How Colonel Saab delivers their ‘love letter to India’ to more happy diners with TheFork

Nestled amongst the hustle and bustle of London’s iconic Covent Garden, Colonel Saab, created by Roop Partap Choudhary, offers diners the chance to be transported to India through delectable food, ancient art, and exquisite service. Keen to expose more foodies to a one-of-a-kind culinary experience steeped in family history, Colonel Saab joined forces with TheFork shortly after opening their first site in 2021.

Across two separate locations — the former Holborn Hall and Trafalgar Square — Colonel Saab welcomes diners to experience Indian flavours inspired by the travels of Roop’s parents, Colonel Manbeer and Mrs. Binny Choudhary.

This deep-rooted authenticity and family feel shines through every aspect of the restaurant, from its menu to its decor.

“We researched our original menu for over three years,” Atul Joshi, General Manager at Colonel Saab tells us. “We went to all the spots where the Colonel was posted and we asked Roop’s aunts and family friends to share their favourite recipes with us. The menu has been created from all those recipes.”

“If you visit, you will see art from ancient India, a painting from a very famous painter in Calcutta, and even the carpet is about 100 to 150 years old.”

Colonel Saab is a self-described ‘love letter to India’, and the team were eager to spread this love far and wide in London’s foodie scene, so they joined TheFork just two months after opening.

Using TheFork as a catalyst for growth

Launching in September 2021 — during the pandemic — presented obvious challenges when it came to growing Colonel Saab, with even well-established restaurants only just beginning to recover from the losses that various lockdowns had inflicted.

The Colonel Saab team knew that TheFork presented an unmissable opportunity to tap into a huge market of diners in London and beyond, and so added TheFork’s restaurant management platform to its tech stack back in November 2021. According to Atul, they’ve never looked back.

“TheFork helped us go through a difficult time when we opened in the middle of COVID,” he said. “Coming out of the pandemic, TheFork has helped us to grow our business, increase our customer database, and gather thousands of reviews.”

“We wanted our restaurant to have wider exposure, and we knew TheFork had great exposure in London.” — Atul Joshi, General Manager at Colonel Saab

After seeing a major spike in bookings after setting up Colonel Saab’s page on TheFork, the team are thrilled to have seen steady and sustainable growth as a result of using the restaurant management platform.

“We’re all about providing a great experience in our restaurant,” Atul explains. “TheFork has helped us by providing more touchpoints to connect with diners and show them what we’re all about.”

Taking advantage of TheFork’s platform and campaigns

As well as increasing day-to-day bookings by being exposed to thousands of diners across London — including locals and tourists — the Colonel Saab team have been making the most of TheFork’s unique promotions, such as TheFork Festival.

Offering diners the chance to get limited-time-only discounts on meals with thousands of fabulous restaurants in London, TheFork Festival is a powerful opportunity for businesses to drive bookings in off-peak times.

“TheFork Festival helps us a lot with increasing bookings during quiet time periods,” Atul says. “It’s a very interesting concept and one of the major reasons we joined TheFork.”

As for the day-to-day use of the restaurant management platform, Atul says he works closely with Colonel Saab’s account manager at TheFork to optimise their success.

“Our account manager is always on hand to help us with anything, such as making our page look better or putting new photos up — they’re really helpful.”

"Using TheFork is simple and straightforward. No hassles, no hard work — it's a no-brainer. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is finding it difficult to increase bookings and grow their business.” — Atul Joshi, General Manager at Colonel Saab

Having onboarded with TheFork early in their business journey, the team at Colonel Saab are excited to see how the partnership continues to support the growth of its two restaurants. Discover how you can use TheFork’s restaurant management platform to achieve similar results by getting in touch.