Naando's Indian Restaurant on 3rd Road

[Kreggerz]

Hmm.

Thanks for listening but you clearly didn't really understand me. I partly blame myself for using the word light which you ran with and took way too literally. 

I really only meant light being relative to the huge specials that sometimes include two fried sides, and two starches (bread and rice). 

Reducing the size of the curry was not my suggestion at all. 

Also you're not offering a choice of naan or rice. 

Ignoring my raita suggestion, not surprised maybe you think most people don't want it,  and yes I like that the drink inclusion. 

I wish you good luck with any promotions that you try but the way you structured it, reducing the curry size, it's not for me. Maybe the Skinny Indians will be a hit for you. Or maybe not.  

[TWD]

Raita is planned in future promotions Kreggerz. A number of customers mentioned they found the quantity of all dishes too much to handle. The curries in this offer are still substantial in size. Most will hardly notice the difference. 

The price has been adjusted to include a free drink, and we hope that our customers will appreciate the same Naando's quality ingredients with still sizeable quantities at rock bottom prices.

All those who know The Bite and Naando's know how easy it is to swap one comparable side with another on request - we must have done just that a dozen times yesterday. 

Still, our fault for not making it clear in the promotion.

More 'Skinny Indian' promotions to come. We hope you find one to your liking.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

[Kreggerz]

Well, I'm glad you found my suggestion useful enough to change it significantly. What you're offering is more like a lunch special. There's nothing wrong with lunch special offerings (which in this case can be ordered anytime) but that's not what I meant.

But, of course,  it's your restaurant and I respect your right to make any business decisions of your design, and I wish you good luck.  Skinny Indians may well be a hit for you, but if so, please take total credit. 

I would appreciate it though if you don't credit your new Skinny specials to your customer  suggestions as you have on facebook. We listen to customers. Sorry, in this case, not really. As the customer that made this suggestion, it feels to me that you weren't really listening. 

[TWD]

Well we listen, then we try to react and adapt to wishes taking account of costs and what is practical. A number of customers apart from yourself have asked for smaller portions and so we are trialling this offer for now. If it works, fine, if not we modify and try again. I'm sure if there were a few more hours in the day we would be perfect, but.. ;)

[Kreggerz]

Anyway, good luck with whatever you try.

Personally your place is kind of out of the way for me compared to many other Indian restaurants, and I doubt I would go out of my way for a portion of curry smaller than your usual ones even for a cheaper price. But yes I'm only one person. 

I seriously doubt very many people really think your normal curry portions are big. Weren't there even comments before that they were on the small size? They might be seen as big when served with your usual specials with so many starch dishes. That was my point saying the normal specials were a feast. I wasn't saying the portion of curry was too big, or even big.  

But of course, up to you. 

[TWD]

Had a few comments along those lines, but mainly feedback from service when a curry isn't finished - we ask if all ok, mostly yes, delicious, but too much/too full....

We'll see how it goes, the lower price reflects slightly smaller portions, so we can always up the price a little if the portions are increased.

If we are a little out of the way for you, specials are delivered for 50B in town, normal menu items no delivery charge...

[Kreggerz]

8 minutes ago, BiteMeBistro said:

Had a few comments along those lines, but mainly feedback from service when a curry isn't finished - we ask if all ok, mostly yes, delicious, but too much/too full....

We'll see how it goes, the lower price reflects slightly smaller portions, so we can always up the price a little if the portions are increased.

If we are a little out of the way for you, specials are delivered for 50B in town, normal menu items no delivery charge...

Honestly, are you saying many people aren't finishing the curry if they just order a curry and one starch? I find that really hard to believe. Of course if you've eaten  two papadams, two fried samosas, two fried onion bhajis, a buttered bread and a rice, it might be hard to finish the curry. 

As far I'm concerned, there is nothing more to say about this. I've made my points. They don't seem to be accepted, always dodged. No biggie either way. Pattaya doesn't suffer from a lack of Indian restaurants and I'm sure you have your niche with the deliveries. So it's all good. 

[TWD]

Not at all, your points are perfectly understood, and as we are still in experimental stage, we shall do our best to get it right for as many customers as possible, as soon as possible. Thanks again 

[Kreggerz]

48 minutes ago, BiteMeBistro said:

Not at all, your points are perfectly understood, and as we are still in experimental stage, we shall do our best to get it right for as many customers as possible, as soon as possible. Thanks again 

OK. Thanks. Have you considered a career in the diplomatic corps? 

[TWD]

15 minutes ago, Kreggerz said:

OK. Thanks. Have you considered a career in the diplomatic corps? 

Wanted to apply when I left school, but there were no jobs going in the Pattaya consular office sadly. Bit late now, although there are a few in town who would recommend me without hesitation for a diplomatic attache post in Raqqa 

[SirL]

I do think it's a quite different thing to reduce the size of the main curry portion as distinct from reducing the number of bhajis and papadums coming alongside, and I think it would be a bad idea to do the former.  I agree with Kreggerz.

