THE best news for the F&B industry recently is that the Doshi family of Bombay Cycle & Motor Agency (BCMA, also known as the PAL people) has got into the restaurants business in a big, big way. Chakor and Champa Doshi, and their bright, beautiful and intelligent children Chirag and Kanika, have opened in one huge premises in Bombay three very happening speciality eateries. One is Karma, a young people�s place known for its shooters and pizzas; the second is the Liquid Lounge, a bar with cocktails, fingerfood and snacks, and music of the 60s, 70s and 80s; and, the third is Bellissima, a fine wining and dining experience, where the cuisine is 21st century Italian, and the service appropriately casual but chic. They have some experience in this business already, because for long, Chakor ran the daring and trendy restaurant Pondicherry on 5th Avenue in New York. It was fusion cooking, Indian food cooked with French technology, quite like the state of Pondicherry in India. Despite not having any formal training in the hospitality and catering business, he opened Pondicherry. �I have only a passion and understanding of food,� he admits, �and New York presented the best opportunity, so I took it.� Depsite its popularity, Pondicherry was not very successful, because it was too big a restaurant for the concept. A massive 6,000 square feet plus kitchen, 90 covers in all. He shut it down just a few months ago to come back home and get involved in the restaurants business here. �This is sunrise activity in India, it�s only going to grow,� he says of his decision.

The premises for the Doshis�s happening places is Opera House in Bombay where their rambling BCMA business is located. A 30,000 square feet property in which, in the new order of things, the automobile business is fitted into 2,500 square feet, and the rest devoted to the F&B business. Chirag and Kanika, Cathedral educated, then finishing school in Switzerland, BA, Economics and Finances degrees from the University of Michigan (including one in Organisational Behaviour done by Kanika) later, returned home to join their enterprising parents in the new venture.

They�ve got a whole team of F&B people dedicated to the three outlets led by Chief Coordinating Officer Anuj Thapar, a qualified chef and entrepreneur, and two executive chefs in Saby Gorai and Rohan Parish. But the Doshis themselves are food and wine savvy, starting with Chakor, who knows what�s good and bad and what�s happening in the world, and ending with Kanika, who is a wiz at baking desserts and has done a wine tasting course in London.

Champa , the lady of the house, has been involved in the menu-planning of the three outlets naturally, and in everything else that requires a woman�s genteel touch. �Like the interior designing, selection of menus, colour coordinating the crockery,� she says. And Chirag, quite the man about the place, hands-on about everything, from food tasting to selection of music for Karma and Liquid Lounge.

Any night you go there, you will find the entire Doshi family looking after the business. Chirag and Kanika at Karma, watching friends down shooters, making sure that the families that come to dine until10.30 p.m. get their food on time and that the music is not too loud; Chakor and Champa above, at Liquid Lounge, suggesting a cocktail or recommending the house wine, and entertaining gracefully next door at Bellissima people like the Bachchans.

Chirag and Kanika say of Karma: �We though the revenue would be 70:30 for drink and food, but is almost otherwise. We do 60:40, which is very encouraging and makes Karma not just a happening place for its great ambience, but also for its terrific food.� The Liquid Lounge, despite the chic atmosphere, cocktails and music, is not a complete dining experience. For that, there�s the Bellissima across the way. �It is an attempt to make a truly great dining experience on the lines of the best restaurants of the world,� says Chakor and Champa. �It�s chic, but fun. The service is not stuffy, but great. It�s not white gloves, but friendly. The food is good, but not expensive. It�s got an elaborate menu with a definite emphasis on vegetarian food. In India, the veggies don�t get such an attractive deal as this country can provide. Our food portions are good. A hearty eater would be satisfied. A small eater would feel guilty and ask for a doggie bag to take it home!�

They are already looking at diversifying the F&B side of their business. The Doshis�s flagship company is Walchandnagar Industries Limited of which F&B are two sectors, and information technology the third. �All are service-based and all, the future of India,� says Chirag. But now, they might diversify into agro and food processing, they might look at growing exotic veggies, and they are already confident of developing multi units of Karma. �It is a success story and has the potential,� says Chakor, �I can think of 20, 30 places that could do with an outlet like Karma. And at least eight to ten that could do with another Liquid Lounge. But Bellissima�s difficult to recreate, it has a class of its own. Our plans ought to be working out three years down the line.