Shashank Dev SondhiRoll No. : 86Subject: OMSI

Piping hot service lessons at Bobby Dhaba

2Introduction

B O B B Y D H A B A S T U D Y

INTRODUCTION

When food and its quality become paramountly important there are some things that can be

negated. In the midst of the urban hubbub the most rustic of ambience receives a roaring

response. Consistent quality of cooking and food ensures that the customers keep coming and

pure word-of-mouth publicity establishes a long-standing reputation which, through sheer

determination and consistent growth has remained untainted.

Bobby Dhaba is just such an establishment. If one were to replicate it then setting it up would

take not more than a day in constituents of ambience. The hut in which it resides would not

require more than 2 weeks’ labor to construct while the food would fall in the category of

simple and plain making it sound something readily available. But still, with Bobby Dhaba being

located in Ulsoor Lake, which the average individual would describe as an out-of-the-way

location, it is a matter of appreciation to see that the people who come to this “seedy”

establishment are ardent fans of it - students, families of the Upper Middle Class and Middle

Class cadre and better-off. These are people you would expect to frequent the cliché fast food

establishments, people who would be the in-crowd at KFCs and McDonalds. But you’ll see them

waiting obediently in line at Bobby Dhaba. They are regulars but still they receive no special

treatment, they are very important people but to Bobby they are just as important as any other

customer. That is one of the reasons they are patrons of this Dhaba.

SERVICE ELEMENTS

LOCATION

Giving people the address of Bobby Dhaba is very difficult. After all how do you give the address

of a shack next to a Gurudwara? It doesn’t even have a name board yet. Compared to the road

outside which is well-lit, the shack is in darkness. So lets try and describe the way to the Dhaba.

When you approach the Ulsoor lake Gurdwara from the front, keeping the Gurudwara to your

right take the road going down rather than the flyover. Immediately after crossing the white

3Introduction

wall of the Gurudwara look to the left. Instead of closed doors if you see a six feet wide and five

feet tall doorway into a decrepit shack then you have are at the entrance of Bobby Dhaba.

ORDERING METHOD

Uniqueness being the watchword here,

on the wall next to the entrance there

will be a short menu of only 14 to 20

food items, uniquely there is no price

written next to them probably so as to

prevent haggling over the price. To the

left of the entrance is a small staircase

leading down to a lower mezzanine

where there are 5 tables each capable of

seating 4 people. At the waiting level

there is one table which can seat six

people where the quick orders and

parties of one are served. If the

customer is ravenously hungry then a

quick order for kheer ( a There are four

servers of whom two handle the taking of

the orders while two wait on tables. Every customer or customer group must choose a name to

represent their group. Stating that at the top of the order chit the customer then cites the items

from the menu and their quantity and submits the chit to Bobby. Bobby writes the menu in an

abbreviated encoded form in a register and queues the chit into a stack of chits under the

register. Once the customers are seated then the reference name also has a table number

allotted to it. Future orders placed with the waiters are added to the initial item list ordered by

the customer.

FIGURE 2: THE DHABA AT RUSH HOUR

QUEUEING (ORDERS AND CUSTOMERS)

AND WAITING

All the while, keeping his register as a reference and

hazarding an occasional glance at the customer

rush, the customers will see him shouting orders to

FIGURE 1: MENU BOARD

4Introduction

the kitchen where two to three men are working on the items that he is dictating. While taking a

food item out of the kitchen, every waiter asks him where to deliver it wherein Bobby tells them

which table and then dictates the next item to the kitchen. (Note: Although McDonalds at Forum

has something similar it suffers from a bottle-neck due to compulsory double-entry into the

electronic system which depends on the server’s skill. Bobby has removed this issue by being fast at

writing and encoding the order in a format quick to use by him. One disadvantage is that the speed

of service suffers in the absence of the owner.)

Once a table is empty then on a FCFS (First-come-first-serve) basis the customers are ushered to

the table.

The capacity of the Dhaba is enough to be addressed properly by the single serving counter.

At times a “fresher” may come up to the counter and ask him to hurry up with the order for

which, in the same voice and tone which he uses to address the other customers and tell them

about the waiting time when they hand in their chits, Bobby will tell him “Charli minit lagenge ji

maharaj” <(Maharaj for courtesy) it will take

forty minutes> This is his way of preventing

Baulking.

As a result of sheer word-of-mouth publicity

the entire queue has come for the sake of

eating food. As a result reneging is out of the

option. Occasionally, if a customer has to

cancel an order then it must be done after

submitting the chit and before sitting down. If

the customer has over-ordered then it is the

customer’s responsibility to package the food

or to let it go to waste.

