In February 2016, Rahul Sajnani, owner of Moshi, a fusionrestaurant in the Al Barsha area of Dubai, was pondering ways tomake people more aware of his restaurant and its unique menu. Ahands-on entrepreneur in his twenties, Rahul was not only involvedin the day-to-day running of his restaurant, but he personallytrained his staff and had developed the menu from scratch. The onlyproblem with this level of involvement was that it left Rahul withlittle time to take care of marketing and branding. It wasimperative for a new restaurant to become known in the market, butbeing a unique restaurant in Al Barsha was a challenge. Rahul’sdiscussions from the previous night with Khushboo, Moshi’s head ofmarketing and social media, had brought several issues to the fore.While Moshi’s menu was unique, with options such as cheesy chipsOman maki rolls, prawn tempura maki rolls, and pero pero mushroommomos, these items had no precedent in the market, which meant thatthe patrons had no idea what was good and what was not. How couldMoshi grow in the industry with offerings that were so unique?Would the restaurant’s innovative nature be an asset or aliability? What sort of marketing strategy should Rahul adopt? Thusfar, Rahul had relied on word-of-mouth publicity, but he wonderedwhether this practice would be adequate, going forward. As theowner of a start- up, he did not want to invest in advertising, sowhat were his alternative options? Because Rahul and Khushbooplanned to open another restaurant in Dubai’s Oud Mehta locality,the first question they asked themselves was whether it was time tocreate a chain of Moshi restaurants or whether they should give thenew location a completely different feel and target a specificcustomer segment. Khushboo pointed out that Moshi did not have aclear positioning in terms of its menu (see Exhibit 1), whichconsisted of Rahul’s fusion of Nepalese and Japanese cuisines. Thenext question pertained to increasing the product range. On the onehand, Rahul was happy that his dream of opening a restaurant with aunique cuisine had turned into a reality and that his start-up wasgetting a good response from customers. On the other hand, he facedsome critical questions with respect to fostering th growth of hisrestaurant within a highly competitive industry. The InceptionRahul Sajnani started Moshi in Dubai’s Al Barsha locality in July2015. The story behind the name of the restaurant was asinteresting as the one behind its origin. That the restaurantspecialized in fusion was evident from its name, Moshi, aportmanteau of “momo” and “sushi.” The distinctness of thisrestaurant lay in its dishes, which were noticeably different fromthe ones found in conventional restaurants. The restaurant abidedby all the rules of the municipality. From the SAP-certifiedequipment for quality and safety to putting expiry dates on foodcontents, Rahul ensured that there were no lapses. He paid strictattention to the guidelines related to such things asspecifications on the ratio of dining versus kitchen space andregulations about chefs changing their food-handling gloves everyfour hours. As in any other metro city, eating out was popular inDubai. In one of his conversations, Rahul mentioned that, wheneating out, people invariably ended up choosing fast food. Thisobservation led to four distinct seeds of thought that became thebasis on which Moshi was founded: (1) Why could eating out not behealthy? (2) Why did items like sushi have to be available only ina fine-dining setup? (3) When it came to sushi, why were therefewer options for vegetarians? (4) Why should eating out beexpensive? Born and raised in Dubai, Rahul had gone on to finishhis higher education in London, England. From then until now, therehad always been one constant in Rahul’s life—his love for food, notjust eating but also feeding others. Always happy to share his loveof good cuisine, Rahul recalled how, during his student years, theresponsibility of finding out where to eat and what to eatinvariably fell on his shoulders whenever he spent time withfriends. This love for finding new cuisines, new tastes, andfeeding others had given Rahul’s passion a new dimension. Rahul’sfamily was vegetarian, and whenever he proposed eating sushi, hisfamily had a difficult time finding a place that could accommodatetheir needs. Vegetarians had fewer choices, and the few they didhave often mandated eating with chopsticks, which many founduncomfortable. Rahul wanted to do away with these hindrances.Rahul’s ponderings and the limitations of popular Japanese fare forvegetarians led Rahul to open Moshi in July 2015, over a year sincethe idea had first come to him in March 2014. After completing hisstudies in London, Rahul could have opted to join his familybusiness in Dubai or take up another career of his choosing;however, he decided to open his own restaurant and convert hisculinary passion into a profession. When the restaurant opened, itwas no surprise that sushi formed one of the major items on themenu, including several options for vegetarians. “Pending Meal”Program Moshi opened in July 2015, which coincided with the holymonth of Ramadan.1 Rahul’s philanthropic mindset made himcollaborate with Dubai resident Sara Rizvi, the woman who hadfounded the concept of the “pending meal,”2 based on the idea of“pending coffee,” which had been very successful in Italy.3 AtMoshi, 5 per cent of the total amount from every sale, includingdine-in, take-out, and home delivery, went toward giving a meal tothe needy. Rahul aimed to achieve his target of 500 pending mealsby September 12, 2015 (see Exhibit 2). He chose local constructionworkers as his recipients, going to construction sites anddistributing free meals to the workers there. Moshi managed toreach 443 patron-funded meals on September 12, 2015, and Rahulrounded up that number to 500 by adding 57 meals on his own.Although news of the “pending meal” drive was posted on Moshi’ssocial media platforms, Rahul insisted he had not launched theprogram for advertising purposes but as a corporate socialresponsibility initiative. His next pending meal