PT Usha, the undisputed queen of the track and field, is a sports icon and an inspiration to many. Known for her humble beginnings, determination and hard work, PT Usha has won hearts across the globe. She was recently spotted in a never-seen-before avatar featuring in a KFC campaign film, to launch their new Express pick-up service with a 7-minutes promise. In the film she doubled-up as a high-speed chef, preparing and packing an Express pick-up order in 7-minutes. Because when it comes to speed, who better than PT Usha to launch an express service!
And like the KFC 7-minutes promise, here are 7 quick things we bet you didn’t know about the Payyoli Express:
She defeated all the boys she practiced with: When PT Usha was young, and had just started training, her coach would try to make her practice with boys younger than her, but most of them would refuse to run against her, because most of the time she ended up beating them.
How she won her first national race is quite the story: PT Usha attended her first ever national championship in Trivandrum, and she was competing in the under 14, 100m race. At the starting block, the athlete to her left false started, which was marked to PT Usha as a foul and this happened one more with the athlete to her right, because of which she was disqualified from the race. But since she wasn’t at fault, and the audience raised a hue & cry about this, the race had to be repeated, which of course she won! No harm, no foul indeed.
Speed is her mantra – even when it comes to cooking: Speed is something we invariably associate with PT Usha, but did you know she’s equally fast in the kitchen? PT Usha loves cooking and is quite the talented chef. When in the kitchen, she loves cooking, especially recipes from Kerala, and can fix a full-fledged meal within merely 30 mins. This includes fish curry, vegetable curry and fish fry or chicken fry, rice with papad. *Mind blown*
PT Usha loves fried chicken: Not many may know, but the Golden Girl of India loves KFC’s Hot and Crispy Chicken. When travelling overseas for international competitions, PT Usha preferred eating at KFC, as it was easy to find in new locations, and felt familiar. In fact, she has always been fond of KFC, and a fan of its signature taste and also appreciates how easily accessible the brand is. Even now, when travelling abroad, she seeks out a KFC for a quick bite of her favourite chicken.
Gardening is her jam: From running through the lush green landscapes in Kerala, to nurturing some of her own plant babies. PT Usha is a plant parent and loves to do some gardening when off the track.
She’s inspiring many girls around her to realize their dreams to win medals for India: PT Usha started her all girls sports academy called Usha School of Athletics, in 2002 in Balussery, Kerala. Since then, the academy has produced two Olympians and won 79 international medals to this day.
The one word that drives her that she would like young athletes to build into their dictionary for success: As one of the most celebrated, and legendary athletes in the country, her advice for youngsters and young athletes boils down to a singular word – Focus. She strongly believes that to never lose focus is to win. Working hard and staying dedicated to the dream that one has set out to achieve with pure focus, is her key to success.
The Mercure Hyderabad KCP brings an unique food pop up in association with “The Tangra Project”, which will showcase Kolkata’s distinctive cosmopolitan convergence of competing ideas, impulses, and tastes, inspiring artists, intellectuals, and yes, chefs. Calcutta’s best-known cuisine exports, Puchkas, Shrimp Paturi, Gondraj Fish & Chives Dumpling, and Anglo-Indian, may well be icons of the city’s enthusiasm, openness, and ingenuity. The Tangra Project is a homage to the quintessential cuisine culture of Kolkatta’s food paradise.
Mercure Hyderabad KCP is always experimenting with new cuisine and delicacies to bring unique experiences for the foodies in Hyderabad. On similar notes, Mercure has organized a food offerings starting from December 10 to December 19, 2021 where all can enjoy this lip-smacking modern & old cuisine, curated by Chef Vikramjit Roy, the founder of “The Tangra Project”. This distinctive menu designed by him has something for everyone’s taste buds, from Mughlai food to Anglo-Indian specialities, from classic Bengali pearls to famous Indian-Chinese inspired by the Hakka community who migrated to India. The handcrafted menu features meals from Calcutta’s major culinary areas, as well as expertly picked delicacies from those locations.
Speaking about this exciting new concept, Chef Vikramjit Roy, chef of The Tangra Project and Co-founder said, “The Tangra Project is a structured balance of cuisine and nostalgia. Every element of the restaurant brings to the forefront, my love for Calcutta’s culture and the fact food is ingrained in the anatomy of the city. It’s like the circle of life for me.”