I'm assuming that if you're reducing the size of the curry portion in the special, you're also reducing it for all curries ordered a la carte?  If there are different portion sizes going on and unknowing customers spot that, you'll kill trust in your product in no time at all.  You really don't want the guy who ordered a daily special curry to see that the guy at the next table who ordered an a la carte curry has a visibly larger portion, unless the smaller portion size for the special was made clear on the menu, in which case I'd be surprised if many men ordered that.  Talking about "skinny" because of smaller curry portions won't attract male customers, but serving less fried bhajis might work much better.

This seems to be slightly like the discussion held on the Smokin' Joes thread a couple of months ago when SJ was rejigging their specials.  Starting from the basic menu items, SJ wondered whether to add value for the customer for the special by adding free chicken wings, or by reducing the price of the basic meal a bit.  For chicken wings at SJ, read the additional bhajis and papadums here.  Many potential customers for SJ replied that they didn't value the chicken wings and would prefer a price reduction, and potentially the bhajis etc are less valued in your special.  Here, to reduce the size of the special meal, you're suggesting reducing portion size for everything including the curry, rather than cutting out the bhajis etc as Kreggerz suggested.

[Pheat]

1 hour ago, Kreggerz said:

Anyway, good luck with whatever you try.

Personally your place is kind of out of the way for me compared to many other Indian restaurants, and I doubt I would go out of my way for a portion of curry smaller than your usual ones even for a cheaper price. But yes I'm only one person. 

I seriously doubt very many people really think your normal curry portions are big. Weren't there even comments before that they were on the small size? They might be seen as big when served with your usual specials with so many starch dishes. That was my point saying the normal specials were a feast. I wasn't saying the portion of curry was too big, or even big.  

But of course, up to you. 

I have had 2 meals from this restaurant both disappointing for different reasons.

The curry sizes are in no way huge and hard to finish.I have returned to my old fav for my Indian food fix .The Tikka centre much better Indian food and a lot cheaper.

[Kreggerz]

3 minutes ago, Pheat said:

I have had 2 meals from this restaurant both disappointing for different reasons.

The curry sizes are in no way huge and hard to finish.I have returned to my old fav for my Indian food fix .The Tikka centre much better Indian food and a lot cheaper.

Exactly. Their curry sizes are normal. Not tiny. Not big. I can see reducing the portion for a budget lunch special where it's often expected that the portions are smaller. That seems to be what the Skinny is really about. Not what I wanted but maybe some people will like it. 

[SirL]

On a different and unrelated matter, why is it that Indian food in Pattaya restaurants is very often more expensive than Thai food?  The price of Indian curries ordered a la carte often starts with a 2, whilst Thai dishes seem much cheaper.  In my naive way, I think the two have similarities, though of course I'm well aware that the spices used are different.  Is the cost of production of Indian food much more expensive in some way?

[TWD]

SirL

It's clearly marked on the promotions on FB etc, and the forums - or we wouldn't be talking about it now ;) - as well as on the boards outside the restaurant, so hopefully no misunderstanding..

In the end every restaurant has to factor in the quality of ingredients used, cost of chef etc etc, and we always try not to stint on quality in particular. At the price of the curry including a drink we tried to put on the right size portion. If we have got it wrong and people would prefer the larger curry at a slightly higher price, no problem, we will be the first to put our hands up and say we've got it wrong.

As for the cost of Indian food, Indian spices used liberally are pretty expensive, and a good Indian chef will cost a fair bit more than the equivalent Thai chef. Other factors too, but it's mainly about paying more for quality.

Thanks, a lot of interesting points, even more to think about!

[Kreggerz]

Against my better judgment to continue trying about this,  but I think you got it wrong.

The regular specials are great but they're huge.

Your a la carte menu really adds up to have any kind of full meal so I'm guessing most people are attracted to the specials.

I think the error you've made here is to focus on the cheaper price part rather than the choice of foods thing.

Let's say you did as I suggested --

Full portion daily curry

Choice of full portion plain naan or plain basmati rice (in the cases where people choose the naan as your rice is priced 30 baht over the naan, there's a savings for you if that reflects your costs)

Side of raita. I can see in this case a justification for a half portion of raita. It's just that one starch with one curry is a little stark, so an add on of yogurt makes it more substantial.

The included soft drink.

Now people can compare the values of the standard feast with multiple fried dishes to more of an everyday type of set. 

Do they really want to eat all those fried sides every visit? I think not. This alternative set (forget light or skinny) gives a different option.

Here is the kicker.

While I think this alternative set would need to be priced lower than the pig out feast set, I don't think it would need to be priced much lower.

The free drink is an added value. The included raita is an added value. The one starch is an added value for people that don't want to pay extra for a large amount of food they really don't want to eat.

So if you ever adjust the skinny deal and go with as above, of course you still need to make a profit. I'm suggesting people would be willing to pay well enough for the alternative sets, but still somewhat lower than the pig out sets because the pig out sets include so many extra sides. 

