Godrej Group hosted the first Vikhroli Cucina event on 31st January 2015 along with Food Bloggers Association of India (FBAI), Weber Grills and Grover Zampa at the Godrej Vikhroli campus. Vikhroli Cucina was an inception of Godrej to cater to all its brands operating in the food category. The main objective was to create an ambience for all food lovers from bloggers to chefs and food influencers to collude, exchange and syndicate with each other.
The second edition of Vikhroli Cucina was launched in February 2016 at The Trees, behind Godrej One. As promised the evening saw the latest of culinary concepts, techniques and styles that cater to a wide variety of palates.
Top quintessential restaurants from across Mumbai such as Café Madras, Yazdani Bakery and restaurant, K Rustom and Prakash Sahkari Uphar Kendra, etc were complimented. Chef Michael Swamy along with renowned food influencers like Irfan Pabaney, Saee Khandekar, Mugdha Savkar, Antoine Lewis and Riaan George curated this list of celebrated eateries that are “Quintessentially Mumbai”.
Sujit Patil, VP & Head – Corporate Communications, Godrej talks about his love for food and how the brand plans to make this season of Vikhroli Cucina more exciting.
What is the concept of Vikhroli Cucina?
Vikhroli Cucina is a first-of-its-kind brand platform where brands operating in the food space, chefs, bloggers, influencers and food lovers collaborate to engage and exchange ideas. It was a result of our vision to bring all the brands operating in the food category together and interact with the influencers in the food space. We intend to continue this association and enable brands to cross-pollinate ideas and make it the most coveted platforms in the gastronomy space.
Vikhroli Cucina Season 2 held on 19th February 2015 at The Trees, located at the Godrej Campus in Vikhroli. The evening witnessed the latest of culinary concepts, techniques and fun as food bloggers, sommeliers, chefs and other experts enthusiastically participated in a host of food workshops and kitchen challenges. These engaging sessions brought to light some interesting thoughts about the food world in India.
How many food lovers did you engage during the activity?
The crème de la crème of the culinary world including celebrity chefs, hoteliers, bloggers and future influencers converged to celebrate the best of food. Vikhroli Cucina Season 2 witnessed 100 influencers for the event this year and engaged with many popular brands in the food space, viz., Godrej Tyson, Godrej Nature’s Basket, Godrej Appliances, Godrej Interio and Cartini, Weber Grills and Grover Zampa and Haute Chef through interactive and fun foodie games. Active participation by all turned the soiree festive.
The event was graced by several gastronomes and the evening took on a festive note with interesting workshops and fun engagements by each participating brands.
Chef Irfan Pabaney (Founder, The Sassy Spoon), wine sommelier Hardik Arora (Grover Zampa), renowned blogger and author Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal, Chef Michael Swamy, Chocolatier Varun Inamdar, Chef Rakhee Vaswani, Chef Melwin Reuben Michael (Weber-Stephen Barbecue Products India) and Food Bloggers Association (FBAI) either curated or helmed sessions, which witnessed zealous participation from foodies, bloggers and culinary students. That’s not all; the event witnessed the launch of Insta Chef Microwave followed by #cupacake challenge by Godrej Appliances, moderated by Chef Rakhee Vaswani and the launch of Foodie Quotient 2016 (FQ2016) by Godrej Nature’s Basket.
What was the total budget planned for this season?
This is a unique model where the contributions are made in kind by the participating brands and Godrej acts as a catalyst by providing the venue, bringing them together and hosting the event.
Which event agency executed the event? What credentials do you look for in an event company?
Vikhroli Cucina Season 2 activities were curated in house by the Godrej communications team along with renowned food blogger Rushina Munshaw and Chef Michael Swamy. Food Bloggers Association of India (FBAI) along with a total of 11 brands (includes 4 external brands) were also partners in the process. The on ground execution was managed by Semora Entertainment works.
What according to you is the key highlights of Season 2? How is it different from Season 1?
‘Bigger and infinitely better!’ is how the exuberant foodie coterie described the second edition of Vikhroli Cucina. The occasion was also marked by two important announcements: The launch of Foodie Quotient 2016 by Godrej Nature’s Basket and The Insta Chef Microwave App by Godrej Appliance. The ‘Foodie Quotient 2016’ shares trends and unique anecdotes about food contributed by some of the best Indian chefs like Ranveer Brar, Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal, Vicky Ratnani, Saransh Goila, Ajay Chopra, Anjali Mukherjee, Monika Manchanda, Kishi Arora, Michael Swamy and many more.
This year, Vikhroli Cucina also included a tribute to eateries that are entrenched in the minds of Mumbaikars. Curated by Chef Michael Swamy, renowned food influencers - Irfan Pabaney, Saee Khandekar, Mugdha Savkar, Antoine Lewis and Riaan George chose five restaurants out of the 31 eateries that can be termed as ‘Quintessentially Mumbai’. Café Madras at Matunga, Ling’s Pavilion Colaba, Yazdani Bakery & Restaurant at Fort, K.Rustom Ice cream and Prakash Shakahari Upahaar Kendra at Shivaji Park were the popular choice.
The second edition of Vikhroli Cucina also played host to a race of a different kind. Renowned blogger and owner of the APB Cook Studio Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal curated the unique event called Great Publishing Race. She also curated the chocolate doodle activity along with chocolatier Varun Inamdar.
What were the challenges you faced during the set up and execution of the event?
The biggest challenge was to get all the 11 brands, the chefs, bloggers and other stakeholders together on the same day and the statistics on the day only proves the power of the platform.
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