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Soumitra Pahari, General Manager, Mercure Hyderabad KCP, said, “We are delighted to welcome the culinary legend Chef Vikramjit co-founder & Chef of “The Tangra Project” & his team to Mercure Hyderabad KCP to present an exclusive experience in Hyderabad. Chef Vikramjit, has been the torch bearer of the cuisine which showcases the food timeline of the old Calcutta & new Kolkatta. We look forward to welcome the food enthusiast to experience the handcrafted menu of various dishes, to tickle the palates of neighborhoods. We hope that all of our guests appreciate the food and ambience that we have curated for this food offering from 10th to 19th December.”
At annual event gathering hospitality professionals from all around the world, Hospitality ON, the international hospitality and tourism media, has awarded Glion Institute of Higher Education alumni Rita Amorim and Bonn Krongsak Paramacharoenroj the trophy of Best Professional Success.
The Best Professional Success trophy is awarded to young professionals under 30 years old who have been working for a maximum of 5 years.
The candidates are assessed on 3 criteria: the quality of their academic results as students, the exemplary start of their professional career, and the efficiency of the actions and projects they achieved within their company.
Both winners of the prize, the Portuguese Rita Amorim and Bonn Krongsak Paramacharoenroj, from Thailand, were raised in families of hoteliers and always dreamt of a career in hospitality, bringing them to study at Glion.
Rita graduated from the Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management with a specialization in International Hotel Development and Asset Management, in 2019. Only six months after entering Accor as Junior Cluster Revenue Manager, Rita is promoted Cluster Revenue Manager, thanks to her exceptional performance. While Covid pandemic was striking, slowing the growth of the hospitality industry, Rita managed to guide the hotels of her portfolio through the process of recovery, while playing an instrumental role in driving a variety of business-critical projects associated with service provision and revenue. In her current role, she oversees a portfolio of properties across different markets in the UK, which generate an annual turnover of over £20 million in rooms’ revenue. In parallel to her position at Accor, she is a consultant for Arribas Sintra Hotel for their Commercial Strategy and, most recently, began her own entrepreneurial journey as co-founder of Amorim & Petit Solutions, a hospitality and real estate consulting company.
The other victorious candidate, Bonn Krongsak Paramacharoenroj, attended the Bachelor’s in International Hospitality Business, with a specialization in Real Estate Finance & Revenue Management at Glion Institute of Higher Education, which he graduated from in 2016. He obtained his first job through the referral of a Glion alumna, as an associate at the consulting company C9 Hotelworks, Asia’s leading hospitality consulting firm providing market research, feasibility study, valuation and asset management services across Asia Pacific. This opportunity is the perfect example of the influence of the Glion’s alumni network.
After two and a half successful years in his first role, Bonn joined Onyx Hospitality Group, Thailand’s leading hotel owner and operator, where he started off as an Associate Director for Onyx’s lifestyle brand partner Yoo Hotels and Resorts. After months of excellent performance, he was promoted to oversee all Onyx’s brands, landing his dream job at a young age as a Director of Development, managing a portfolio of over 80 hotels in Asia. Today at Onyx, he oversees all hotel development aspects of the company from sourcing hotel deals, reviewing technical plans, planning financial feasibility studies, preparing management contracts, to managing relationships with the owners, hereby embracing the financial side of hotel development.
At its recent recruitment day event in November this year, Glion had the great number of 220 companies and properties from 26 different countries attending, with the purpose of meeting the students and recruiting the new talents who will be joining their companies. The positions offered to Glion students open employability to a whole range of managerial and strategic roles such as demonstrated with Rita’s strategic position at Accor and Bonn’s role in the development of Onyx.
“At 26 years old, I feel I have been fast-tracked as I learned throughout my studies in Glion,one of the world’s best hospitality schools, both textbook theories and practicalities, which later became very applicable in my career” says Bonn.
Within the 4 finalists for the Best Professional Success prize, 2 alumni were from Les Roches Global Hospitality Education, institution part of the Sommet Education network, along with Glion.
“I find myself extremely thankful for being recognized among such esteemed peers.”, shared Rita.
Costa Coffee, the world’s second largest coffee chain, managed and operated by Devyani International Limited (DIL) in India, today announced its expansion in Delhi NCR region with the launch of its first ever 24*7 flagship store in Gurugram in a never-seen-before design. Strategically located in the heart of the city, at DLF Galleria Market, one of the prominent shopping areas of Gurugram, the new store will bring the authentic Costa experience on all channels – Dine-in, Takeaway and Delivery to be primarily led by an all-women team.
