Early this year, Beyond Designs, renowned for their bespoke furniture and accessories, and elaborately designed luxury interiors, launched a new vertical–Beyond Design Bistro. This unique shopping-cum-fine-dining option offering mainly European cuisine and some select Asian dishes was the brainwave of Neha Gupta, Beyond Designs Home & Bistro – Founder, who, having enjoyed the phenomena abroad had been wanting to recreate for clients in Delhi too.
But within two months, in March, lockdown struck. This was an unexpected setback initially, but Neha had felt the pulse of her customers and she knew how to reach them. She acted like a determined entrepreneur who was not deterred by the circumstances and navigated them to find solutions, with creative ideas and grit.
So as the lockdown slowly eased, she launched home dining options by offering specially created DIY and ready-to-eat, pre-packed meal kits that allowed customers to “dine-out” in the comfort of their homes in style. The artistic and eco-friendly packaging elevated the whole experience.
“It was important that we stay afloat. We didn’t want to fire any of our staff during these difficult times,” she says. As the delivery model took off, she was even ready to hire staff. “I happened to come across a chef specializing in Keto, and we decided to bring him on board to launch a Keto menu. We consulted a nutritionist and a dietician and drew up a Keto menu. Today, the bistro delivers Keto food on a subscription basis, with interesting dishes like Keto omelet, Cauli biryani, etc. Every day the customers get 2-3 options from the menu, which they choose in consultation with their dieticians. The bistro also has a limited Keto à la carte menu for in-house dining. Regular dining, take away and delivery is also going on.
Now, Neha is also going ahead with her original plan of expansion with the bistro. “We will be launching a bakery soon, followed by a pizzeria so that anyone who walks in for coffee can pick up from the display stall any item they want. They could also take away stuff and with a 24-hour notice, we could also cater to large orders.” The bakery will showcase all artisanal bread, cookies, tarts, etc, and for the festive season, they also plan to offer gift hampers with the typical Beyond Designs signature touch.
The Beyond Designs Bistro has received much love from its customers who feel comfortable dining here because of its open, airy feeling with lots of natural light. “The location, and also the way it stands alone at a height makes them feel more comfortable. And of course, we maintain the utmost hygiene and safety protocol as demanded by the current situation,” says Neha.
