By 2011 over 600,000 additional professionals will be required by the hotels and restaurants industry which offers good money, glamour and growth opportunitiesThe Indian hospitality aka hotel industry is on a roll, powered by a huge surge in business and leisure travel from domestic and foreign tourists. Industry estimates indicate that India is likely to offer 40 international hotel brands to weary travellers by 2011, and over 600,000 additional professionals will be required by the hospitality sector which offers good money, glamour and growth opportunities. Consequently hotel and catering management are emerging as attractive career options for young people.
The Union governments department of tourism promoted a National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT) at Pusa, New Delhi in 1982. NCHMCT conducts a joint entrance examination for admission into the three-year B.Sc degree programmes of 26 government sponsored institutes of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, located in major state capitals and other cities. On the basis of performance in this written examination, candidates are invited for personal interview. The joint entrance examination is usually held in the month of April, for which admission applications are accepted until February.
Apart from these 26 colleges and ten Food Craft institutes affiliated with NCHMCT, other prominent schools offering study programmes in hotel management and catering include those run by major private sector hotel chains — Oberoi, Taj and ITC Welcomgroup. All of them provide excellent postgraduate programmes utilising their hotels as hands-on training establish-ments. Check out the Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development, New Delhi; Indian Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad; and Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Valley View Hotel, Manipal.
Among other reputable private institutes offering hospitality certification programmes are the FHRAI Institute of Hospitality Management, Greater Noida which conducts four-year programmes in international hospitality administration and international culinary administration certified by Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL), Switzerland; M.S. Ramaiah College of Hotel Management, affiliated with Bangalore University which offers a five-year bachelor of hospitality management (BHM) programme and other short duration courses; and the Dina Institute of Hotel Management, Pune which offers a three-year bachelor of hotel management degree and MBA in hospitality management.
Over 2,000 graduates emerge every year from hotel management institutes and almost all of them are recruited on campus by major hotel chains who are only too well aware of the imminent talent crunch in the hospitality sector. In reputable upscale hotel chains a trainee starts on a basic salary of Rs.8,000-10,000 which within five years is likely to swell into a remuneration package of Rs.25,000-30,000 plus liberal perks.
Trained chefs who are at the heart of all catering operations, whether in a hotel or restaurant, can do even better earning Rs.10,000-15,000 per month as trainees and graduating to the position of executive chef with pay packets of Rs.1-2 lakh per month in five star hotels. With incremental globalisation, career opportunities in this field are not limited to India. International hotel chains which offer phenomenal pay packages have recently shown great interest in Indian hospitality professionals.
Moreover, given a few good breaks, a qualified chef could start her own restaurant. Thats the experience of 20-something Kainaz Messman, who broke several glass ceilings when she inaugurated Theobroma, a patisserie-cum-restaurant in south Mumbai, in 2004 after graduating in kitchen management from the Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development, Delhi.
Seven to eight years ago, the role of a chef was limited to gastronomy. Today a chef not only supervises the kitchen, she is often the star attraction and main draw of a restaurant. In India too, this is becoming the norm with many chefs having become celebrities, says Messman, whose pastries, brownies, desserts, chocolates etc fly off the shelves as soon as they arrive.
Born into a foodie family — her mother ran a pastry business from home — Messmans passion for cooking prompted her to enroll in the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering and Applied Technology, Mumbai in 1998 after completion of her Plus Two exam. In 2001, she was selected from among 24 applicants from across the country for admission into the postgrad diploma programme in kitchen management of the Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development, New Delhi which enabled her to receive invaluable training in the groups chain of hotels across India. After graduating in 2003 she was inducted into the Oberoi groups Uday Vilas Hotel, Udaipur as a pastry kitchen executive.
According to Messman, technology has started playing a large role in kitchen management, so a chef must keep herself abreast of the latest kitchen technologies and techniques. One has to constantly learn to progress. Recently, I went to France to learn to make chocolates, croissants and macaroons. I worked for a patisserie in Paris and later a chocolaterie. It was an amazing learning experience, says Messman who plans to promote a chain of patisseries and start a school as well.
Indra Gidwani (Mumbai)