F&B news

Dining on Gondolas

Neeti Mehra - Mumbai

Dining will never be the same again. Anil Mehta, proprietor, Arpan Associates, has conceived an innovative concept of a 'Floating restaurant'. The completely indigenously developed booths or the 'Gondolas' can seat up to a maximum of 4 people and are six feet in diameter Explaining the concept, Mehta says, "The floating restaurant will offer a fun, dining experience to people. This concept can be established at any property whether a resort, hotel or a bungalow which has an existing water body, or perhaps a pool side restaurant."

Operating on an eco-friendly and non-polluting rechargeable battery mechanism, it can work for eight hours at a stretch. The safety factor of guests has also been taken into consideration, with the suggested depth of the water body a maximum of four feet, and it is designed with proper buoyancy and balance. The size of the water body should be ideally an Olympic sized pool or at least half an acre for a water body such as a lake. Operating silently, the floating Gondola will cause no disturbance to other guests. They can be moved around by the customers with the help of steering pedal located at foot level. But won't this distract guests from the finer nuances of dining? "Six Gondolas (24 pax) is the size of minimum order and this is available for Rs 9 lakhs," he states. Mehta is currently promoting the concept in trade fairs and is also vying luxury restaurants and resorts. He reckons that it is ideal for them as they can charge a premium for guests who would like to dine on the Gondola, or charge by the hour. "There has been a tremendous response from the visitors. We have recently signed up with the Lahiri Green Park Resort in Hyderabad. In addition, we can custom build these to suit the requirements of the client such as soft piped music, a small icebox etc." The life of the Gondola is approximately 8-10 years, though with correct usage he stresses, they can last a lifetime.