Either by neglect or lack of management prowess, Tamil Nadu’s iconic restaurant chain Hotel Saravana Bhavan (HSB) seems to be sliding downwards.
From the time of the death of its founder, Pitchai Rajagopal, Tamil Nadu’s most iconic chain of restaurants, Hotel Saravana Bhavan (HSB), appears to have fallen into steep decline. The pandemic has added salt to the wound and the brand has taken a reputational hit. People in the know say that the business of HSB isn’t being run with the same passion like it used to be.
Several outlets closed…
HSB has cut down on major outlets in Chennai – Anna Nagar, K K Nagar, OMR and T Nagar. In other places the restaurants have been moved to smaller, off-the-main road premises, or shrunk to save on rent.
HSB is a pioneer in Tamil Nadu’s chain of vegetarian restaurants. Since its inception in the 1980s and right till the first decade of this century, HSB has been the go-to place for any hungry person, for a plate of bliss. Rajagopal’s reputation for debauchery and his later conviction in a sensational murder case did little to dent the restaurant chain’s huge clientele, which loved its delicious foods for their quality and cleanliness.
The rot set in soon after Rajagopal’s death. Just months after HSB was in the dock for defaulting on the mandatory contributions to employees’ PF and insurance, to the tune of Rs 20 crore. The T Nagar outlet was closed, ostensibly for want of parking space.
Then came the pandemic…
Although all restaurant chains were affected, the impact seems to have been disastrous on HSB. In the post-pandemic times of today, when most restaurants have recovered, HSB is just about half full, as this writer witnessed in several outlets, including in prized locations such as R K Salai, Mylapore and Vadapalani.
It all started in 1981, when Rajagopal bought a failed restaurant called Kamatchi Bhavan and renamed it Saravana Bhavan. In the 1990s, he adopted the McDonald’s model of successful multi-cuisine fast food joints for his business. The HSB chain spread all over Chennai.
Frenetic expansion across the globe…
Whatever Rajagopal was a damn good entrepreneur, one who was always fully hands-on. Between 2001 and 2019, HSB saw growth on a massive scale, expanding overseas at Oman, Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, USA… HSB operated 78 branches across 22 countries in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North America and the Middle-East.
After his death, either by neglect or lack of management prowess, the restaurant chain seems to be sliding downwards. In his days, despite his bad reputation, Annachi (as he was affectionately addressed), commanded respect and implicit following; the same cannot be said for his sons today. The quality of food has also declined.
A reviewer writes tellingly: “disastrous HSB.” There are several restaurant chains in Chennai- A2B, Sangeetha or even the iconic Ratna Cafe at Triplicane and Geeta Cafe at Pondy Bazar. At 2 pm, check any HSB and you will find empty tables, unhygienic staff in equally unclean premises greeting the patrons. A far cry from it’s hey days!
Little is known about the company’s finances, given the opaque holding structure that is common among private companies in India. A paid search for Saravana Bhavan Ltd’s finances throws up a 2018-19 filing, revealing a negative net worth of Rs 22.59 lakh and a negative EBITDA of Rs 30,500 – obviously, pertaining to one of the rings of a complex web of holdings. However, all circumstantial evidence point to a substantial decline in the restaurant chain’s fortunes with closure of four of its five outlets in K K Nagar, where it all began.
It can recover…
Not all is lost for HSB. Its reputation has been dented, not lost. With deft, hands-on management, a turnaround is not impossible, feels an HSB manager. During the pandemic HSB collaborated with the Tamil Nadu government in providing food for Covid-19 patients in hospitals. HSB has kept the engine running. In a conversation R Rajesh, an official at HSB pointed out that the entire industry took a beating during the pandemic and that decline in business is not exclusive to the chain: “We haven’t lost customers to competitors; we’ve lost customers to the lockdown,” he said. Welcome optimism and loyalty in such a dire strait. – R S Sumedh