The exact prices you might come up with are a business decision. If it's 10 or 20 baht less I don't think people would like,  but I don't think it would be need to be 100 baht less either. 

 

[SirL]

11 minutes ago, BiteMeBistro said:

If ..... people would prefer the larger curry at a slightly higher price, no problem, we will be the first to put our hands up and say we've got it wrong.

The point being made is that customers might prefer the previous/existing/larger size curry in the special, but without so many bhajis etc.  Rather than cutting the quantity of everything in the special, just the bhajis/samosas might be cut out altogether.  So the mix of what the special comprises would shift towards curry as that remains unchanged whilst the bhajis etc reduce.  I'm sure this has been made clear already.

Of course try various different special combinations, that's great, but the message here is that combinations featuring the standard curry sizing but less fried add-ons could be popular.

[Kreggerz]

Pretty much, that's it. 

Again, I think people are really looking at your specials, and your specials usually force people to order a ridiculous amount of starches/fried foods.

Occasionally or once, OK.

But if you're looking for a lot of repeat business for the specials, I think you can do better, which to my view means still serving normal portion curries and bread or rice. 

[Pheat]

1 hour ago, Kreggerz said:

Against my better judgment to continue trying about this,  but I think you got it wrong.

The regular specials are great but they're huge.

Your a la carte menu really adds up to have any kind of full meal so I'm guessing most people are attracted to the specials.

I think the error you've made here is to focus on the cheaper price part rather than the choice of foods thing.

Let's say you did as I suggested --

Full portion daily curry

Choice of full portion plain naan or plain basmati rice (in the cases where people choose the naan as your rice is priced 30 baht over the naan, there's a savings for you if that reflects your costs)

Side of raita. I can see in this case a justification for a half portion of raita. It's just that one starch with one curry is a little stark, so an add on of yogurt makes it more substantial.

The included soft drink.

Now people can compare the values of the standard feast with multiple fried dishes to more of an everyday type of set. 

Do they really want to eat all those fried sides every visit? I think not. This alternative set (forget light or skinny) gives a different option.

Here is the kicker.

While I think this alternative set would need to be priced lower than the pig out feast set, I don't think it would need to be priced much lower.

The free drink is an added value. The included raita is an added value. The one starch is an added value for people that don't want to pay extra for a large amount of food they really don't want to eat.

So if you ever adjust the skinny deal and go with as above, of course you still need to make a profit. I'm suggesting people would be willing to pay well enough for the alternative sets, but still somewhat lower than the pig out sets because the pig out sets include so many extra sides. 

The exact prices you might come up with are a business decision. If it's 10 or 20 baht less I don't think people would like,  but I don't think it would be need to be 100 baht less either. 

 

Bang on basically unless you go for the special .This restaurant is pretty expensive compared to other Indian restaurants in Pattaya which serve the same quality food if not better with the same normal portion size you would expect from an Indian restaurant.

[SirL]

AIUI the better competition amongst Indian restaurants around there includes Tikka Centre, Dosa Hut and Five Star J, and Layla and Crown of India have their fans.  What do people reckon about the relative prices of these?

[TWD]

All points noted, thanks again!

It will take a couple of days to sort the 'Skinny'. Blowout specials until then but we haven't forgotten..

 

[TWD]

Choice of two Naando's 349฿ Saturday specials. The 'Skinny' will return in a new format soon..

Chicken Jalfrezi or Butter Chicken - both served with..

Two onion bhajis, two vegetable samosas and Mint yoghurt, pilao rice, naan and two poppadoms

Chicken Jalfrezi - tender juicy chunks of chicken in a spiced tomato sauce studded with stir-fried peppers and onions

Butter chicken - can be as mild or as spicy as you like. The chicken is marinated for several hours in a cream, yogurt and spice mixture then cooked in the tandoor oven. Usually served in a mild, buttery curry sauce

[Kreggerz]

1 hour ago, BiteMeBistro said:

All points noted, thanks again!

It will take a couple of days to sort the 'Skinny'. Blowout specials until then but we haven't forgotten..

 

Best of luck. Full respect for whatever decision you make even if it doesn't appeal to me. I'm not invested in Naandos. You are! 

[SirL]

5 hours ago, BiteMeBistro said:

Chicken Jalfrezi or Butter Chicken - both served with..

Two onion bhajis, two vegetable samosas and mint yoghurt, pilao rice, naan and two poppadoms

This really does sound like too much bhajis+samosas+rice+naan+poppadoms.  Even if I could manage it (and I am a bit of a pig), I'm not sure I "should" manage it.  But I don't want less of the curry.  Could the customer choose two or three of these five add-ons?

[tj916]

Bit of a UK tradition when ordering an Indian after a night on the sauce.

Order way too much then throw the leftovers in the microwave for breakfast the next day.

God knows how it works but always seems to help out the raging hangovers.

Aloi mak mak.