We first came across a Konkani fast food joint called ‘Hegde’s ‘. Located amidst the residential area of Nagarjuna colony and SFS , this little open air food joint is run by an ex- army man who lives with his wife and daughter. He lives very close to this little place he has set up, in a tiny flat . He in known to find a lot of pleasure in providing quality yet, healthy food to people . He claims to have set up the business around 2 years back and has mostly targeted the students who get bored of eating unhealthy PG food .
His strategy involves a very close interaction with his customers (by serving most of the food himself , and taking extreme care even their very minute requirements of the customer ) and providing them good food at cheap rates . He tends to utilize most of the basic kitchen requirements such as the fridge , stove , blender ,water etc. and most importantly serves the delicious food in steel plates in order to add ‘ a homely touch ‘ .
They estimate and prepare food for at least , 25 customers on a daily basis . His most exclusive feature is to provide fish , at far cheaper rates than the market itself , which draws a lot of people from around the place . He is not only known for the delicious non- veg food but his place is also a delight for a vegetarian . He also provides with ‘Kokam’ which he apparently gets from North Canara which is almost 450 Kms. Away and which also happens to be his native place. He is so particular about the health factor , that he refuses to even provide the usual soft drinks that every other eatery provides .He buys the fresh vegetables from the old Yelahanka town markets , and the tasty fish from different markets , he even offered us to provide us crab , for 150 Rs. When it is avalible at around 650 in the market .
Hegde uncle as he is lovingly called by us srishti-ites usually provides delicious meals which are cooked by his daughter and an attendant , and is very carefully supervised by his lovely wife . Off late, he finds a strong competition from the other local eateries providing junk rolls etc . Yet , takes up the challenge of providing a much healthier and tastier version to us all , and therefore asked us to spread the word , clearly he does not believe in putting up carrying out a lot of fancy endorsements . He believes that good quality food will always speak for itself .
Hegde uncle does not believe in the wastage of food , and encourages his customers to do the same , and practises prudence in the preparation of the food as well. Although , offlate he has been experiencing a downfall in the number of customers due to the busy money deficit schedules of the srishti students and is running the business at a very low profit margin (He earns around 500 rupees on an average per day) . However he still aims at increasing his fan base in and around the place with his good intensions .
We next headed towards our friendly neighbor-hood Annapoornamma chemist next, famous amongst us for offering ice-cream with medicines. He has studied pharmacy and started the shop almost 3 yrs ago. He also teaches pharmacy and medicine in colleges along with running his shop. He usually handed over the shop to an employee in the mornings, when he was teaching in colleges, and himself came in the afternoon to take over and help keep the shop open till late night. Now, since his only employee left to pursue further studies, he is left to work himself. It means having to keep the shop closed during the mornings and afternoons, till he finds himself another employee. Although it does mean losing out on some business.
The location and geography of his shop is a good one. Although it is not the main road, it is situated quite prominently on a road joining the main road, which also receives a lot of traffic in terms of people. It is one of the only chemists on that road, thus catering to a lot to the residential areas around.
Yet, it is not enough and business is slow. That’s why he is not your average chemist any more. His pharmacy is part department store with certain food products, chocolates and biscuits, and even dog food. He also keeps Kwality Walls ice-cream, which sells only in certain seasons. He depends upon the students in the area to keep his ice-cream selling even in the slack seasons.
Apart from all this, he provides courier service and has a pay-phone outside his shop.
Soon we found ourselves wandering around our usual hangout place near Aroma when we thought of what all we relate as land marks in our locality . We traced our vision from Aroma bakery to Shanti Sagar and soon our heads lifted towards the pink board that held an imposing name ‘ Glamour’ . The woman dominated uni-sex saloon . So we found ourselves walking in for a little chit-chat and a hair cut .
The owner Shaina founded the place the previous year that is 2008 with her cousin who are both trained and certified by Shwartzkoff , and are both residents of SFS colony . The 2 ambitious Malayali cousins began the business with a heavy investment of Rs. 10 Lakhs which was taken on a loan .They have 4 women and a man helper who are well trained and hold very friendly realtions with their customers . It holds the title of being the only qualified saloon in Yelahanka and is popular due to the usage of branded products and the latest technology in the business . As a result of which it often attracts most of the young generation in and around Yelahanka . Apart from the normal parlour services , it offers tattoo and piercing services and has recently opened a waxing cabin for men as well. Glamour ensures the use of only branded products and technology to beautify their customers outlook .
The very opening , of glamour saw itself gain regular customers due to its own neat , decent outlook . Glamour also enjoys the benefits of being in a highly commercial locality and has favoured itself by the right kind of endorsement board which is hard to miss while passing the place .
Initially they followed a strategy through which they provided their expertise services for cheap with 40rupees for hair cuts and today , its the increased number of customers have helped them stash more by increasing their prices for quality services . They even tried bringing in attractive offers of chocolate massages for 300 or free t- shirts for a thousands waxing package although they did not work out much .
The place gets around 5 customers on a daily basis and earns around a 1000 on an average . Although , they call their business seasonal , as most of the customers land up during the wedding seasons during which they business booms to almost 10,000 rupees per day .
The parlour does not re-use any of its products to ensure a germ – free atmosphere , and utilizes most of the quality devices to ensure the same . The parlour although practises giving away long hair ( remains of haircuts ) to a certain woman for free to make wigs and the short hair is simple thrown away .
Although , people have begun complaining about the increased prices at the glamouress place it still maintains a steady number of customers who can’t rely on any other parlour in the locality due to the lack of professionalism that Glamour offers and hence it survives on profits today.
The Lakshmipati paanwaala sells only pan, cigarettes and sweets. He sells an average of 6- 7 packs of cigarettes a day and 20 to 25 pans. Good customer relationship has ensured regular customers. Also, the vendor is a marwadi, so many of the northerners like the pan he makes. This is his selling point that he hopes makes him different from the others around. He gets the cigarrettes delivered to him in bulk from the city. His strategy involves mainly stocking ciggarettes that the local population goes for rather than expensive ones. In a day he earns more out of pan than off cigarettes. His skill comes in his expertise at making pan. He seemed like a simple man, not too ambitious nor a dreamer. He usually follows his brother's instructions, not too bothered by testing his customers to improve his business.
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