The oldest love story in the world is between humans and food. We have always loved our food from the beginning of time. The connection between the stomach and the heart is direct. That is why after eating, food goes directly into our stomach but the taste is felt straight in our hearts.
This connection is emotional, physical, psychological, philosophical, divine, religious, sentimental, evolutionarily essential, revolutionary, instinctive and universally eternal. Whatever you call it, we are crazy about our food; we cannot live and love without our food.
Again, whatever they say, craving for the tastiest foods makes hunger our most primary and fundamental emotion. Hence the saying ‘food for our thoughts’.
Jitin Menon, Founder & Director of Top Roof Restaurant, too, was always crazy about tasty food. The inspiration behind venturing into the hospitality business arena was always his craze and love for food. After completing his hotel management, he initially worked with the world’s best hotel chain. However, as he always wanted to start on his own, he began Top Roof Restaurant in Chennai in 2012.
Love thy Grill Chicken by Top Roof
Jitin says excitedly, “When we began, Shawarma and Grill chicken was a virgin market, and hence I took that as an opportunity to build Top Roof Restaurant, and now when every hotel has Shawarma and Grill chicken; we have made a benchmark within ten years.”
Jitin began his Top Roof Restaurant journey with a meagre dining capacity on the first floor before taking over the entire building today. Just in a decade in the food industry, Top Roof Restaurant has established itself as one of the favourite pocket-friendly restaurants in the city of Chennai. With the right mix of spices, masala and the secret ingredient, Grill chicken is the highlight dish of the restaurant.
On top of this, at Top Roof, Jitin is constantly experimenting with food to bring something new and refreshing to his customers, like Double Decker shawarma and Burger shawarma which they have launched recently. “Now, with the intent to extend the brand all over India, we have started giving franchises with the brand name “Grill By TopRoof,” shares Jitin.
Face, the Faithful Feedback of Food
According to Jitin, in the hospitality industry, marketing and sales will help you initially to an extent. Still, to get back the customer again or, in other words, repeat customer – which is very important – one should have some special dish or unique taste. Jitin feels, “In my case, it was grill chicken which brought customers from far places.” This didn’t happen in a day or two; it took him years to get that customer base and keep up with their expectations every time they come to Top Roof.
Jitin says, “I believe that our stomach has a direct connection with our facial expression.” Every person coming to a restaurant is hungry. When on top of this, they get bad food, then that shows on their face; then they will surely not have a great face.
“However, if we serve them tasty and best in class food, we need not have to ask the customer for feedback, the smile on their face is an answer enough. Getting that smile from every customer coming into our restaurant is our motivation. We maintain the highest level of quality – both in the taste and freshness of our food and in the services, we provide; for that ‘Smile,’ smiles Jitin.
Expanding thy Wings
Grill by Top Roof’s USP is its grill masala, which Jitin still maintains and makes. The secret ingredients in the masala are what makes anyone and everyone come back for the Grill chicken. After running his restaurant for over a decade, Jitin felt like it is time to expand the business by providing franchises all over India.
Gospel of Food
Jitin expresses, “I believe that our business is like a baby, and we are the parent. It takes time to grow. No business or businessman would have become successful within a day or two; it takes time. It takes everyone nine months to come into this world and another one or two years just to learn to walk.
Similarly, for any business, you cannot expect it to run and make money within two months; it takes time, patience, a belief in yourself, and hope. This hope is one thing which will lead you to success and will allow your child, ie; business to make you proud.”
Tech thy Bite with a Human Touch
According to Jitin, in the hospitality industry after COVID, although many prefer no contact methods like barcode scanning for menu handling, he believes, especially like in a sector like hospitality, technology can not completely take over as hoteling and restaurants are not just about good food; it is the entire experience a person has while eating from a hotel or a restaurant.
“At Grill by Top Roof, we ensure that our food hungry customers must get that personalized and specialized, world-class experience and the best ever taste they ever had, every time, all the time. And personal touch is something that automated tools or robots cannot replace,” feels and thus concludes Jitin.
