Foodies of Gurgaon and NCR: How do we reach you?

By Amit Kumar on February 8, 2015 17 Comments / 2032 views

Hi Rodinhooders!

If you guys remember, a friend and I were planning to hire a chef for The Pasta Kitchen. Well, we are now a month old! Thanks to all your help and guidance! For those who want, you can check us out on Zomato.

Now to the present! We are currently trying to get the word out to all foodies in Gurgaon, but till date haven’t been able to get in touch with any, and what is a better place to ask for help than my fellow Rodinhooders? Please do help us in getting in touch with the foodies of Gurgaon!

Secondly, and more importantly, to show our gratitude to this wonderful community we are running a special 20% off without any conditions(other than minimum order value of Rs 250) for all Rodinhooders! Simply email me your orders at rodinhooders@awestruck.in or call us at 011 33105677. Also get Rs 50 off on your next order, over and above the 20%, if you will rate us on Zomato! You don’t have to lie on your ratings, either!

Find us at: https://twitter.com/thepastakitchen, or at https://fb.me/thepastakitchen

Comments

Amit Kumar

17 Comments

asha chaudhry February 16, 2015, 11:27 am

amit – sharing ur post with abhik – who knows his food and is based in gurgaon.

you can invite gurpreet of the eatlo gang and similar foodie gps.

send out a creative invite (a pasta dish) to rocky and mayur!

i think you should get couples/gps to come by and sample your food and blog about it.

will think of some food bloggers to help you….

ps: pls add ur twitter handles at the end – i’ll make some noise tomo!
Ishani February 16, 2015, 12:25 pm

Hi Amit,

We have many food bloggers listed on fromote who may be willing to write about you. Moreover we also have many influencers who have good reach on social media. You may want to engage them to promote your website / fb page.

Simply register as an advertiser and post your requirements, influencers will start submitting their proposals and you can choose the one you like!

Hope you find it useful

Ishani
Abhik Prasad February 16, 2015, 2:06 pm

Amit,

Just had a look at your prices man…they seem to be incredibly low. Are you guys a restaurant on a home delivery only joint ?

One of my favourite places in Gurgaon for Italian is flip bistro…and i usually end up going to their website to order (not zomato or foodpanda ) I don’t think they did too much advertising apart from flyers—their biggest USP for me is their good food and it’s almost like our local joint for comfort food.

I think you guys have already registered the domain name, thepastakitchen.in – why don’t you put up a single page website with your menu and make it easier for your clients to order.

Since you are sending people directly to Tastykhana, from your fb page, there is a chance that they might wander around.

There are quite a few things you can do in Gurgaon…can you share some of the marketing activities you have already undertaken so that I don’t end up repeating them.
Amit Kumar February 16, 2015, 6:06 pm

Hi Abhik,

The prices are low on purpose. We want to be known as the place for authentic Italian at highly affordable rates. To be the place you can order from every once in a while. For our regular customers we are planning to launch monthly packages as well, which will slash prices even further(something like 500 for 6 pastas in a month).

Yes we do home delivery and take away only. Real estate is very expensive for us to go that route initially.

The website is about to go live very soon!

For marketing we have gone the Zomato route, banner and promotions, TastyKhana marketing as well. Flyers are coming in next. Facebook groups have also been tested out.
asha chaudhry February 17, 2015, 5:48 am

hey amit,

get creative. do something out of the pasta pan!!

what if you targetted a particular group of people (at a nearby office block where your TA is located) – and make them sample your product in an innovative way?

or what if you created direct mailers (which you personally give out) – small see through pouches or a smaller version of your takeaway boxes with dry pasta (all kinds) and a sachet of your secret ingredients! make sure you stick your branding on the pouch or include the takeaway menu etc…

try creating some intrigue around the product!
arpit shekhar February 17, 2015, 3:57 pm

HI Amit…thats wonderful…I also blog on foodie sites and I can try and refer to some famous foodies who can come and visit your restaurant and then write reviews as they hold value in Food blogs.Although I cannot guarantee that they will visit very soon but I can refer,Also you can join a foodie group of Gurgaon on FB thats very famous and you may see spurt in your orders although direct soliciting is not allowed there.Hope it helps.
ViCky BachWani February 18, 2015, 7:03 am

Congrats Amit on your venture.

