A year in the business, Malaika Arora reveals the realities of building and sustaining a restaurant in Mumbai
Restauranteur lessons from Malaika Arora. Pics/Ashish Raje
Running a restaurant beyond the romance and opening-night buzz is not for the faint-hearted. Once the applause fades, the real work begins. Set inside a 90-year-old Portuguese bungalow in Bandra, Scarlett House feels less like a celebrity venture and more like an extension of Malaika Arora’s everyday life. The idea grew organically from how she eats and hosts at home: inviting friends over, recreating dishes discovered while travelling, and paying attention to how food makes you feel after the meal, not just during it.
From the outset, the intent was clear: comfort without excess, wellness without sermonising, and a space people would want to return to, again and again. One year into running Scarlett House, the journey has been less about trends or visibility and more about understanding the realities of hospitality: consistency, restraint, and the patience required to scale thoughtfully. These are the lessons that shaped the first year.
Bombay Masala Toast Sandwich
Lesson No 1: Learn the business, not just the dream
I wasn’t great at Math in school. Economics intimidated me; but running a restaurant forced me to confront what I once avoided — budgets and planning. Terms like net, gross, EBITDA and sales splits were unfamiliar but I learnt on the job. I don’t have a business degree, but this is real-world education.
Lesson No 2: Hospitality is a people business
Food and beverage is a people-facing space where you communicate daily. Beyond menus and margins, the biggest learning has been people. Teams, guests, and collaboration — there are so many moving parts, you have to understand people to run a place like this.
Caramalised onion pasta
Lesson No 3: Emotion can’t run the menu
It’s easy to get emotionally attached to dishes and you don’t want to remove anything, but nostalgia has to be balanced with performance. When you realise some things don’t move; you edit, you tweak, you rethink. Menu building is about thinking ten steps ahead.
Lesson No 4: Comfort wins. surprises follow
“Some dishes going viral surprised me. Like the khichdi and paneer thecha weren’t designed as hero dishes—they were home food. That’s what people connect to. Comfort food always finds its way.”
Short and slim
Lesson No 5: Consistency matters more than novelty
“Every time you’re back, it should taste exactly the same. Menus may evolve, but favourites stay. People return for familiarity—for a certain flavour, a certain feeling. That consistency is very important.”
Lesson No 6: Collaboration builds better businesses
“It’s never one person’s decision. From chefs and bar teams to marketing and design, every voice shapes the final outcome. You take a little from everybody. That’s how a collaborative business works.”
Paneer Thecha
Lesson No 7: Scaling needs structure, not speed
“Not every space can be a flagship. Expansion was always planned, but with restraint. The DNA stays the same, but the space adapts. We don’t want to become massy or spread ourselves thin.”
Lesson No 8: Operations will humble you
“We thought we could do breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We couldn’t. Reality demanded simplification. Once we focused on what was practical, everything worked better.”
Lesson No 9: Respect the space and the system
We’re in a heritage building. You have to respect the structure, the neighbourhood, the people. Behind the scenes are approvals, systems, and daily negotiations. There’s so much involved that people never see.”
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
