If there is one brand that has revolutionised the idea of good food, good music, and good ambience, it is Hard Rock. A global player, Hard Rock has always been famous among music lovers for providing a platform to music artists. After much delay, Guwahati finally got its own Hard Rock this week. We spoke with Samudrajit Sarma, franchise owner, Hard Rock Cafe, about the journey, the debacles and the kind of future he has envisaged for Guwahati’s latest music hotspot. Excerpts:
When did this idea of starting a hardrock café in Guwahati come to you? Why Guwahati and not say Shillong, which is considered the rock capital of Northeast?
The idea of Hard Rock Cafe was in my mind, for the last five to seven years. And as a fan of rock and roll music, I wanted to do something based on that theme, and which reflects our culture, specifically the Northeast culture. That’s how the idea behind Hard Rock Cafe came. With regards to Guwahati chosen as the venue of Hard Rock Cafe, I think there are certain aspects when a cafe is located in this city. One of that aspect is the population, and Guwahati is the most densely-populated city in the Northeast. Also, it is easily accessible from all the Northeastern states. It is also a gateway to Southeast Asia and obviously, the Northeast as a whole. So I think that these are the few points that made Guwahati a better option than the other cities of Northeast.
Could you tell us when did you start actually working on the ground plan for this all between the COVID-19 pandemic?
We started working on this project during May 2019. And our initial plan was to open this cafe by December 31, 2019. About 50-60 people were working here in this cafe. But due to some political instability in December, we had to drop the plan of opening this cafe last year. Then again, we replanned all our strategies, we got back to work, and we thought that it would be fine. And then, during March, COVID-19 thing happened. So the whole thing got delayed again, and here we are, a year later.
How did the delay impact your initial budget? Let’s say, if your budget was Rs 100, then how much did COVID-19 delay cost you extra?
I would say about 30% over the initial costs.
Did the COVID-19 situation not mean that real estate costs were lower?
Since this is a rented property located in the heart of the city, I can safely say that there were no reduction in real estate costs.
We are still on the edge of our seats with the pandemic. Walking around with sanitisers in our hands, masks on our face etc. How are you going to manage the situation since so many people will come here?
Our protocols are strict. We are monitored by trained international professionals. They give us feedback on what we should do and how we are managing the COVID-19 protocols. Be the sanitising part or thermal scanning and also our staff cannot remove their masks while they are inside their cafe. We would expect our guests to have their mask on, but again, how would they eat or drink?
Given that you’re located in the heart of Northeast and everybody knows the love for music here, how much would Hard Rock Cafe become a platform for Northeast artists? Or will it be a place where we’ll see artists from other places come and perform for the Northeast audience?
As I mentioned earlier, if you say Hard Rock Cafe, then there comes three things in our mind, good food, good music, and good ambience. So, being in the part of Northeast I am 100% sure that we will give some best rock’n’roll music which I think the Northeast has ever had. And apart from that being located in a strategically challenging place, we will promote our regional languages.
So for example, can we expect an Assamese concert here?
Yes, not only Assamese, as regional means the northeast as a whole. So, we will promote regional bands. Say, if a band comes from Nagaland. They can play Naga numbers along with the English numbers. Similarly, an Assamese band can play Assamese numbers along with English numbers. The same applies to Mizo bands or Khasi bands and lots more. We have beautiful languages, and amazing music, which the world hasn’t explored yet.