‘Good values are precious to me’

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There’s never a dull moment with 54-year-old Vithal Kamat, executive chairman and managing director of Kamat Hotels India, the Rs 112 crore, Mumbai-based, hospitality group that has brands such as the Orchid Hotel and Lotus Suites among others.

He’s full of stories—about life, experiences, people. He’s put it all down, in fact, in a book—a management book—Idli, Orchid and Will Power! But this is just one side of him. There are many more facets.

Like, he is a motivational speaker, trainer, environmentalist apart from being a successful entrepreneur. Above all, he’s an ardent student of life, willing to partake of himself as easily as a child would.

Indeed, he has absolutely no qualms of being put under the scanner, not at all. Sample this: “I was born into a middle-class family, living in a one-room apartment in Grant Road, Mumbai. There were eight of us: three brothers, three sisters and parents. It was a common room, which would double up as a bedroom at night. The balcony outside was my punishment room. Anybody who played mischief was put there. That included me too.”

This early-life taming though, did nothing much to quell the fiery spirit in him. Years later he would put it to good use to chart his own course—of setting up hotels. “My father Venkatesh was already into the restaurant business when I was born. He was an industrious man, who began working in a restaurant at the age of eight.” Satkar, a popular restaurant in Mumbai, was started by Venkatesh Kamat way back in 1950. But this was not the first. The senior Kamat began his journey as a restaurateur with a small property in Mazgaon, Mumbai. This was followed by the Krishna Bhavan in the predominantly Muslim area of Null Bazaar in Mumbai. Samrat, Suvidha, Suruchi, Senate, the list of restaurants kept growing by the day.

A self-made man, Venkatesh Kamat’s children, especially, his restless middle son Vithal imbibed his qualities of hard work and dedication. “The most precious gift that our parents could give us were good values,” says Kamat.

“My father’s commitment to his work, his discipline, determination and self-regulation were a source of inspiration for me and my siblings. My mother’s ability to manage a large family, her sacrificing nature, for instance, she pawned her jewellery when my father needed money to start Satkar, were not lost on us.”