The ongoing Thai food festival at the MoMo Cafe, Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon is the latest marketing activity in their events calender. Started on 12th June, the festival will conclude on 22nd June, 2014. Elaborating on the importance of the festival, Umesh Dalal, Assistant Manager– F&B at Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon talks with Juhi Sharma.|
How did you plan the festival?
We plan our marketing/ festivals calendar at the beginning of every year. Our last food festival was Kebab & Curry in March and this time we wanted to design a festival for Indian or pan Asian cuisine in our multi-cuisine restaurant. After a lot of market research and extensive customers’ feedback analysis, our Executive Chef, Ashis Rout, and I decided to introduce Thai food festival, called Swade Ka.This food festival is very important for the hotel, as we have been witnessing an increase  in our pan Asian clientele and Thai has been rated as one of the most popular cuisines in Asia.
Tell us about menu planning for Thai festival.
The festival offers menu prepared by expat Thai Chef Rungtiva, who comes with over a decade of experience in Thai cuisine. He has kept the menu simple, yet traditional. Some of the major highlights of the menu include, traditional Thai red and green curry, Phad Thai (noodles pad thai), Pomelo salad, Maa-hor (fresh pineapple topped with peanut dumpling with jaggery), and homemade tofu thord (deep fried homemade tofu with Thai style peanut sauce).
Why are these festivals important?
Food festivals are generally not a revenue generating affair but we do periodic food festivals to keep consumers engaged and offer them new menu everytime. We estimate an increase of 10 percent in overall revenue from this food festival and on an average  increase of 25 percent in foot falls. Festivals create fun and interactive atmosphere in the restaurant, which is equally enjoyed by the staff and guests.
