Question

In February 2016, Rahul Sajnani, owner of Moshi, a fusion restaurant in the Al Barsha area of Dubai, was pondering ways to make people more aware of his restaurant and its unique menu. A hands-on entrepreneur in his twenties, Rahul was not only involved in the day-to-day running of his restaurant, but he personally trained his staff and had developed the menu from scratch. The only problem with this level of involvement was that it left Rahul with little time to take care of marketing and branding. It was imperative for a new restaurant to become known in the market, but being a unique restaurant in Al Barsha was a challenge. Rahul’s discussions from the previous night with Khushboo, Moshi’s head of marketing and social media, had brought several issues to the fore. While Moshi’s menu was unique, with options such as cheesy chips Oman maki rolls, prawn tempura maki rolls, and pero pero mushroom momos, these items had no precedent in the market, which meant that the patrons had no idea what was good and what was not. How could Moshi grow in the industry with offerings that were so unique? Would the restaurant’s innovative nature be an asset or a liability? What sort of marketing strategy should Rahul adopt? Thus far, Rahul had relied on word-of-mouth publicity, but he wondered whether this practice would be adequate, going forward. As the owner of a start- up, he did not want to invest in advertising, so what were his alternative options? Because Rahul and Khushboo planned to open another restaurant in Dubai’s Oud Mehta locality, the first question they asked themselves was whether it was time to create a chain of Moshi restaurants or whether they should give the new location a completely different feel and target a specific customer segment. Khushboo pointed out that Moshi did not have a clear positioning in terms of its menu (see Exhibit 1), which consisted of Rahul’s fusion of Nepalese and Japanese cuisines. The next question pertained to increasing the product range. On the one hand, Rahul was happy that his dream of opening a restaurant with a unique cuisine had turned into a reality and that his start-up was getting a good response from customers. On the other hand, he faced some critical questions with respect to fostering th growth of his restaurant within a highly competitive industry. The Inception Rahul Sajnani started Moshi in Dubai’s Al Barsha locality in July 2015. The story behind the name of the restaurant was as interesting as the one behind its origin. That the restaurant specialized in fusion was evident from its name, Moshi, a portmanteau of “momo” and “sushi.” The distinctness of this restaurant lay in its dishes, which were noticeably different from the ones found in conventional restaurants. The restaurant abided by all the rules of the municipality. From the SAP-certified equipment for quality and safety to putting expiry dates on food contents, Rahul ensured that there were no lapses. He paid strict attention to the guidelines related to such things as specifications on the ratio of dining versus kitchen space and regulations about chefs changing their food-handling gloves every four hours. As in any other metro city, eating out was popular in Dubai. In one of his conversations, Rahul mentioned that, when eating out, people invariably ended up choosing fast food. This observation led to four distinct seeds of thought that became the basis on which Moshi was founded: (1) Why could eating out not be healthy? (2) Why did items like sushi have to be available only in a fine-dining setup? (3) When it came to sushi, why were there fewer options for vegetarians? (4) Why should eating out be expensive? Born and raised in Dubai, Rahul had gone on to finish his higher education in London, England. From then until now, there had always been one constant in Rahul’s life—his love for food, not just eating but also feeding others. Always happy to share his love of good cuisine, Rahul recalled how, during his student years, the responsibility of finding out where to eat and what to eat invariably fell on his shoulders whenever he spent time with friends. This love for finding new cuisines, new tastes, and feeding others had given Rahul’s passion a new dimension. Rahul’s family was vegetarian, and whenever he proposed eating sushi, his family had a difficult time finding a place that could accommodate their needs. Vegetarians had fewer choices, and the few they did have often mandated eating with chopsticks, which many found uncomfortable. Rahul wanted to do away with these hindrances. Rahul’s ponderings and the limitations of popular Japanese fare for vegetarians led Rahul to open Moshi in July 2015, over a year since the idea had first come to him in March 2014. After completing his studies in London, Rahul could have opted to join his family business in Dubai or take up another career of his choosing; however, he decided to open his own restaurant and convert his culinary passion into a profession. When the restaurant opened, it was no surprise that sushi formed one of the major items on the menu, including several options for vegetarians. “Pending Meal” Program Moshi opened in July 2015, which coincided with the holy month of Ramadan.1 Rahul’s philanthropic mindset made him collaborate with Dubai resident Sara Rizvi, the woman who had founded the concept of the “pending meal,”2 based on the idea of “pending coffee,” which had been very successful in Italy.3 At Moshi, 5 per cent of the total amount from every sale, including dine-in, take-out, and home delivery, went toward giving a meal to the needy. Rahul aimed to achieve his target of 500 pending meals by September 12, 2015 (see Exhibit 2). He chose local construction workers as his recipients, going to construction sites and distributing free meals to the workers there. Moshi managed to reach 443 patron-funded meals on September 12, 2015, and Rahul rounded up that number to 500 by adding 57 meals on his own. Although news of the “pending meal” drive was posted on Moshi’s