Competition may be rife in the fast food industry but rewards will always follow pursuit of excellence, says a young executive.
Rakesh Verma, General Manager of Oporto New Zealand Limited, said that quality operators would always cater to discerning consumers.
“The fast food industry has a wide range of operators, some of who may appeal to bargain hunters but there would always be a high percentage of people who prefer tasty and high quality food. They also know that such food would come with a higher price tag,” he said.
Mr Verma has just taken over the newly created post in the Company.
“Our core value is to maintain food quality at a competitive price. We do not compete or enter into price wars with competition. We compete on taste and quality by offering added value,” he said.
Steady rise
This 34-year old entrepreneur and executive began his career with Raychem RPG, an engineering products and services company and later chose the growing insurance industry, with short tenures at ICICI Prudential before migrating to New Zealand with his wife and their three-month old daughter in 2007 (the couple have another daughter, born last year).
Following a career at ACE Insurance (in its ‘Combined’ Division), he decided to purchase an Oporto franchise in Palmerston North.
“The fast food industry will accelerate my career ambitions,” he thought.
He was not wrong.
Oporto New Zealand Chief Executive Bhushan Arolkar and his wife Jasmine Arolkar (a Director of the Company) identified the talent in the young man and encouraged him to move to Auckland to undertake a larger responsibility.
“Oporto is a strong brand with a New Zealand proven franchise model, which offers a secured and assured system. The key differences of Oporto from other brands are premium product offer, a solid support team and proven brand loyalty,” Mr Verma said.
Subscribing to the philosophy of ‘Success through Positive Mental Attitude’ propounded by American author and philanthropist the late William Clement Stone, he follows self-motivation, commitment and dedication as his attributes.
It is this attitude that makes him believe that he would win awards and citations in his new role, just as he achieved in his erstwhile assignments.
Born in Patna (Bihar), he obtained his postgraduate qualification (Master of Business Administration) from the Delhi University.
