Launching new paradises of
food and beverage
Gaurav Bakaya is developing brands like X Sky Lounge, Mansionairre By the Roof, Deja Woo, etc. A man who played a key role in building a position for The Blue Frog, a high-end bar and concert venue and bringing in internationally famous night club brand Ministry of Sound UK and The Playboy Clubs, his new F&B brands will combine the international styles, opulent design and many things inexplicably exciting for the visitors. He is redefining the luxury F&B formats and making them scalable with a unique positioning, which will be a booming trend in the next five to 10 years.
With nearly three decades of experience in the industry, a person becomes a veteran in his field. When a technocrat reaches this level of expertise, they often emerge as an unbeatable leader who understands the business intricately, as if it were a pebble on his palm. Branded food and beverage (F&B) models take time to develop and expand, especially if it is a luxury format. Gaurav Bakaya has a proven track record of introducing unique foreign F&B models, creating distinctive brands that he has nurtured into successful ventures, and assisting the hospitality industry in designing in-house F&B models. He is currently developing several notable brands, including X Sky Lounge, Mansionairre By the Roof, and Deja Woo. He played a key role in the creation of The Blue Frog, a high-end bar and concert venue. Additionally, he has collaborated with renowned international brands such as the famous Ministry of Sound UK and Playboy Clubs.
For someone like Gaurav, it is not just experience that makes him a leader in the food and beverage industry it is his extraordinary talent for innovation, use of cutting-edge technology, and passion to create a unique business model. Gaurav plays a dual role in his career: he helps foreign brands establish and expand their influence, nationally and internationally, while focusing on creating and operating domestic brands. Before launching his ventures, Gaurav held leadership positions at renowned international brands, including the Ministry of Sound UK, The Blue Frog, and The Playboy Clubs in India. Gaurav graduated in hotel management from the ITC Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration in 1999. After completing his studies, he joined the Taj Group of Hotels as a management trainee. This training program allowed him to understand various aspects of the hospitality industry, including F&B, housekeeping, finance, front office management, kitchen control, and more. After two years as a management trainee, he spent four years in managerial roles at the Taj Group, which provided him with significant exposure to all the nuances of the hospitality industry in general and F&N in particular. During this period, India’s food and beverage market began to transform, leading to a surge in standalone outlets and the entry of foreign F&B brands. That was the beginning of the F&B boom in India. Gaurav opened India’s first nightclub in partnership with Ministry of Sound UK, the oldest and largest nightclub in the world. The Indian version of this nightclub, designed as a glass pyramid, remains the largest in the country, even now. He has a distinguished track record as the first Indian F&B specialist to introduce an international brand, the Ministry of Sound UK, in India, in which he also led the brand’s operations.
He was the head of the International Catering Division of Jet Airways for some time, but he found the role mentally unstimulating and felt it offered poor career prospects. Subsequently, he joined The Blue Frog (India), then India’s largest high-music entertainment venue. That concept was unique, as no one else brought live music performances by international artists to the floor. Many F&B companies expressed interest in collaborating with The Blue Frog, which managed to open 17 outlets with a presence in Pune, Bangalore, and Delhi over time. This business model proved to be highly successful. Gaurav spent five years with the company before moving on to The Playboy Clubs, a London-based brand. In India, The Playboy introduced a nightclub and microbrewery format that brewed its own Playboy beer, along with
a café. However, the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the hospitality industry to shut down, bringing plans and projects to a temporary halt.
X Sky Lounge coming up in Gurgaon is designed to deliver a unique experience to the visitors. It combines the ambience of an opulent restaurant well-known for delicious dishes, a vibrant bar, and the excitement of a late-night party, all in one location that emphasises value-for-money F&B format. The formats which effectively balance these three elements are always successful; I have observed many such examples.
After COVID-19, Gaurav launched a high-end food and beverage venture called GB Hospitality. GB Hospitality has its training module and gives special attention to the staff training for managing guests to make the guests feel that they have come to a great place. We invest a lot in training and development, innovation and technology, which are key to success.
Gaurav is now heading the brand Deja Woo, which is a high-energy bar currently located in Malad, Mumbai, and is set to expand to other cities. Deja Woo already has a presence in Delhi, which Gaurav
believes is an exciting market with fewer challenges, compared to Mumbai, where real estate prices are ruthlessly high. Deja Woo operates in a small format, making it easy to replicate and allowing
for rapid expansion through franchises and joint ventures. It is an excellent concept for Tier II and Tier III cities as well, where real estate prices are more manageable. Moreover, people in Tier-II cities love to experience the F&B format of international standards. “With high disposable income in hand, they are not reluctant to discretionary spending. They spend money to enjoy their life with family and choose to eat out once a week. That way these markets are growing quickly,” Gaurav states. In addition to his work with Deja Woo, he also provides consulting services for in-house brands of large luxury hotels while managing a hybrid workspace. Besides Deja Woo in Malad and Khar, Mansionairre By the Roof in Thane, and X Sky Lounge in Delhi and Gurgaon are set to become flagship brands for Gaurav and his team. He is the CEO of X Sky Lounge in New Delhi NCR, which will soon be the largest F&B space in India, spanning 50,000 sq. ft. X Sky Lounge aims to set a new benchmark for luxury F&B spaces, creating a destination that matches the best international models where elegance meets excitement, innovation, and value. It promises to be a paradise for celebrating the best moments.
