'As costs rise in F&B space, staying within defined operational & regulatory boundaries becomes even more critical'

Industry leaders, regulators and operators across India’s food service and hospitality sector convened in New Delhi for Saksham to address the growing impact of cost pressures and evolving compliance expectations on business continuity and sectoral growth.

At a press conference held alongside the seminar, industry stakeholders and leaders from across the HoReCa and F&B space highlighted that rising energy costs, input volatility and tightening margins are increasingly influencing everyday operational decisions bringing sharper focus to maintenance practices, procurement choices and compliance consistency.

As regulatory expectations evolve, the emphasis is also shifting from enforcement-led compliance to building systems that ensure consistency at scale. Sharing this perspective, Pawan Agarwal, CEO, Food Future Foundation and Former CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), said, “In a high-pressure environment, the risk is not deliberate non-compliance, but inconsistency in execution. In India, licensing is still often viewed as a compliance requirement, whereas it should be seen as a foundation for quality and safety. The real shift we need is from enforcement to building systems that work on the ground. Platforms like Saksham can play an important role in driving this change by enabling industry-wide understanding and practical adoption.”

HoReCa operators on the ground are already navigating difficult trade-offs. With rising LPG costs, logistics pressures and input inflation, maintaining the same level of operational rigour is becoming increasingly challenging.

Sharing the concern, Rahul Singh, Founder and CEO, Beer Café, Trustee, NRAI, said, “Growth in this sector cannot come at the cost of discipline. As costs rise, staying within defined operational and regulatory boundaries becomes even more critical.”

Sustained cost pressures are also beginning to influence operational decisions in areas that directly impact long term efficiency and risk. Highlighting the execution gap, P. Sravan Kumar, Excellence Hospitality Projects, said, “The client and the owner, in a food business, are on the same page, contrary to popular belief, since they cannot survive without each other. But the real founding principles for the business to survive are the three fundamentals of Safety, Sustainability, and Compliance. Failure on any one of them is sure to have a spiralling effect on the other two. In the short term, one may resort to cutting corners, but in the long run, ignoring these will lead to the collapse of not only the individual business but also the food business eco-system. At Saksham, we attempt to sensitise the stakeholders, with a hope that each one will take one forward step, one step at a time.”

As businesses expand across formats, the need to move from fragmented practices to integrated systems is becoming increasingly evident. Emphasising this role of structured interventions, Sanjay Jain, Director, Elanpro, said, “The focus now has to be on enabling businesses to move from intent to execution. Saksham is designed to create that shift—by bringing together the right expertise, frameworks and industry dialogue to support more structured and consistent operations.”



Rethinking how the industry operates

These discussions formed the core of the Delhi edition of Saksham. Saksham is a knowledge-led industry initiative by Elanpro, in association with HCF, focused on advancing safety, sustainability and compliance across the food service and hospitality sector.

The seminar in Delhi brought together key industry voices including Chef Manjit Gill, Pawan Agarwal, CEO & Founder, Food Future Foundation, Rahul Singh, Founder and CEO, Beer Café, Trustee, NRAI, Animesh Gupta, VP, Varun Beverages, Swapnil Deshpande, Vice President - Business Development, Swastik Synergy and Vikas Ahluwalia, AVP & National Head – Zone, The Park Hotels among others, reflecting a cross-section of leadership across operations, policy and hospitality.
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