MUSCAT --Fantasy Restaurant is only an year old middle class restaurant in Muscat that has quite scuccessfully attracted the Keralite and non Keralite expatriates due to the quality food served in a hospitable manner. Located just behind the Indian Airlines office on the Ruwi Highstreet, Fantasy was started last year by an enthusiastic young businessman V.K.Latheef, M.K.House, Malayappuram, Kerala from the same premises where at least three Malayali hoteliers could not efficiently run a lower middle class restaurant catering to the lower middle class customers. However, Latheef, who has started the new hotel with a different approach and menu says he has been able to turn around the hotel within one year and started a similar middle class restaurant in Qariyat, some 300 KMs from Muscat.
Matching in quality with any other posh eateries in Ruwi, CBD, Al Khuwair or other areas in Oman, Fantasy Restaurant is fully redesigned. With a new interior decoration and well designed seating arrangements, the lower middle class outlook of the earlier hotels has totally changed.
Latheef, a qualified diploma electrical engineer, has been doing hotel business in Madras for the last one decade. His chain of restaurants and hotels in Madras -- Deccan Hotel of Madras, Hotel Park Way and Hotel Rolex of Purushottam and Thamparam, Hotel White of Poonnamalli, Hotel Empire of Red Hills and Hotel Mount Park of St Thomas Mount have been successful. According to Latheef, his father in law V.K.Alawi has been in hotel business for the last three decades. Since his hotel ventures, has been successful in Madras, he has diversified to some new businesses like Internet café also.
Different look -- Fantasy Restaurant is neat and clean.
Six months after starting the first hotel in Muscat, he has started a similar restaurant, Top Form Restaurant, at Qariyat where large number of Indians work. "We have studied the market and found that while the quality of food served is comparable and sometimes even better than other hotels, the rates are relatively better than others," he said, adding that Fantasy Restaurant is using the same or better quality rice and other items to prepare food. Latheef is assisted by his brothers who are working in Muscat.
Fresh food is served. Customers dont mind waiting to get hot items. On Fridays the hotel is almost full in the evening. More than 50 people can be accommodated at a time and there is a special family room. Fantasy Restaurant is an ideal eatery during the busy shopping days. There is no hype and publicity normally associated with a middle class restaurant.
"We plan to start catering service and home delivery mess service soon. "We charge only RO 22 for three times food. Soon we will introduce have catering and mess services," he said. Latheef hails from Malappuram (M.K. House)
LG Electronics Gulf Wins Super 'A' Award
(L to R) M B Shin, Mathew Vincent, Abdul Jabar Al Sayegh, PC Choi, Atul Verma and SS Lee.
Dubai- 23 December 2002 LG Electronics recently concluded its 'Super A' 2002 competition and rewarded LGE Gulf FZE for its outstanding success in adopting the global and regional digital leader's marketing vision for 2002.
LGEGF Managing Director, Mr P. C. Choi, said the enthusiasm of his team had made 2002 the most successful year ever for the Jebel Ali operation. "We support a network of distributors and dealers across the entire GCC and our marketing vision this year needed buy-in from them all. Everyone in the team has worked extremely hard as is recognised by this award," said Choi.
More than 150 senior LG managers from around the region, its dealer and distribution partners as well as advertising and public relations consultants attended the meeting, which determined an accelerated marketing approach for 2003."We have set ourselves ambitious sales targets for next year, most particularly in the mobile phone arena where we aim to sell a million phones throughout the Middle East and Africa," explained Mr M.B. Shin, President, LG Electronics' Middle East & Africa Operations.
"Ambitious targets require an aggressive and highly creative marketing approach which will be strongly customer-focussed and impact all of our business segments from marketing to distribution and after-sales. "To meet and even exceed these targets, we have to recognise the successes from this year and motivate our teams on to even greater results next year." (keralamonitor.com)
