Prashant Chaudhri

Owner-Director

Bougain Villa / Chin Chin Chu

Restaurateur Prashant Chaudhri strongly feels that it is his customers who have been responsible for his tremendous success behind brands like Mangii Ferra, Chin Chin Chu, Bougain Villa and many more.

For the Love of his Patrons

Interviewed by ASHISH VIRMANI

He’s got restaurants, literally, by the dozen and brands that have taken off in Bombay, the toughest of cities. Prashant Chaudhri started Mangii Ferra, the cult Italian restaurant in Juhu,in 2004, coming in from the cold as it were. Mangii Ferra incorporated a live wood-fire pizza oven not to mention an actual mango tree in the centre of the premises, the latter which gave the restaurant its name. The food was so good that word spread rapidly and the restaurant, which was prominently located, took off like wildfire. Before Prashant knew it, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan were dropping in every now and then for a meal – not to mention a host of discerning food lovers from all over the city. There was no looking back for this entrepreneur who had once served as assistant manager to Sanjay Narang, himself the king of novelty restaurateurs.

Today, 48-year-old Prashant runs several restaurants in maximum city. There’s Chin Chin Chu, the Pan-Asian restaurant at three different locations in the city that has won food awards as best in its class for several years running; Bougain Villa, an all-day European café at Lower Parel; Fable, a café and wine bar in Juhu; True Tramm Trunk a watering hole for the youth at several locations across the city; Café Daaruwala, an Irani café in Lokhandwala, Andheri; +91, an Indian restaurant that showcases classic cooking styles and recipes from locales throughout the country; Café Holiday, serving comfort food as well as local and international favourites, in Versova; not to mention the reopened Mangii Ferra which recommenced in 2019 after its closure in 2010.

Interestingly, Prashant studied finance and marketing during his student days in Denver, USA. Yet, as he discovered somewhere along the way, he had a natural inclination for restaurants and hospitality. He was also good with people and that’s something that’s very necessary in his field. Working with mentor Sanjay Narang in his property The Gordon House Hotel in South Bombay for six months, Prashant mentions that he was educated by the service staff there on the basic aspects of hospitality. He opened Mangii Ferra the year after that and the rest, as they might say, is culinary history!

Today, after more than two years of the COVID pandemic, where he had to let go of several outlets, Prashant is sober about the past and, yet, excited about the future. Business has been “brilliant” since April and thanks to COVID, he’s hit upon a new and profitable business model. “During the COVID lockdown most restaurant businesses became cloud kitchens adopting delivery models for burgers, pizza, sushi and the like,” he says. “I stuck with the dine-in model – only instead of one 5,000-ft. Chin Chin Chu across two levels in Lower Parel, early this year I opened two restaurants within the space. Chin Chin Chu for Asian food and Bougain Villa, my European café. This gave diners a choice of two cuisines at the same location.” The result was a smash hit he says and his revenues doubled even as expenses were reduced with a common kitchen taking care of both restaurants. The “accidental discovery”, as he puts it, turned out to be a huge success and is a concept that he would like to take forward in his future expansion plans.

Incidentally, at one time the restaurateur was also known for his champagne lounge and fusion restaurant, Taxi, which began in 2006 and ran for several years catering to the hip and well-heeled in SoBo. He also started several Café Mangii outlets in Bombay, Poona, Bangalore and Goa as an all-day café and a more casual version of Mangii Ferra. It was a joint venture with Mirah Hospitality that finally ran aground in 2015 when he exited the venture.

It seems that if there’s one thing Prashant understands well, it’s the concept of setting up restaurants at the most premium locations, isn’t it? Yet, interestingly, it’s a concept he likes to refute. As he sums up his success, “There are three things that make for repeat customers at a restaurant – offering a great product at a good price, making the dining experience pleasurable for the customer and lastly, being consistent in both of the above. I don’t think location holds much importance in determining the success of a restaurant.” And he proceeds to reel off a list of extremely popular restaurants in Bombay, some of which are no more than a hole-in-the-wall that see customers flocking to them from all over the city. And I have to admit that he is right, at least partly!

As he says, the super success of Mangii Ferra in those heady days of 2004-2010 was a result of the overwhelming love of his patrons. “Many restaurants serve great food but some restaurants attain a higher status because of the love of their customers.” It was not something within his control or anything that he could have strategised, he says. And he’s intensely grateful, adding for good measure that the restaurant received press coverage worth

Rs 15 crores according to an auditing agency!

His future plans include an expansion of his businesses in 2023 and he’s raring to go. And as a husband and a father of two children, his outlook is completely responsible now – a far cry from his casanova bachelor days when he was once famous for being actress, Manisha Koirala’s boyfriend!