I am a big fan of Bhel Puri and Samosa Chat. The taste, the variety, the mixture of different chutneys, the salt, the sev, etc all make my mouth water as soon as I see it some a Bhel Puri stall. During my stay at Chennai, I have found a lot of Bhel Puri stalls at T nagar and at Adyar area. However, the Bhel Puri at Chennai is quite expensive. The lowest charge of Bhel Puri I've found out is not less than Rs. 20. The average cost is around Rs. 25. I've tried Bhel Puri at many places like Sangeetha hotal, some tapris here and there, the Sri Krishna Sweets, etc. However, I haven't been satisfied with the taste of the Bhel Puri anywhere. The best taste (Chennai ka best) I've ever had was at a small stall near Adyar fly over. While the place where I found a good Bhel Puri isn't important, what I feel is worth considering is the young man who operates the Bhel Puri stall.
The stall he operates through is heavily coloured with the menu written on the front side and pictures of different chaat items on the sides. He calls himself a 'self employed' youth and makes it a point that people notice it. It is written in bold letters at the top of the stall.
As soon as I entered the premises, he greeted me with a welcoming smile, asked me what will I have and then quickly started making the chaat item I ordered. While he was preparing the food, he started talking to me about my whereabouts and telling me about his hometown. During the talks he said that the speciality of his stall was that it is the most hygienic Bhel Puri stall in the area. I had a glance at his table and I actually found the whole table very clean with different chutneys and other stuff stacked properly in the small space. He also kept his stove a good 1 meter away from other stuff, a rare sight at Bhel Puri stalls. (Generally, people keep all sort of things around the stove creating a potential hazard). He said that for customer satisfaction, hygiene is the most important factor 'Agar khana acha aur hygienic hai toh customer phir se aayega'. He chatted with me for quite sometime until he had other customer. However, even while serving them, he asked me whether I'll have chutney or any other thing for about 3 times. (Customer care and service).
As I looked around, I found that he had a covered dustbin a good 10 metres away from the stall, water (some mineral water brand I can't remember) too kept around.
After I was done with the chaat, he asked me whether the food was fine or not. (How many stall owners ask this?). The chaat was also not expensive. Infact, it was among the lowest charge I paid for a samosa chaat at Chennai. (Rs. 20). While going he asked me to visit again and gave me a masala puri.
He jokingly said - "Mera customer hamesha wapas aata hai. Hum sabse acha service aur khana deta hai".
Now that is quite an exaggeration but still, I will visit him at least once again definitely.
Why?
1. Good, hygienic food (Product)
2. Cheap compared to others around (Price)
3. Customer Satisfaction provided
4. Aims to build up a good relationship (Promotion)
5. Located at the heart of Adyar (Place)
What else do we learn at an MBA? A young Bhel Puri owner also knows it!
