26 yrs of catering for all events, occasions

Hyderabad: Gayathri catering services has completed 26 years in the catering service business in Hyderabad. KNV Sitaramaiah, the founder of this service has now served many of the people in the city and also outside the city with their food.

They use to serve up to 130 varieties including South Indian, North Indian, Continental and much more in Vegetarian. Being a veggie, Sitaramaiah never stepped into non-vegetarian section. Let us listen to his inspiring tale of success.

How it all began

I was born in East Godavari and brought up in Hyderabad in a family with six siblings. I am the only person who came into business. My interest in this field started when I was standard 9. My father-in-law VVK Sastry, founder of Shanmukha Caterers, was the person who influenced me.

In the early days, I used to accompany him and before I knew I was hooked to the business. I finished my B.Com from Sanghi College of Commerce and got a job in Government services in 1987.

Though many from family, friends and colleagues tried to dissuade me but I left my job and entered this field. I received my first order on December 31, 1991. My mother and my wife were worried about my future at that time but my father's unflinching support saw me through.

It gives me a high when people enjoy food

I am totally satisfied as my main motto is to make the people happy. I move around the dining hall and see the reactions of the people while they eat. I feel very satisfied when I see a smile on their face. We are serving generations of families. More than a business, it's a passion for me.

We also serve large gatherings especially when we receive government orders. On these occasions, people come in buses from far-off places with tired faces and when they praise us for our food, the feeling is unexplainable.

For the past two to three years, we have not been accepting many orders as we want to maintain quality. When we take an order for a marriage, we are very careful as it is such a special occasion. We make double sure of the recipe and stick to it.

Service with a smile is our success mantra

I can confidently say that the success mantra of Gayathri Catering Services is serving the food with smile. There was never an occasion when we said that a particular item is exhausted as we plan well and have mastered the analysis management. So there is no shortage of any food till date. We also ask people regarding their native place and go the extra yard to serve food according to their taste.

Competition became intense in recent times

In recent times, competition has increased in this field. Customers negotiate the price which is not possible with our quantity. There are many new entrants in the market who quote low price but we believe in quality and do not compromise. Man power management too has become the major deal with the increase in competition.

My inspirations

The major person is my father-in-law VVK Sastry who guided me in every aspect from the beginning. His guidelines are always helpful. In recent times, Gourav caterers Manikanth in his hygiene and also Akshaya Caterers Srinivas in manpower management are the biggest inspirations.

Manpower management biggest challenge

For the people who are planning to come into this field, the biggest deal before him is to manage the manpower and time and also to assess the quantity of food required. It should be calculated even with time of wedding and place of wedding also. The final aspect was we should never work for money. If we work for service, definitely we can gain profits.

We never gave an advertisement to develop our business, publicity should be done from the hearts. People who eat our food should praise us which brings much more orders for us. We use to travel our journey in this manner and we carry forward with no changes.

Every day is a testing day

In this field, every day is an exam. If the concentration of any item changes, the end product will be disaster. So we have to be careful each and every moment to keep our good will. This commitment towards my work made me successful in this business.

Social service is a part of our ethos

At the time of floods supplied rice packets to the needy. We also encourage our staff members at the time of the construction of their houses, at the time of marriages of their children, etc. We even don't waste our food which is left in the functions – we try to distribute them to the orphanages, old age homes, etc.