With over two decades of experience under his sleeves, Mumbai-born and bred Manoj Jangid, has taken over the reins of Fairfield by Marriott Kolkata. Fresh and focussed, Jangid has already started executing his vision and has a bouquet of plans. Here’s a candid chat with the Mumbaikar.
Welcome to Calcutta, you arrived right before the party season. How was experience?
It was an electrifying experience planning the Christmas and New Year’s Eve bash at Fairfield by Marriott Kolkata and Ozone Convention Centre. The success of the festive events goes to my dynamic team, without them this was impossible. I am blessed to have these rockstars working with me to achieve our vision.
There were a lot of things which we did for the first time. For instance, this was the first time we hosted the cake mixing ceremony and we did it differently. Usually, it is done in a very flashy manner in other hotels but we thought to make it special and invited young underprivileged children from one of the local NGOs. We had around 30 to 35 odd participants and we all had great fun. I think it was a great idea to give it back to the society. Also, we did the Christmas tree lighting for the first time in the hotel, which is again very well received. We had around 45 to 50 participants from the hotel and the white decor got everyone excited.
I can’t thank my Calcutta guests enough for making our New Year’s Eve event such a huge success. This was one of the hotel’s most successful events ever since ‘Shaadi By Marriott’ event in August 2022.
How’s Calcutta treating you?
The vibe is very vibrant and extremely positive. It’s for the first time that I am moving out of Mumbai, my hometown, and away from my family so, I was a little worried but I’m settling down well. The city has accepted me well and I have got a great welcome from the team. So, I’m happy that I’m not feeling lost. I’ve been travelling all my life and Calcutta has been on my bucket list because it’s a city rich in culture and heritage. I’m a Scorpion and Scorpions are allowed to stick. So this is why I’m aligned with the city. I am a foodie with a sweet tooth and I love exploring new cuisines so, I made sure I try all the famous sweetmeats here including the rasogullah and the mishti doi. So after working in Mumbai for 20 years, for different bands, I feel I have arrived in a place where I can do work at my pace. Again, but you know, pushing the team to elevate themselves, making sure that I’m handholding them to reach to a level where they will also grow.
What is your main area of expertise, and how do you intend to apply it here?
So, as I said, I’m an F&B professional. I’ve done multiple openings in Mumbai and during my tenure I got an opportunity to open multiple bars. So, beverage is my expertise. However, that doesn’t discount my expertise the food business. Being into the industry for the past 20 years, I intend to utilise my skills and bring about small changes to start with that will have a larger impact in terms of revenue, capitalising our market share, reaching out to more people.... My predecessors have done a lot in terms of reaching out in the market and I just need to now elevate from where they left.
I have learnt that Calcutta people prefer having a stopgap arrangement moving around to places where you have a bouquet of bars and restaurants. And this place hardly has any competition around, the closest competition here is Salt Lake city which is one-and-a-half or two kilometres from the hotel. So, that is something which I feel is an opportunity to create a vibe. This is a corporate hub so, our focus in 2023 will be getting small groups to come together and celebrate big and small moments like birthday parties, anniversaries, promotion, farewell and the like. Winter is still here for some more time so we intend to go all out in terms of promoting and capitalise on revenue there. Also, I see people are music lovers in Calcutta, so I’ve told my team and we are going to work together very closely to make sure that we have a very good events calendar lined up for January and February. Again, we have a very big plus point and that is we are allowed to remain open till four o’clock in the morning. So, I want to capitalise on that as well. Fairfield has to be like a late night party zone where one can finish their dinner and party till the wee hours of the morning.
Tell us more about your plans of elevating the culinary quotient here.
Marriott as a brand is the best in the world with 7,000 + hotels around the globe. I want to utilise the strength of Marriott. Within India we have around 130 properties so even if I call one chef from other Marriott hotels every month, I will take four or five years to complete. We want to collaborate with good local influencers and not just stay relevant in New Town but all over the city.
How does the immediate calendar of the hotel look like?
We are organising a stand-up comedy show, featuring an European artiste, performing for the first time in India. He was a winner of Britain’s Got Talent and he was on the top 3 of America’s Got Talent. This will be a one-of-a-kind performance. We will also be organising a Valentine’s Day event for the youth. We are in talks with a well-known city artist known for his music. This year’s Holi will indeed be different as well. We intend to keep it organic while being vibrant and joyful with the love and support we’ve received. We have a lot of exciting plans for 2023.
Picture: Rashbehari Das