Speciality Restaurant Group, a chain of fine dining restaurants with brands such as Mainland China, Oh!Calcutta, Sigree and Machhan, is planning to buy out a restaurant chain. Anjan Chatterjee, founder and Chairman of the group told The Hindu that it was negotiating with a leading South Indian restaurant chain for acquiring the same. The group has at present 60 restaurants with Mainland China restaurants accounting for 32. “The plan is to reach the milestone of 100 by March 2012 which includes international expansion plan”, Mr. Chatterjee said. The group is already operating a restaurant in Beijing and is planning to open one in Dhaka during this month.
The restaurant group is in the process of setting up a specialised oriental catering institute in Sriperumbudur on the outskirts of Chennai. Initially the institute will have 200 seats across various courses which include one-year certificate course, two-year diploma course and a three-year degree course in restaurant and hotel management. It is also looking for a possible tie-up with Madras University for offering degree certificates. The group has already established an institute in Salt Lake (Kolkata) and has arrangements with University of Kolkata for offering certificate courses.
Mr. Chatterjee said the restaurant industry was becoming more popular than the hotel industry and the employment potential was huge. Referring to per capita employment he said the group has three employees per sq. ft.