In Tier I cities, Deja Woo will operate as a joint venture, while in Tier II cities, it will adopt a franchise model. Currently, he operates six F&B formats; four are fully functional, while two are in the development stage. Mansionairre By the Roof in Thane follows the Buddha Bar model. Situated in a prime location in Thane, a densely populated suburb of Mumbai, the restaurant is surrounded by numerous corporate entities. It opens at 7:30 PM. By 10:30 PM, it morphs into a vibrant party scene, with the music volume increasing as guests arrive to drink, chat, and dance, relieving their daily stress. Late at night, it becomes an exciting nightclub. This venue flawlessly combines elements of a grand restaurant, a lively party atmosphere, and an exciting nightclub, all under the opulence of a luxurious setting designed by renowned interior designer Sumesh Menon and Associates. Mansionairre By the Roof is a highly rated F&B destination by all metrics, with patrons expressing satisfaction with their spending. The table turnover rate is high due to the fluid transition from dining to partying. Guests coming for drinks do not necessarily require a table, which enhances the format’s economic efficiency. This concept also highlights significant potential for franchising and joint ventures, thanks to its value-added features and a proven track record of faster breakeven. “Our F&B formats offer an international experience. What we do today will set trends in India 10 to 15 years down the line,” he states. Gaurav is the Director of Mansionairre by the Roof in Thane, a premium dining and rooftop bar. He is also the CEO of Bombay Boulevard, an international Bollywood-themed soon-to-launch entertainment and F&B venture. He is also a brand consultant for hospitality giants like the Taj Hotels, Radisson Hotels, The Lalit Hotels, and Diageo India. The next 10 years would be a boom time for India’s hospitality sector, he says. More international brands are re-entering India. There is surely a market for every player with better space for better models. India is emerging as one of the global powers and the flow of foreign business delegations augurs well for the specialised F&B business. Though the luxury market in India is growing at a phenomenal pace and food and beverage has a major niche with enormous space for rapid growth and scalability, there are challenges of fast rising property prices and availability of good quality talent. The over-capacity in some geographies dents the prospects of each player present in the location, creating unhealthy competition and preventing innovative models from reaching the guests. “If we can address these issues, the Indian market will flourish given the size of India’s high-income population and the rising trend of discretionary spending,” he says.
Mansionairre By the Roof starts at 7 PM as a restaurant, which morphs into a high-energy bar by about 10.30-11 PM. At midnight, it becomes a full-fledged party place, making itself a luxurious nightclub and enabling it to tap into different audiences. This combination extends productive business hours and enhances guest enjoyment, making it a preferred destination.
Even though many investors are willing to invest in the luxury hospitality and F&B business, technocrats are choosy because technocrats have vision and ideas to grow and build a brand rather than simply looking at daily turnover. One must have a good understanding of the business. It is tough to balance the business between the revenue and the liabilities of rent and well-trained manpower. It can scale up very fast, but it is a tough business. Even though one has a talent and vision, one cannot go to every location and open too many formats. It is manpower-heavy and requires a long time to become a success. I am very selective. Gaurav has his formula for opening an F&B format beyond a food-oriented concept. My concept involves food, beverage, and entertainment. I have always been inspired by the concept of Buddha-Bar, which has a presence in many parts of the world. The brand has never been a failure. Having grown up in a hospitality business atmosphere, he nurtured his passion for the industry since his childhood days. A Kashmiri by root, Gaurav has in his DNA a hospitality culture in true Kashmiri tradition.
F&B Redefined
Gaurav has a unique F&B design capability. A restaurant becomes a lounge and a lounge becomes a nightclub as the evening progresses; he has a distinct business model in hand, which helps him enhance the profile of his guests to a greater degree. The models appeal to a 25-year-old guest and a 45-year-old guest at different time slots. “While designing a model, I have in mind whom I am targeting and what the tastes and preferences of the targeted guests are,” Gaurav says.
The taste of food, guest-friendly managers trained in the hospitality business culture, the luxurious ambience and the pleasantness they feel at the table, etc, are equally important. Since people have lots of choices outside, where they don’t feel warmly welcome, attracting and retaining guests could be a task. If you offer great food and if the staff is not friendly, the guests may not revisit the place. People don’t mind paying a premium for the right combination of delicious food, friendly staff and hassle-free dealings. Hospitality should have a hospitable ambience and hospitable dealings
His father and uncle were in the hotel business. His wife was the Grooming Head at Jet Airways. With a strong academic and professional background, international exposure, and resourceful experience working with top-rated Indian and international hospitality brands, Gaurav has become India’s top-class F&B magnet, busy with many exciting long-term projects. His passion for designing new models, replication of international models with Indian elements and expansion of various F&B models would take the F&B vertical of India’s hospitality to new heights, reflecting the underlying changes in the Indian economy. The standalone F&B formats will develop into a flourishing business segment in itself, thriving on the increasing expendability of the new generation.
