Shilpa Shetty, Bollywood actress-turned-entrepreneur, has a rumoured net worth of Rs 135 crore. A yoga aficionado by day and a restaurateur by night, Shetty is one of the biggest stakeholders of the iconic Bastian, holding the culinary pride of Mumbai. In a recent interaction with Curly Tales host Kamiya Jani, Shilpa Shetty and business partner Ranjit Bindra opened up about their hospitality empire.
This comes after Shobha De made explosive claims that the newly opened Bastian in Mumbai mints Rs 3 crore a day. Speaking on Bharka Dutt’s podcast, she alleged that Rs 2 crore is a slow sale day for the restaurant chain. Opening up about these claims, Shetty and Bindra revealed how much Bastian really makes in a day.
A Rs 2000 cover charge, Rs 3000 bill – How Bastian makes money
It is true that before you book a table at Bastian, a rather tumultuous task in itself, a guest has to pay a Rs 2000 tabling booking fee or cover charge. Explaining the logic, Ranjit Bindra shared, “Places in London, Dubai, you need to reserve and pay a deposit. People make reservations, and then they don’t show up, and tables go empty.” To tackle that problem, the cover charge is important to confirm their presence, unlike a minimal amount.
Shilpa Shetty even shared how the hospitality business is closely linked to personal memories. From falling in love to breaking up, Shetty shared that it’s one of the reasons why it’s close to her heart. Breaking down the numbers, however, Bindra shared, “We don’t open the entire space for lunch,” as a business decision. According to him, it is usually a low-revenue period where only ladies’ lunches dominate such restaurants.
“It’s mainly the ladies who come out for kitty parties,” he shared, but acknowledged how it’s a great clientele for profits. “Whatever is bringing in the money!” exclaimed Shilpa Shetty as they broke into laughter.
“It depends from timing to timing,” Bindra explained the average per table charge. “It is Rs 1500 for lunch. Sunset seating, the golden hour is around Rs 2000. The dinner is averaged at Rs 3000.”
Drawing from this estimate, several reports claim that this amounts to an earning of Rs 42 lakh across a 1400-seater restaurant, which beats the Rs 3 crore claim by a huge margin. As per an Express report, when asked about the per day earning of Bastian, Shilpa Shetty and Ranjit Bindra laughed it off and said that they wish it came true soon.
80 seats, 3000 sq, and 4 years: How Bastian became big
Speaking to Curly Tales, Ranjit Bindra revealed how Bastian, the first one ever, started. He explained, “It was 3000 sq feet, we started with an 80-seater restaurant, and it took 4 years to become profitable.”
“I was burning,” he shared, till Shetty quipped, “Till I came!”
“I believed in the product, and Shilpa came in at the right time. I had already seen the product was accepted and thought I needed to get into a bigger space,” Ranjit explained.
It was in 2019 that the Worli outlet opened with over 200 seats, but it was closed later in 3 years. Going through another major update, it shifted bases to Dadar with a Sea Link view – a 500 seater. Ranjit Bindra recalled how his friends told him it was going to be an impossible place to fill, sharing the concerns of Shilpa who had the same worry. Four years into building Bastian, Bindra shared, “It opened with a bang. From Day 1, it was sold out.”
How Bastian defines a ‘good profit day’?
Sharing the vision Ranjit had for Bastian, Shetty shared, “What might seem like a successful restaurant for other people, Ranjo [Ranjit] is not happy with those numbers.” She added, “He wants to outdo and get away from the ordinary.”
According to Bindra, however, a ‘good number’ would look like an Average Per Cover (APC) of ‘around Rs 1500.’ Explaining his rationale, he said, “It should be good enough for a restaurant which is approximately 2000-25000 sq feet, depending on the location.” He then explained how restaurant prices are also heavily dependent on the kind of real estate investment that goes into actually securing a spot in a prime location.