Speaking on the launch, Mr. Virag Joshi, President and CEO, Devyani International Limited said, “The flagship store in Gurugram marks an important milestone in the brand expansion journey and will set the pace for future in making the Costa experience more accessible, exciting and interesting for coffee lovers, especially in Delhi NCR region. As a valued franchise partner of the brand, DIL is excited to grow the Costa brand in India and extend its strong coffee heritage built on passion and perfection, known and loved world over.”
“It gives us immense pride to launch this store with women team at the core. DIL remains committed to creating and strengthening opportunities for women and fostering diversity across all our brands – KFC and Pizza Hut where all-women teams have already been leading successful restaurant operations for some of the stores.” he added.
Mr. Sundeep Chugh, CEO, Costa Coffee, Devyani International Limited said, “We are delighted to launch our flagship store in Gurugram, which would be our second store in the city—but one which will offer many firsts from the brand. We want to meaningfully expand into cities and neighborhoods where we feel our customers want to see us. Gurugram has grown not only as a city but also as a conglomeration of people who not only enjoy but also understand and appreciate great coffee. And we feel proud to be able to serve our offering here in an exciting new design that aims to deliver an elevated experience and responds to the evolving appetite for fresh ways to enjoy coffee.”
New Breakfast Menu
The store will offer customers a wide range of Costa Coffee beverage offerings using our exclusive Mocha Italia blend. This includes our espresso-based beverages such as Flat White, Cappuccino, Americanos, Latte, Mocha and Cortado. The store will also have our limited edition Tiramisu flavored drinks to ring in the Christmas season along with our signature creamy and indulgent hot chocolate.
With the launch of this store, an enhanced food menu, freshly made every day, will be available throughout the day featuring delicious new entrants such as Pancakes with a variety of toppings to make it a hearty breakfast or dessert. This comes along with our existing menu of savory and sweet delights which consists of sandwiches, wraps, pastries, cakes, ice-cream desserts and cookies.
The store also introduced a dedicated range of breakfast options such as Pancakes, Bun Omelette, Croissant, Egg white, Cheese and Chicken Ham in Multigrain Croissant and many exciting dishes on the menu. Consumers can even pair coffee with some of their breakfast favorites as breakfast meal available at a special price.
New Store Design
The new store boasts an evolved interior design with a coffee first approach anchored on Costa’s brand purpose – “To inspire the world to love great coffee.” The new interiors are lighter, brighter and more human and aim to deliver a warm and welcoming store environment, in keeping with the feel Costa are known and loved for, whilst evolving the interior to suit the needs of the metropolitan customer.
The detail and handcrafted approach to the store design reflects Costa’s heritage and passion for coffee at every touchpoint and is graphically reflected through wallpaper, art and installations. The new hand-drawn pattern of wallpaper, which gives the store an elevated and premium look, is inspired by the growth of the coffee plant and the destinations in which Costa’s coffee beans are grown. A second wall installation consists of layering laser cut latte art stencils of various scales to give a handcrafted feel.
Intuitive seating zones have been introduced for different customer mindsets and times of day, with more upholstered seating. Screens have been introduced to give a sense of privacy to the seats. Customers can also enjoy free Wi-Fi 24×7 at the store while relishing their favorite coffee and food. The new store will also offer branded merchandise including the coffee tumblers and our signature Mocha Italia Blend.
With this launch Costa Coffee strengthens its presence with a total of 50 stores across all formats covering high street, shopping malls, airports, hospitals, corporates & highways. This new flagship store follows the recent store openings in Kochi, Mohali and Bengaluru which came after Devyani International Ltd. formalized an extension of its partnership with Costa Coffee for a five-year period with pan- India development rights in a phased manner.
CanHeal (canhealonline.com), a one-of-its-kind platform and e-commerce portal for all the life needs of cancer fighters & winners, today added a wide range of Darjeeling, Green and Herbal teas having health benefits for cancer fighters. CanHeal has tied up with Darjeeling Sips to offer a large variety of tea sourced directly from tea estates in Darjeeling and the surrounding areas. CanHeal has also added to its portfolio of accessories a range of Chemo Pillows and custom-designed Chemo Bag.