plan, with atarget of 1,200 meals by February 2016, was even more ambitious,but Moshi managed to surpass that goal, achieving 1,600 meals byFebruary 14, 2016. The Menu The restaurant’s fusion theme was anaccurate reflection of Dubai’s booming expatriate culture.4 Rahuldivided his menu into eight sections, incorporating dishes fromvarious origins such as Arab (cheesy chips Oman maki rolls), Thai(Thai green curry maki rolls), and Indian (chicken tikka makirolls, paneer and spinach momo5); classics like chicken momo; andfalafel sushi6 and other offerings that challenged any attempt atclassification. Pricing The chefs made everything fresh after theplacement of an order. Rahul’s aim was to debunk the myth thatgood-quality food had to be expensive, and hence, everything onMoshi’s menu was reasonably priced, providing value for money interms of service and taste. A meal for two at Moshi cost around AED80.7 Location Moshi was located in a rented space in the upscale AlBarsha area, a part of new Dubai. Because of the innumerablecommercial and residential buildings in the locality, manyrestaurants had sprung up to cater to the workers and residents ofthe area. After much thought, Rahul had chosen this particularlocation for Moshi because of its centrality and accessibility (seeExhibit 3). Ambience Rahul planned the interior of the restaurantwith the help of a designer friend. The ambience was one that wouldappeal to a young adult or a college student but would accommodateand welcome families as well. Rahul liked to describe therestaurant’s setting as “cool, comfortable, and trendy.” At Moshi,people could eat with forks, spoons, or chopsticks—whatever theyfelt comfortable with. The trendy atmosphere was preserved throughthe contemporary furniture and the cutlery. Staff and ServiceMoshi’s staff strength of 18 included nine chefs, four drivers forhome deliveries, two cashiers, one operations manager, onemarketing manager, and Rahul himself, the owner. The restaurantfocused on diversity to ensure that it would appeal to a variety ofethnicities. Moshi employed people of Kenyan, Ugandan, Ghanaian,Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, and Filipino descent, as well asothers. Rahul provided the required training to his employees,focusing on soft skills to provide superior customer service. Forexample, the employees were asked to remember the names of regularcustomers, and they were empowered to be customer-centric whiledealing with patrons. The employees received training in hardskills as well, such as learning how to use the cash register andserve food. They were provided with competitive salaries, medicalbenefits, accommodation, and free food during their shift. Thestaff was given days off in rotation, which was a common practicein the restaurant industry in Dubai. They were also givenincentives, such as movie tickets and gift coupons. The restaurantwas small, but the fast turnaround time—service in 15minutes—ensured a good management of customer queues; additionally,the staff always engaged with the customers who were waitingoutside. For instance, they served tea to customers waiting for atable or took orders so that when each customer’s turn came, theirfood was ready and they did not have to wait. The average footfallfor dine-in traffic on weekdays was around 50 patrons per day,increasing to 90 per day on weekends. Marketing Rahul’s hands-onapproach in the restaurant led to a good rapport with all patronsand even one-time-only visitors; he often utilized their feedbackto develop new dishes and to tweak dishes to suit his customers’tastes. Customization was a prime option provided at Moshi. Theidea was to use personal selling and interaction to build rapport,in turn encouraging word-of-mouth recommendations. Although theword-of- mouth publicity worked to a considerable extent, Rahulknew it was not enough, so he ensured online visibility throughFacebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, making sure to keep thesites current with regular posts and offers. As an added incentive,Moshi collaborated with a nearby parking lot to provide freeparking for visitors to make it convenient for them to come to therestaurant. Competitors Rahul believed that, given the uniquenature of its offerings, Moshi had no competition; however, itslocation pitted it against many other restaurants in the vicinity,not to mention the regions covered by restaurants that offered homedelivery. Exhibit 4 lists those restaurants that could beconsidered Moshi’s major competitors. The Problem Moshi reported aturnover of $170,000 by December 2015, with a net profit of$37,000. Rahul was planning to invest an additional $400,000 tosupport his expansion and marketing plan. He realized that the menuat Moshi served the palate of many nationalities and was notrestricted to just one, and that was how he had intended it tobe—catering to all palates; however, that characteristic also madeit difficult to identify where Moshi’s market actually lay. Brandidentification became tough because the expatriate community had nounderstanding of the Moshi brand or menu. While the neighboringcompetitors had a very clear demarcation of their respectiveclientele, Moshi had the potential to either steal their clienteleor risk being lost in the crowd. As Rahul pondered thepossibilities for the new restaurant he wanted to open in OudMehta, all these issues posed some concern. Rahul had to thinkcarefully about how to market his uniquely diverse offerings to themulticultural population of Dubai. Was he truly in a monopolisticmarket, or was that a false notion? Was Moshi’s product rangeconducive to segmentation and effective marketing? Should Moshirestrict itself to its unique menu, or should it expand the menu tocater to a larger set of customers?
1. DESCRIBE the ways Rahul Sajnani, owner of Moshi, was ahands-on entrepreneur and EXPLAIN the problem that created.
2. IDENTIFY the challenge Moshi faced due to its menu andDESCRIBE how it affected the marketing strategy.
3. EVALUATE two ways Sajnani ensured Moshi’s service and staffbecame the backbone of the restaurant.
