
If we talk about the whole of India, we may see international brands come in soon with innovative menus, molecular gastronomy and high class fine dining. However, budget conscious Kolkata may not be ready for that yet.
How has the pandemic changed you, your perspective or the way you operate?
SurFiré the Coastal Café has always been a place obsessed with cleanliness. From the day of opening the kitchen has been cleaned with hot water and soap at least twice a day. Staff have always washed their hands after each activity before moving on to the next. Post Covid we added sanitisation and other necessary measures as required so we could still stay a “safe” place to dine.
Before the pandemic, I personally would take each day as it came. But now I realise that tomorrow is completely unpredictable so it is very necessary to keep aside a little something for unexpected occurrences.. as we are responsible not only for ourselves but everyone who works for us.
In the journey, what are the lessons you learned and would you like to share with young entrepreneurs who want to step into this industry?
My first advice to a first time entrepreneur would be to sit and think really hard why they want to get into this business. The first few years of setting up a business are really hard. You have no time for yourself, family or friends. Whatever your project report says, you end up spending at least three times that much. Your health will be affected unless you set aside a time everyday for yourself and remind yourself to eat and exercise on time.
If you are sure about your idea, however, and you are really passionate about what you want to do, and you have friends and family backing you up, go for it. Those first few years of struggle will be worth it!