All In One Comfort Pillow by CanHeal
Explaining the additions to a wide range of products already available on the CanHeal portal, Anchal Sharma, Founder of CanHeal said, “CanHeal launched its e-commerce and community portal couple of months ago intending with an objective to offer all those products that cancer fighters and winners require to live their life with verve. During my fight against cancer, I came to know of the health benefits of tea in addition to its taste as I was always a fan of Darjeeling Sips sourced directly from tea estates that grow and brew a variety of tea in a socially responsible and planet-friendly way, hence the best fit for cancer fighters.”
“We have also added some smart products to our range of accessories – chemo bag that has been custom designed to hold all that is required during the day-long chemo sessions and pillows that include seat belt pillows, port pillow, armpit pillow and all-in-one comfort pillow to meet the cushioning needs arising due to cancer of different parts of the body. CanHeal is committed to continue adding new products to meet all the needs of cancer fighters at one source.”
Range of new products added to CanHeal e-portal:
Tea
Darjeeling Tea – Darjeeling Tea is rich in antioxidants that help fight free radicals and contains polyphonic compounds that inhibit the growth of cancer and stop tumour development. Darjeeling Sips offers 7 variants of Darjeeling tea – Standard Darjeeling Black tea, Small Farmer Red Oolong (2nd flush) tea, Muscatel (2nd flush) organic tea, Flowery (1st flush) organic tea, Spring Delight (1st flush) black tea, Mim Moon drop tea balls and Diamond (1st flush)
Green tea is known to delay the onset of cancer and prevent it occurrence. Darjeeling Sips offers 5 flavours of Green tea – Peach Green Tea, Lavender Green Tea, Pepper Mint Green Tea, Tulsi Green Tea and Daily Green Tea
Herbal teas are specially brewed for health benefits.
Accessories
Comfort Pillows – Handmade, filled with comfortable filling and having soft cotton cover. Puffy and comfortable to protect from any harsh impact on the affected area of the body.
Chest Port Long Seat-belt Pillow – for Mastectomy Breast Cancer, mastectomy or reconstruction
Hysterectomy Seat-belt Pillow – Tummy seat-belt pillow provides driving comfort after having a hysterectomy and other abdominal surgeries.
Small Square Handy Port Pillow – Suitable for patients having Port A Cath
Heart-shaped Armpit Pillow – Useful for post breast and unilateral mastectomy
All-in-one Comfort Pillow Pack – A combination of 6 comfort pillows that helps protect almost all the affected areas.
2. Chemo Bag – A light-weight bag made from pure cotton fabric in which one can hold everything one requires to carry for chemotherapy session – right from medical records, insurance card, driving license and even the items that one may require for comfort and to keep one engaged in the waiting period during a chemo session.
For more details, please refer to the Product Details.
CanHeal is in discussion with multiple brands to further expand the range of specially curated products for cancer fighters and winners.
Thanksgiving Week took on an entirely new meaning at the Resort Hotel, Mumbai. The management of the hotel decided to recognise and appreciate the work of the cleaners of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
During the Covid period, while the rest of the hotel staff and management — and indeed, the entire citizenry — were confined in their rooms, these frontline workers were on the roads, keeping the city clean while at the same time having to protect themselves from the virus. They had to brush aside concerns about their own families and children as they were required to focus on maintaining the hygiene of the city. Ironically, they were unable to oversee the hygiene in their own homes during this period.
The hotel organised hi-tea for the workers and followed it up by a free medical check-up for all of them. This included eye check-up, ECG, complete blood profiling, and consultation with a medical doctor.
Speaking about the event, General Manager Mr Satyajit Kotwal said, “When we talk about basic rights, the working classes do not enjoy the respect which is enjoyed by the business classes or other white collared people. Dignity of Labour is a concept preached but not practiced by the affluent class. It is very clear that manual labour is extremely important and necessary for the smooth functioning of society. Giving this class the respect and dignity that are due to them is very essential.”
A BMC staff member declared, “This is the first time somebody has recognized that we too are human with the same concerns that others have. Normally we are taken for granted and blamed when things don’t go well. We thank the Resort for creating awareness about the importance of the work we do.”
The Resort hit upon the idea of using the period around the American Thanksgiving to express thanks and honour the staff of the Municipal Corporation. Each one of them was thanked individually.
This initiative of The Resort can be compared to the pioneering efforts of the first pilgrims who paved the way for the creation of a great nation. It has given a whole new meaning to dignity of labour, elevating Mumbai ‘s social ranking among the great cities of the world.