social media platforms, Rahul insisted he had not launched the program for advertising purposes but as a corporate social responsibility initiative. His next pending meal plan, with a target of 1,200 meals by February 2016, was even more ambitious, but Moshi managed to surpass that goal, achieving 1,600 meals by February 14, 2016. The Menu The restaurant’s fusion theme was an accurate reflection of Dubai’s booming expatriate culture.4 Rahul divided his menu into eight sections, incorporating dishes from various origins such as Arab (cheesy chips Oman maki rolls), Thai (Thai green curry maki rolls), and Indian (chicken tikka maki rolls, paneer and spinach momo5); classics like chicken momo; and falafel sushi6 and other offerings that challenged any attempt at classification. Pricing The chefs made everything fresh after the placement of an order. Rahul’s aim was to debunk the myth that good-quality food had to be expensive, and hence, everything on Moshi’s menu was reasonably priced, providing value for money in terms of service and taste. A meal for two at Moshi cost around AED 80.7 Location Moshi was located in a rented space in the upscale Al Barsha area, a part of new Dubai. Because of the innumerable commercial and residential buildings in the locality, many restaurants had sprung up to cater to the workers and residents of the area. After much thought, Rahul had chosen this particular location for Moshi because of its centrality and accessibility (see Exhibit 3). Ambience Rahul planned the interior of the restaurant with the help of a designer friend. The ambience was one that would appeal to a young adult or a college student but would accommodate and welcome families as well. Rahul liked to describe the restaurant’s setting as “cool, comfortable, and trendy.” At Moshi, people could eat with forks, spoons, or chopsticks—whatever they felt comfortable with. The trendy atmosphere was preserved through the contemporary furniture and the cutlery. Staff and Service Moshi’s staff strength of 18 included nine chefs, four drivers for home deliveries, two cashiers, one operations manager, one marketing manager, and Rahul himself, the owner. The restaurant focused on diversity to ensure that it would appeal to a variety of ethnicities. Moshi employed people of Kenyan, Ugandan, Ghanaian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, and Filipino descent, as well as others. Rahul provided the required training to his employees, focusing on soft skills to provide superior customer service. For example, the employees were asked to remember the names of regular customers, and they were empowered to be customer-centric while dealing with patrons. The employees received training in hard skills as well, such as learning how to use the cash register and serve food. They were provided with competitive salaries, medical benefits, accommodation, and free food during their shift. The staff was given days off in rotation, which was a common practice in the restaurant industry in Dubai. They were also given incentives, such as movie tickets and gift coupons. The restaurant was small, but the fast turnaround time—service in 15 minutes—ensured a good management of customer queues; additionally, the staff always engaged with the customers who were waiting outside. For instance, they served tea to customers waiting for a table or took orders so that when each customer’s turn came, their food was ready and they did not have to wait. The average footfall for dine-in traffic on weekdays was around 50 patrons per day, increasing to 90 per day on weekends. Marketing Rahul’s hands-on approach in the restaurant led to a good rapport with all patrons and even one-time-only visitors; he often utilized their feedback to develop new dishes and to tweak dishes to suit his customers’ tastes. Customization was a prime option provided at Moshi. The idea was to use personal selling and interaction to build rapport, in turn encouraging word-of-mouth recommendations. Although the word-of- mouth publicity worked to a considerable extent, Rahul knew it was not enough, so he ensured online visibility through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, making sure to keep the sites current with regular posts and offers. As an added incentive, Moshi collaborated with a nearby parking lot to provide free parking for visitors to make it convenient for them to come to the restaurant. Competitors Rahul believed that, given the unique nature of its offerings, Moshi had no competition; however, its location pitted it against many other restaurants in the vicinity, not to mention the regions covered by restaurants that offered home delivery. Exhibit 4 lists those restaurants that could be considered Moshi’s major competitors. The Problem Moshi reported a turnover of $170,000 by December 2015, with a net profit of $37,000. Rahul was planning to invest an additional $400,000 to support his expansion and marketing plan. He realized that the menu at Moshi served the palate of many nationalities and was not restricted to just one, and that was how he had intended it to be—catering to all palates; however, that characteristic also made it difficult to identify where Moshi’s market actually lay. Brand identification became tough because the expatriate community had no understanding of the Moshi brand or menu. While the neighboring competitors had a very clear demarcation of their respective clientele, Moshi had the potential to either steal their clientele or risk being lost in the crowd. As Rahul pondered the possibilities for the new restaurant he wanted to open in Oud Mehta, all these issues posed some concern. Rahul had to think carefully about how to market his uniquely diverse offerings to the multicultural population of Dubai. Was he truly in a monopolistic market, or was that a false notion? Was Moshi’s product range conducive to segmentation and effective marketing? Should Moshi restrict itself to its unique menu, or should it expand the menu to cater to a larger set of customers?

