Catch 22: Be Green OR Turn Green With Envy!

The other day there were a bunch of people in a restaurant of ours (Kaati Zone) – they seem to have threatened my restaurant staff that we use too much of plastic, its polluting the earth and if we didn’t stop – serious action will be taken from the NGO the crowd seemed to represent! They created a scene – our customers were taken a back & then they went away saying that they will be back in sometime to check if we have changed & gone green!!!

This throws up a few questions. Starting from early in the morning - the toothbrush we use & the tube of paste are made of plastic! The pill and injection that we take when we are sick are packaged in plastic! Major portions of our mobile phones are made of plastic! Our laptops have plastic components! Our food & beverages are packed in plastics! Most things in life today are made of plastic or have a plastic component in it or is packaged in plastic! Plastic has kind of become Omni present in our everyday lives. We use so much of plastic without knowledge or giving it a thought! The whole world is so immersed in using plastic as its convenient, cheap, etc, that we seem to just take its ill effects for granted. But even for an aware individual who wants to make a difference today – does she/he have a choice!?! I don’t think so.

In a typical restaurant there is a certain amount of usage of plastics no doubt – it varies on the kind of food being served to the type of the restaurant to the people who run it to how successful the restaurant is as well. But what is the alternative – PAPER! Hey isn’t it made of trees as well. So if I move from plastics to paper doesn’t it mean that there will be more trees cut to make paper which will substitute plastic! Even though we can recycle paper – there is a limit to it & in the intermediate I feel that if we replaced all the plastic with paper today – there will be no tree left on earth!!! Catch 22!!! And yes it’s a serious dilemma for a restaurant – do I use paper – especially re-cycled paper – which costs more!!! Will the consumer pay for it? Yes, but a very small section of them. Then what about the others? So will an upcoming chain of restaurants be able to take a substantial financial burden to be on the right path by risking its own survival??? Some people may even say why bother when so many others who are more polluting are not even bothered!

There are many things a restaurant can do to be green like recycling of paper, reduction of usage of paper, energy conservation, water conservation, use locally grown produce, non-bleached napkins, recycled paper towels and toilet paper, print on recycled paper using bio degradable ink, use electronic media a lot like not printing, screen based ordering, e-correspondence, and e-forms. Restaurants can also use Green cleaning products, green transport, and do away with non-bio degradables like Styrofoam & plastic based products. We at Kaati Zone have taken a conscious decision to have a keen eye on conservation & being green. We have an eco friendly delivery system of cycles through which we deliver food orders to our customers at their desks or doorsteps. Our bulk delivery & logistics vehicles also use LPG which is less polluting & efficient fuel. We have a very stringent energy & water conservation system for all our restaurants as well as our office – small things like turning off the electrical device when its not in use is very seriously followed. We use white lighting & CFLs in our restaurants & office that conserves energy. Some of our employees evangelize Green Living & contribute their thought & efforts. But there is a long way to go in being a completely green restaurant chain & company, we are moving towards it & as we grow we hope to increasingly adapt ourselves & adopt technologies / practices that are greener. A green effort is always an owners pride & neighbors envy!

Authored by Subash J Bidare, Head of Marketing, Kaati Zone, East West Ethnic Foods.

What they don’t teach in B School? Part 6

1. Creativity: As cluttered the world is today, with innumerable products & services being offered with little or no differentiation – this may probably a reflection of lack of innovation & creativity in today’s organizations. Creativity forms a very critical aspect of an organization’s & individuals’ sustainability and yes this is not taught in B Schools too.

These are some aspects that I felt were missing in B Schooling which is essential for taking people to their rightful place in the sun. Like Warren Buffett once said, “You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong.”, My best wishes for getting your right things, right.

What they dont teach you in BSchool? Part 5

1. Cross Cultural: In today’s organization it is very important that the managers are aware of different cultural sensitivities – this is necessitated due to the global nature of companies i.e., foreign operations, foreign talent working in domestic markets, etc have led the organization to take up a global stature. Because of this it is utterly important for a Manager to be sensitive about certain cross cultural issues as well as put it to use in the right direction.

