Revels Behind the Scenes | Hospitality and Food Stalls

Imagine our fests without the bustling food stalls behind IC. How would it be, with no lip-smacking chaats, awkward teeth-staining golas, and delicious SquareRuth burgers? How would working as volunteers/organizers/category heads be without the added incentive of free food tokens? Then again, nothing beats the satisfaction of downing a free glass of Oreo shake after tactfully begging your friends to give you that extra token.

We, at MTTN, talked to the category heads managing the workforce under Hospitality and Food Stalls (HFS), and gained a better perspective of their rigorous efforts into keeping everyone’s palates satisfied.

MTTN: Tell us about the food stalls you have?

Archit: We have a total of six food stalls under us this time, including Pizza Hut, Rolls Mania, Cad(M) Cad(B), Ice Gola and chaat (from Bombay), Desi Firangi, and Food Point (which has great chicken and paneer combos to offer). Some stalls were a part of last TechTatva as well, but we’ve managed to bring in a couple of new additions this time. Desi Firangi is relatively new to Manipal and it took us quite a lot of work to get them here, but we ultimately succeeded. Apart from that, we have a Food Truck from Bangalore called SquareRuth, which hit off quite well with the crowd.

MTTN: Apart from food stalls, what else comes under your administration?

Srishti: We manage food tokens and judges’ refreshments. Once we receive the tokens, our job is to distribute them among other categories. Food tokens are entitled to the core committee members, organizers and volunteers- basically those who are responsible for running the entire fest. It’s an incentive that they earn. We also take care of the refreshments for judges who come for various events, ensuring their timely delivery and management.

MTTN: How did you eventually manage everything?

Vishal: It took a lot many meetings and tremendous amount of planning. We literally had to run after the restaurant managers to convince them to install food stalls in campus. You would think that it should be a great opportunity for them to make money, but it’s really hard for us to talk them into coming and setting up a stall here. They sometimes think through for 2-3 weeks, leaving us waiting without any response, so we end up running around to contact them after every few days as a reminder, telling them about the opportunities that we can offer them. Desi firangi, specially, was a tough catch. There was a time when they were not coming at all, and it took a great deal of convincing to get them here. Let’s just say that right from the first day, we had a lot of problems. After all the late hours with the council and our team, we did pull it off eventually.

MTTN: Are you happy with the team you have?

Yash: Absolutely! Our team is undoubtedly the best and more than just perfect. Everyone isn’t here at the moment, since they’re busy managing food tokens and with other work, but we’d have loved you to meet them all.

MTTN: Do you get perks? Rather, more blatantly, how much free food do you get?

All of them(laughing): Well, that’s a given. We do work our ass off for it. As for how much of it we get, that’s all in good faith.

MTTN: On the whole, how was your experience working for Revels’17?

Yash : It was really a delightful experience. This our last fest and we’ve put in our best for it. Not just us, but all catheads have gone all in for Revels’17.

Archit: There have been lots of issues, and we’ve had a lot of late-hour discussions to make it bigger and better this time, but it was all worth it.

 

What we see are the amazing food stalls and the colorful tokens that get us free food. The amount of organization and management that goes behind the smooth working of it all goes unnoticed, and is worth the appreciation. Hats off to HFS for all their effort!

 

Tejal Khullar for MTTN

Pictures by: Jassil Jamaludhin

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