1. DESCRIBE the ways Rahul Sajnani, owner of Moshi, was a hands-on entrepreneur and EXPLAIN the problem that created.

2. IDENTIFY the challenge Moshi faced due to its menu and DESCRIBE how it affected the marketing strategy.

3. EVALUATE two ways Sajnani ensured Moshi’s service and staff became the backbone of the restaurant.

Answer 1

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DESCRIBE the ways Rahul Sajnani, owner of Moshi, was a hands-on entrepreneur and EXPLAIN the problem that created.

He was a hands-on entrepreneur because he training his staff personally and had developed the menu from scratch. The problem that was created is that it left Rahul with little time to take care of the marketing strategy and the branding. One of the problems is that his unique products were hard to market as people did not know which was good and which was not but opening the restaurant itself was a good idea as the menu was very unique that served different kind of tastes.

IDENTIFY the challenge Moshi faced due to its menu and DESCRIBE how it affected the marketing strategy.

The challenge that MOSHI was facing is that it has products that were new to the market and Rahul wasn’t really sure how will he market the products as all of them were unique and new to people, the items did not have any precedent in the market which meant all the customers did not have an idea what was great and what was not. Basically Rahul depended on the word of mouth publicity. The challenge that it was facing is basically that Rahul did not know how it will go in the market as his products were very unique and that’s how it affected his marketing strategy.

EVALUATE two ways Sajnani ensured Moshi’s service and staff became the backbone of the restaurant.

Basically they became the backbone of the restaurant as Rahul Sajnani trained them by himself in the beginning giving them soft skills, good intentions in order for them to provide the best customer service. For an example they used to provide customers with tea/coffee while they were waiting for their order as a complimentary just for the pleasure for the customers, when customers are on a waiting list once they get their table their order would be ready so they don’t have to wait as well. His employees used to remember the names of their regular customers as it gives some kind of satisfaction to the customers when they come to the restaurant and feel comfortable. ( I personally do when I go to some of my favorite healthy restaurants and they call me by my last name “Maslamani!”.

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