What they dont teach you in BSchool? Part 4

1. Emotions: This is another hurdle that Managers don’t learn to scale in a B School. In today’s work place there are many instances that can throw you off balance emotionally and if a manager is carried away by emotions - she/he is putting at risk the organization as well as herself/himself.

What they don’t teach in B School? Part 3

1. Team Player Vs Selfish: Another aspect which is largely missing is that Managers don’t know when they have to play their selfish card & when they need to be a team player in an organization. Both are at different ends of the spectrum - it’s a hard choice to make at times, yet it’s a choice that needs to be made more often than not – as there are many issues where a manager has to take different positions of being selfish or being a team player in today’s organization to further her/his own goals and also that of the organization.

What they dont teach in BSchool? Part 2

1. Office Politics: Here when I say office, it includes close vendors & agencies as well. What I have seen is that most Managers although are very good at their work – don’t always succeed in an organization. This is due to an inability to manage office politics in an effective way and therefore remove the impediments on their way to success.

What they dont teach in BSchool? Part 1

Anybody who wants to be successful in her/his career would definitely consider an MBA as an option to reach her/his goals. But what’s surprising is that there are certain skills that are not taught in B Schools that turn out to be simple but make a big difference. These aspects may sound simple, but yes these are the aspects that I have more often than not seen being taught.

1. 1.Ambiguity: Today’s business world is full of uncertainties, so a manager has to make a living among these varying levels of ambiguities that exist in every aspect of our work & environment. Most managers lack the ability to handle ambiguity, this results in lack of focus & poor performance leading to stress. The corner stone of success for a Manager is to handle ambiguity & take their decisions based on partial information plus intuition - they need to know that they may go wrong – but should be willing to take a calculated risk & make course corrections based on results or additional information as & when its available.

Skin in Advertising: Does it sell? 3

Then I wanted to buy the newspaper – not to mention that my CEO was interviewed by them & I wanted to see what was written – so began my search for the newspaper. At first it wasn’t available in poplar newsstands – after a bit of searching I found out that it was not for sale & they wouldn’t give it free to me either. I was shocked to figure out that I can pick it up only if I buy a copy of Times of India!!! Right thinking, given the market situation in Bangalore – Deccan Chronicle is a very late entrant into an entrenched market – give away the newspaper to every customer who buys Times of India as it is the largest selling in Bangalore, so that they get to see Deccan Chronicle & they may stand a chance to convert. Good thinking, but bad execution – as a customer I was willing to pay / buy the newspaper, but they forced me to buy a competitors newspaper instead & pushed theirs free along with it!!! After reading the newspaper it definitely wasn’t exceptionally addictive as claimed by the hoarding, which makes me wonder what was meant to be ‘addictive’ – the bare back girl or the newspaper!!!

So to sum it all up – Sex gets you eye balls – only. What you do after that is in your hands and if judiciously done will sure result in conversion and sales.

Skin in Advertising: Does it work? 2

So success in phase one – you got the attention & hold it too. Next step? Did this attention actually convert to sales for the company??? Well the marketing guru did say that the potential consumer will be mighty impressed with the skimpily clad models, & will be inspired to buy your products. Alas there are many who reach this place but fail to go beyond! The attention getting strategy works well, but fails to ring in your cash registers.

Case in talk is the Deccan Chronicle out door campaign in Bangalore for their launch with a rather tasty pick of bare back models who could have as well been featured on Justin Timberlake’s Sexy Back Video. I saw the hoarding – first to register was the girl – then the word ‘Addictive’ and then the brand. At first glance it looks like a no smoking ad – where in the rolled paper with the yellow in it looks like a cigarette. The hoarding did its job – got sticky eyes

Skin in Advertising: Does it work? 1

We are today surrounded by so many ads that we miss to register a majority of them – so bad is the clutter. So what does advertising do – it creates awareness of the product / service & entices a potential consumer to try / use the product / service. Given the clutter - achieving the former becomes difficult – the latter is even more far fetched.

Enter marketing guru - “sex sells”. Let’s put some skimpily clad models to get the attention of the potential consumers & let’s cut through the clutter. A long pair of legs or a sexy bare back will catch & hold a guys attention than a puppy running around regardless of how cute it may be (Vodafone). Even the women folk are drawn to them as they covet having those goddess-like bodies.

Deccan Chronicle: Skin in Advertising - does it really work?