Shruti Shibulal, the daugher of Infosys co-founder SD Shibulal found her true calling at ‘Tamara Coorg’, away from the world of technology and consulting serivices, when she forayed into the hospitality world.
Shruti Shibulal – Does that surname ring a bell !!.
She is the daughter of Infosys co-founder SD Shibulal but has nothing to do with Infosys except a 0.6% stake in Infosys.
However, a job at Infosys was never an option because they had a clear policy to keep family members out of management.
That policy certainly turned out to be good for her because Shruti found her calling in a world far removed from technology and consulting services and into the world of hospitality.
She joined hands with well known chef Abhijit Saha and founded Avant Garde Hospitality which runs fine dining restaurants in Bangalore. She is now moving up the hospitality chain with Tamara, an eco-friendly luxury resort in the coffee plantation district of Coorg in Karnataka.
Shrutis’s 0.64 percent stake in Infosys technologies, the company her father co-founded is worth about Rs 900 crore today. 28 year old Shruti Shibulal is putting her money to work. Promoter of the recently launched luxury resort, the Tamara Coorg and daughter of Infosys co-founder and CEO SD Shibulal Shruti began her career with Merrill Lynch in the US in 2006.
However, she decided to head home and bite into the growing foods business and promoted Avant Garde Hospitality with one of India’s celebrated chefs Abhijit Saha. They gave Bangalore two premium restaurants Fava and Caperberry.
A few years down the road, Shruti felt the need to go back to school and after wrapping up at the Columbia Business School in 2012, she jumped right back into the hospitality world with Tamara Coorg.
Shruti Shibulal says it is something that you can really go in and make your own and it is exciting. “For me the challenge is one of the main drivers. I am passionate about this industry and I think it is a great time to be in it, she feels.
If you look at India the tourism industry, contributes Rs 1.7 trillion to the GDP. The industry provides more than 10 percent of the organized employment in the country, she adds.
She thinks hospitality is a great place to be in because one is able to contribute so much to the country and also that one is creating a social impact by creating employment. However, what is contradicting is that we only account for 0.64 percent of the world’s travellers coming into the country. So she feels there is scope to grow.
Tamara Coorg, built on a 170 acre functional coffee plantation takes up just 0.5 percent of the available space. It offers 30 luxury cottages and a multi-cuisine restaurant. It targets the international travellers who are not afraid to spend Rs 45,000 for a three night four days stay.
It is one of the few resorts built around the coffee plantation which allows the guests to brew the perfect cuppa.
Next on the menu for Tamara, is a spa block, a swimming pool, 26 more cottages and hopefully breaking even.
Shruti Shibulal says the occupancy levels are stabilizing. We are now getting to understand how operations work at different levels and are confident that with Phase II opening and our spa etc, we will be able to be very consistent in the kind of service that we guarantee for our guests. We expect to breakeven in about three to four years.
Moreover, she says, it takes time for a product like this unlike the restaurants to really establish and mature in any market. Ours is a new brand, with its pros and cons. We are not like any of the established brands in India.
Keeping all these pros and cons in mind, the team of 125 at the Tamara, look to tread slowly but surely. And as the second phase of expansion gains footing, Shruti is mindful of keeping the promise of luxury alive in all her offerings.
The ingredients used at Tamara’s restaurant are grown on-site and will now find shelf space at the Organic World, the brand’s first boutique store that will soon be launched in Bangalore.
Does this young entrepreneur use her entrepreneur dad as a sandwich board?
Answering that query, Shruti Shibulal says, we do not discuss a lot of our professional lives at the dinner table. We have a lot going on in each of our lives. We are very close family. “Of course, my dad has a lot of experience in business and in general, in growing a company and so it is great to go to him for advice now and then and it is a great resource for me,” she adds.
He also likes to send guests to my properties and it is great because we get some exposure in other places. But at the same time this is my project, this is my baby, this is not his baby and so it is really great to have that ownership over. I cannot say that my dad is sticking his fingers or anybody else in my family for that matter, she specifies.
This is ultimately my job and I need to be responsible for what happens on this property and in our company in general, and how we decide to move forward, she reiterates.
This spirit of ownership drives Shruti and the team at Tamara, to grow both organically and inorganically. Shruti has lined up Tamara Resorts at Kodaikanal and Alappuzha in South India and is looking to taste foreign waters over the next few years and explore bringing in private equity to fund future expense.
source: http://www.moneycontrol.com / Home> News> Business / CNBC Young Turks / May 25th, 2013
