Pune, 23 September: Zomato, the restaurant search and discovery platform, held the Pune chapter of the Zomato Summit and User Choice Awards 2015 today, September 22nd. The Summit witnessed a gathering of over 500 seasoned restaurant owners, senior marketing professionals and industry visionaries.
Held at The Westin, Pune the Summit featured the who’s who of the F&B industry. The Summit comprised of 2 panel discussions – the first 6 months of running a restaurant and on how to acquire the next 100 customers.
The panelists on the session for “The first 6 months of running a restaurant” included – Praful Chandawarkar (Founder, Malaka Spice), Ravish Arora (Co-Founder, Inn-Venue Hospitality – Baker’s Basket/ Polka Dots/ Incognito), Gaurav Rajesh Gite (Brand Owner & First Employee – Marrakesh/ The Shawarma Factory/ Habibi) and Raj Mehta (Chairman & Managing Director, Little Italy).
There was also a session on how to manage reviews on social platforms like Zomato by Surobhi Das, Zomato COO.
The second panel discussion touched upon how restaurant businesses should acquire the next 100 customers. The panelists for this session were T. J. Venkateshwaran (Managing Director, Rian Hospitalities), Sandy Singh (Euriska, Swig & Prems), Suketu Talekar (1st Brewhouse,Pune & Taproom, Mumbai), Chef Shailendra Kekade (GM & Executive Chef, Stone Water Grill) and Vicky Ratnani (Author, Celebrity Chef & Culinary Consultant).
In her keynote, Surobhi Das took a look back at the exponential growth Zomato has seen over the past year, the upcoming products and ancillary services – giving everyone a peek into what’s in store in the coming few months.
The key highlight of the summit was the unveiling of the first edition of Zomato‘s Users Choice Awards. The winners for Pune are:-
Best Bars & Pubs – High Spirits
Best Debut – German Bakery Wunderbar
Desserts – Kayani Bakery
European & Mediterranean – Arthur’s Theme
Highest Rated Restaurant – Pagdandi Books Chai Cafe
Most Checked-in – Cafe Goodluck
Most Photographed – German Bakery
Most Reviewed – Frozen Monkey
Outdoor Dining – Carnival Restaurant and Bar
Pan-Asian – Malaka Spice
Romantic – Frangipani – Ambrosia Resort and Spa
Seafood – Nisarg
Student Favourites – Cafe Goodluck
Terrific Thalis – Sukanta
Veggie Friendly – Little Italy