The authentic Punjabi nature of Bobby, his

cloaked respect to every customer in true

genuine homogeneity and frankness and the

taste and simplicity of the food are what

make this an experience worth experiencing.

Some people are hooked and although they are Punjabi and will make similar food at home,

when the lady of the house is not feeling like cooking then Bobby Dhaba is the place where they

come. Most of the waiting happens on the road in front of the Dhaba. In the event that too many

FIGURE 3: THE MAN HIMSELF (BOBBY)

5Introduction

customers enter the shop the customers will hear Bobby tell them “Maharaj Dhuaan ko bahar

jaan di jagah te do.”<(Maharaj out of courtesy) please leave some room for the smoke to go out.>

No queue disciplining or standing in line here. Once the customers are given their estimated

waiting time their position in the queue is secure. Of course, if they are not available when their

reference name is called then it becomes another 40 minutes of waiting for the next table to be

empty.

HYGIENE

Looking at the state of the Dhaba’s structure and its furniture one of the worries in every new

customer’s mind is the hygiene and cleanliness that is being followed.

An example that can reinforce a worrying customer’s faith in the sense of hygiene is the bowl of

kheer that Bobby keeps on his counter. At the very most there will be one fly hovering over it.

Otherwise there are no insects in the vicinity of the place. (Note: Comparing this to the average

fast-food restaurant such as Shanti Sagar, Sukh Sagar, and, in electronic city, Maaji Sagar, it speak

s very highly of the freshness of the food and the cleanliness of the surroundings of the food as

well.)

The taste of the food is authentic Punjabi. This is not declared anywhere in the menu or on any

shop board (as there isn’t any). It is left to the customer to experience first-hand.

6Introduction

QUALITY AT THE CENTRE OF IT ALL

Simplicity is key to the service delivery at Bobby Dhaba as it is the heart and soul of it. Being a

person who only studied till the 12th grade, Bobby can be hailed as the representation of

services grass-root nature. His pricing is simplistic. Approximately Rs. 15 - 25 is charged for

every item. So as to get an idea about the pricing’s low margin nature let us consider the menu

which I sampled with a friend which was:

Item Quantity Price at Bobby DhabaPrice at a normal fast food

hotel

Paneer stuffed

Paranthas3 45 66

Muli (Radish) stuffed

paranthas1 15 20

Alu stuffed Parantha 1 15 20

Palak Paneer 1 25 40 to 50

Dal Makhani 1 25 40 to 50

Mathha ( also called

Chhaas or butter

milk)

3 glasses 45 90 ( considering quantity)

Kheer 1 15 20 to 25

Total 185 296 to 321

Additionally he serves complementary salad and pickle. On asking for extra butter (which may

be more unhealthy as they give a more-than-sufficient amount anyway) a customer will receive

a thick sliver approximately 3 teaspoons wide served on a tea spoon.

Although the food is simple in presentation it is far from unattractive due to the quality control

done in the kitchen. Bobby’s mother or, at times, his grand-mother takes care of that. One of

them is always there to tell the cooks whether they are working correctly or making a mistake.

To ice the cake creamier than anywhere else, the food is served piping hot. Testament to this is

the butter which tops most dishes and can be seen in various stages of mouth-watering melting.

Occasionally there is an error in service wherein the item is returned to the kitchen without any

haggling with the customer. Au contraire the server is chided for not listening to the customer.

The reason that Bobby can make this decision as to whether the waiter is mistaken or not is

because he assigns the ref name in his register a table number once the customer is seated. In

7Introduction

the event that the customer is mistaken he has the original order. Subsequent orders are placed

through the waiters so if it is not in the initial list then he assumes that the waiter must have

made a mistake in listening to the order.

RECENT NEWS – “EXPANSION”

In recent times Bobby has decided to relocate the Dhaba to the opposite side of the lake. As a

result he may have had to hand over the shop occasionally so if he is not behind the counter the

service may suffer a little but the quality of food will remain the same. He assures his customers

that the number of seats will be more (estimates it to be a 150-Seater) so they will have more

room and less time for waiting. But even he knows by now that they don’t mind waiting as the

food is worth both the wait and the money.

8Introduction

ONLINE REFERENCES FOR THIS REPORT

These are proof of the pure word-of-mouth fanaticism of Bobby Dhaba:

1. Chaas at Bobby Dhaba on Flickr – Photo Sharing (link:

www.flickr.com/photos/bluesmoon/6808623/) Note: Those big glasses are filled to the

brim with Chaas ( for West Indians) or Mattha (for North-Indians) or peppery butter-milk

(for South Indians)

2. Restaurant reviews from the moon (http://bluesviews.blogspot.com/2007/11/bobby-

dhaba.html)

… and many more. Just Google it.