What better way to do marketing at marginal cost than placing your deal on Groupon.co.in , I am part of Groupon marketing team. Drop me a mail (vbachwani@groupon.com) and let me know if you like to explore it. Cheers.

Look forward to eat pasta soon.
Amit Kumar February 18, 2015, 7:33 am

Sending you an email right now!
Amit Kumar February 18, 2015, 7:34 am

Hi Arpit!

Thanks! We did have some reviews by some of our first customers, but since they were not very known in the groups, the reviews didn’t help much. We are still exploring the FB groups though.

It’d be awesome if you can blog about us 😉
Amit Kumar February 18, 2015, 7:35 am

We are trying to get that done as well, but currently stuck with the packaging issues. We cannot afford a huge order, and small orders of packaging is too expensive.
Amit Kumar February 18, 2015, 7:39 am

Hi Rahul,

We can give you a discount as well. We even have a 50% discount available on Fridays! We can give you discounts on other days as well!

Give us a ring on 011 33105677 whenever you would like to place an order.

PS: We are closed on Tuesdays as of now. Working on keeping us open all 7 days.
Amit Kumar February 20, 2015, 12:39 pm

Hi Asha,

Definitely going to do that!
Abhik Prasad February 21, 2015, 10:05 am

Hi Amit,

So I ordered 2 pastas from you guys yesterday.

Not sure if it was you or somebody else, but when I called and I asked if I could place an order, the guy said, “Sir can you please sms the order. I am watching a movie” …Left me flabbergasted for a moment.

I had called because I wanted some clarifications on the types of pastas. I was wondering when I got a call back saying I can place an order (Presumably the movie was over 🙂 )

Anyways, I ordered a non veg and a veg pasta which were delivered after an hour. You guys also need to add some dessert options (can be as simple as ice cream)

The pasta was ok except the non veg which was tiny in quantity (i thought both the pastas were veg), the meat was hard and chewy and basically inedible.

Before you reach out to the rest of Gurgaon, i highly recommend getting a good chef, taking a hard look at your prices as they seem very low to inspire confidence (my wife was shocked when she found out that the bill for 2 pastas was 280 bucks) and get a food entrepreneur as a mentor if possible.

Give me a call if you would like to discuss more. All the best.
asha chaudhry February 21, 2015, 10:50 am

i just fell off my chair right now now amit 🙁

amit, i had reached out to abhik to help you with innovative ways to promote yourself.

for a foodpreneur – the foremost thing is to get the product right. everything else comes later.
Ankit Shah February 23, 2015, 4:19 am

Hi Amit,

Like you, I too am a startup in the F&B space in Mumbai. We run a brand called Mexican Express and are facing similar issues. To start getting some traction we started doing few events to get the word out. We still try to do as many events as possible so that people get to know about our brand. We don’t have a brick and mortar store yet, but would want to open one once the brands name is out.

I would suggest that you can try doing few events in Gurgoan, like pop ups, flea markets, concerts, etc. This can be a good brand building exerise and can give you some traction. There is a concert in Gurgoan on March 1, 2014, called as Emerge, and I happen to know the guys curating the F&B for the concert. If you would like to participate in it, do reach out to me.

Good luck.
Rajeev Roy February 23, 2015, 5:24 am

Hey Amit …..

I think if I were you I would immediately start a marketing drive (communication) centered around:

” AAP : AAM AADMI PASTA ”

…..on FB , Twitter , Instagram , Local Newspaper Inserts, on awesTRUCK …..everywhere I mean …… Lots and lots of mind boggling CREATIVE could be designed with this theme in mind to ride the popularity & grab eyeballs among the masses in a fun way to create engagements with patrons.

As I always say their has to be ” a STORY” behind the default gr8 food for people to talk among them self—- May be this could be that story around “The Pasta Kitchen” which people would start talking about.

What say ….

till next time …..Keep enjoy the roller-coaster ride of a FOODpreneur

Rajeev Roy

Just in case you forgot KHOPCHA click 100 Covers Restaurant without a Single Table & Chair ! POSSIBLE?
Anupma Rs December 18, 2015, 9:18 am

Hi Amit,

Congrats for your new venture. Would try some day.

Please check the FB group “The Food Club!” for NCR foodies.

For promotions you can invite few foodies under some promotional event. Have you tried fliers in newspaper for local community.