Pizza culture catching up in Srinagar

Srinagar, Jul 11: Pizza culture, which is fast catching up with leading Italian and Mexican food chain Smokin Joes across India, is making its presence felt in the Kashmir Valley prominently.

Recently, Smokin Joes Pizza opened its 62nd outlet in India in the Rajbagh locality of Srinagar. Since it opening a month ago, the pizza joint has become popular among local residents and tourists, as this is the first time that branded pizza has been made available here. "We wanted a pizza outlet here, but we couldn't find. There was only one joint as Coffee Arabica. We go there often. But I learnt about this place only today in a newspaper. So I just came over. My children are very fond of pizza," said Ramesh Singh, one customer enjoying his time at Smokin Joes.

What sets Smokin Joes apart from other pizza brands is that it offers fresh bases with a variety of over 155 different toppings at affordable rates. Free home delivery service is also available for aficionados of pizza.

Smokin Joes offers multiple cuisine of Italian and Mexican fare its motto is to understand customer who visits its outlet for quality pizza and other fast food items.

The kitchen is supervised and trained under an expert head chef from Mumbai who sees a great potential among the local workers, as they are quite enthusiastic to learn.

"I'm the head chef here and giving training to the local people here. They are also learning with full concentration. They have the interest to make pizza as well," said Shambu Dhar, Head Chef of Smokin Joes from Mumbai For the outlet, all things including furniture, cooking range as well as the interior upholstery, have been brought from Mumbai.

Smokin Joes brand has registered an outstanding success in competition with multi-national brands like Dominoes and Pizza Hut across India. The outlet in Kashmir has the latest interior design patterns conceptualised to render a perfect ambience for customers.

A lot of local residents visit this pizza joint every day during the lunch hours. Customers are happy with the taste and quality of the pizza, which is a big success for Smokin Joes here.

"People should know what real pizza is and they should taste it so that they can eat and enjoy it. We have many districts here and if there is more publicity on the food item, it can even do better," said Manzoor Ahmed, customer.

"I'm feeling very good, as the response is overwhelming. The crowd that has come here, the kind of feedback that we've got is fantastic. I'm sure it will grow as a brand as we're going in a smooth way. We have not done any formal print advertisement yet. We want to be able to cater to the customer to satisfy them. Initial plan is to meet customer satisfaction which is the most important thing for us," said Iqbal Wani, owner and master franchisee in Kashmir for Smokin Joes.

According to Iqbal, plans are afoot to open more outlets in different areas of Srinagar. By Afzal Bhatt

ANI