Sizzling on The Bounty

A student from the United States on a Rotary Club exchange program was carrying a list of restaurants she should visit in Poona. "Right on top, the first name was The Bounty Sizzlers and in brackets it was written ‘the best joint ever.’ With pride I told her that Bounty was mine,” relates Afareen Framroze. Duly impressed, the student told her "how her friends raved about it,” smiles Framroze.

Last year Bounty won the prize for the best sizzler joint in Poona by the Times of India food guide. Whilst Framroze as also her father Farhang Farzadi who had helped her set up the business were elated that their six years of hard work had paid off, they also realized that they had a reputation to uphold and expectations to fulfil. Today on offer are 25 sizzler options, all of which are served with vegetables and fries and if the customer doesn’t want fries, they are replaced with mashed potatoes while the shaslik sizzlers are served with rice.

Top: The Bounty’s facade; Bottom :Afareen Framroze and her father Farhang Farzadi

Bounty also has a kid’s menu and for that Framroze gives credit to her daughter Luhaiza who was one-and-a-half years old when they were finalizing the menu. In regular sizzler joints a child really doesn’t get to eat anything but French fries, which is not what parents would like their kid to eat while they enjoy their meal. She thought it would be preferable to have a small sizzler plate offering something healthier for children and hence came up with crazy cornballs, which are corn and cheese balls served with noodles and vegetables and fries. The non-vegetarian version has chicken and cheese balls. Yet another favorite is Bounty in a basket, an Italiano non-vegetarian sizzler with spaghetti in a tomato based sauce with vegetables, chicken and cheese. Its vegetarian version comes with skewered mushrooms and cottage cheese. Soon the father-daughter duo realized that the kid sizzlers were not only popular among the youngsters but women too who are small eaters. Thus to cater to the increasing demand a wider variety of mini sizzlers were offered. While the regular sizzlers come in the Rs 280-300 range, kid sizzlers are available for Rs 180-200.

Bounty also offers Chinese food, sandwiches, burgers and mini meals. The beverage options include iced tea, Fram’s soft drink, wine and beer. Their patrons also enjoy ice cream soda floats.

Convinced that she could provide "better and more innovative options than the ones available in the existing joints,” 34-year-old Framroze says she decided to venture into this business with the support of her father. With his contacts and years of experience of running his own eatery Santosh Sagar at Bombay’s Napean Sea Road he was able to get the cooks and required staff for Bounty. "My job was to fine-tune them according to my requirement… The name Bounty was actually chosen by my dad because he had just come back from the States and he wanted to start a theme restaurant.” Inspired by the ship HMS Bounty he thought the restaurant could be done up along similar lines. Since bounty meant plentiful too he thought it would be perfect, explains Framroze who would like to set up a Bounty chain once Luhaiza grows up.

Observing her dad run a restaurant, Framroze says she was interested in cookery since her school days at Bombay’s J. B. Petit. In fact she chose cookery as her optional subject for the ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) examination and was the highest scorer in the subject. After appearing for her HSC (Higher Secondary Certificate) she did the HAFT (Hotel Administration and Food Technology) course from Sophia Polytechnic. Selected by the Taj group of hotels to work as chef trainee at their President Hotel’s Italian restaurant Trat-toria, Framroze says she gained considerable confidence and insights.

"But as luck should have it even before my six months of training I was betrothed,” recounts Framroze. Since she was shifting from Bombay to Poona she feared her dream of starting a restaurant some day would never materialize and she would remain a home-maker like her mother Frangis.

But after six years of marriage she managed to open The Bounty Sizzlers on July 28, 2002 with the cooperation of her husband Yezdi who takes care of his family soft drink factory and industrial gas oven business. "My husband has been a great support to me. (In the early days) when I would leave for work at 7 in the evening he would look after our daughter. Initially when we had just started he would wait with me at the restaurant to show his support,” she adds.

"Everyone loves to know a Parsi and have him or her for a friend,” says Framroze who believes the community can be described as "loving, tolerant, largehearted, fun loving, generous…” Speaking from personal experience she conveys, "It’s true when they say we are like crabs in a basket. If we could live with understanding and harmony, believe me, all our problems of dwindling numbers and poverty would take care of themselves.”

The Bounty Sizzlers, open from 10 a.m. to 11.30 p.m., is located at Shop number 14, 15 Landmark Gardens, Kalyani Nagar, Poona, tel: 26613360.