Welcome to our continuing series Restaurant & Cafe Mavericks. In this series we get up close and personal with some of the industry’s shining stars responsible for the ongoing transformation of the restaurant & cafe scene across Asia.
Join us here as we go in for a no-holds-barred discussion with Paras Kapoor, General Manager Braseiro Restaurant located at 333 Joo Chiat Rd in Singapore.
Paras Kapoor was born in North India and came to Singapore as a student pursuing higher education. He was accepted to study at the London School of Business and Finance, (LSBF) a global institution offering full-time and part-time degrees, diploma, ACCA, and MBA degrees in a variety of disciplines, where he completed the Diploma and Advance Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism Management.
After graduating LSBF, he secured an internship with Furama Riverfront in Singapore. Paras’ career flourished over the following 4 years with an interest in leadership which secured him Restaurant Management roles which has led him to forging a dedicated career as the General Manager at Singapore’s much loved traditional French eatery, Braseiro Restaurant located in Joo Chiat.
Paras shares in discussion, “I love the way the industry encourages me to put my personality out there. Most importantly in my first internship, while working in the Singapore Furama Riverfront Hotel, I had the honour of working with colleagues and customers from all over the world. Despite the hardships and long hours, the internship provided me with a fantastic opportunity to meet new people daily, to get to know about their lives and their stories. The internship helped me develop a passion in service and shaped my decision to join the hospitality industry.”
Paras shared that he felt all the people he has met across the industry in the past decade have taught him to maximise his working capabilities based on the sharing, and transference of knowledge which has helped enrich his ability to multi-task and feel comfortable leading a team.
He believes the key skills in his “job description” are to be able to communicate and work with people of varying ethnicities, backgrounds, and capabilities – as one big team, adhere to a strict Service Operational Procedure (SOP), so all team members know exactly what is expected of them, and to be on the ball with cost savings to lessen expenses. But above all – to have patience, an ability to teach, inspire and lead your team and most importantly understanding our customers’ needs.
“The hospitality industry allows you to develop yourself – professionally, and personally. Not only do you continuously hone, or sharpen your professional skills, with time and commitment, you gain new knowledge due to the vast variety of colleagues, customers and situations that put you to the test.”
“I love hospitality so much! It’s simple to explain - it’s fun and I love the environment I have trained to be in such as understanding the team dynamics and juggling different responsibilities. The feeling you have when you start out as an intern full of excitement with your eyes wide open, and work your way in to a management position, it’s incredibly satisfying for me.”
Paras was the second full timer at Braseiro when he started in 2018, after his internship at Furama Riverfront. “I’m blessed to have had the opportunity to work and now manage Braseiro as well as manage our sister café located opposite, Burger Frites. Today, we have 20+ staff across both outlets.” After three years working at Braseiro, Paras was promoted to General Manager. He has worked and trained many Restaurant Managers, Chefs, mentored interns, and trained front of house staff in providing excellence in customer service.
“Through the pandemic there have been many ups and downs. We created a strong bond as a team and re-engineered the business to ensure my team would be able to work through the past two years. During Covid, we managed to adapt and continue the business through online platforms, for example, using social media to promote our food to more customers and working with delivery platforms to great success, and the promotion of our takeaway menu. It was also a challenging time to find experienced, reliable staff. Every three months we would have to hire new part-timers, who are mostly students, and we would train them in our SOP. The process can be time consuming, but necessary to ensure we provided the service level our customer’s demand.”
We asked Paras what he felt are the essential qualities to be successful in the food & beverage industry, his quick response, “Love of food is a must,” he says with a wide grin, sharing his infectious easy-going personality. “Passion for all things food is very important and a key factor in running a successful restaurant or café. It is important to cultivate a great work culture with your team, and to notice every single detail. You need to take ownership. As the restaurant manager, I must organise all elements of day-to-day running of the business from helping with purchasing of the produce with chef, and operationally, scheduling staff. It is all about customer and employee experience - we want our guests to enjoy the food we prepare, and serve with love, and our staff to enjoy coming to work and being part of a well-oiled, fun, and caring environment.
