The last few years have been tumultuous for the restaurant industry, but things are looking up, according to Anish Mehra, owner of the East India Company in Ottawa. OBJ’s Mia Jensen interviewed Mehra to talk about how things have been going for his restaurants, the positives the industry has to look forward to, and what drives him to do what he does.
The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: How have things been going overall in the last year, coming out of the pandemic?
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Overall, I’d say we’re fortunate. We’ve been in Ottawa for over 20 years now, so we’ve got a good following of people who know us. We had a really great spring, then the summer dipped a bit, which happens as people go on vacations. Now in the fall, it’s starting to pick back up again and we’re starting to see Christmas groups again, more so than in the past; office parties, events and things like that.
Q: There have been a lot of challenges for the restaurant industry lately. What have been the main sticking points for you?
The two big ones that are top of mind for everyone nowadays are one, costs. Being in the restaurant industry, food costs are our main costs and it has the biggest effect on us. Prices have jumped and we haven’t been able to raise our prices to match because we don’t want to scare people away. So that’s been eating a little bit into our profits.
The other big thing that’s on the radar is interest rates, which have been creeping up. We’re starting to see situations where people are cutting back on spending and one of the things they’ll often cut back on is dining out. When they do dine out, they may not have as much. They may not have that beer or that glass of wine. That’s the big challenge. How do you still profit when all your costs have come up and continue to get people out when everyone’s a little bit more conscious of their spending.
Q: With the holiday season coming up, what are you expecting in the coming months?
I’m hoping for a nice Christmas. We’ve had a number of bookings already made and people finalizing their plans. We’re hoping that comes through into January, too, that people will be more over the fears of the last few years and continue to go out and enjoy that post-holiday season rush.
Q: Have you noticed any unexpected positive trends?
A couple of things. One internal thing we’ve noticed is stabilization in the last few months. (Costs) haven’t been shooting up the way they were before. It’s a bit more in line with how it’s been for the past 20 years: small ticks here and there instead of these giant jumps in price. We’re really happy about that.
We’re also happy with staff right now. We’ve been getting staff who are more eager to work, to come in and pick up extra shifts, which is also a nice bonus.
From a customer perspective, we’re seeing groups of guests coming in who want to celebrate and want to be doing more, especially for their staff, that maybe they haven’t been able to do in the last few years.
Q: What’s driving you to keep up what you’re doing right now?
This is our family business. Before I can remember, I was at the restaurants on a daily basis with mom and dad. I love working with people and guests and I love being part of people’s experiences. This year, we had a (marriage proposal) at the restaurant. We catered 11 weddings. I got to be a part of really big days for a lot of people and I love being part of people’s special occasions: birthday parties, weddings, all those events. Now that I’m older, I have the children of guests coming in on their first dates. It’s amazing to see that transition of guests who were children now coming in with dates or, in some cases, their own kids.
