
Hyderabad: Imagine a well-lit place with neatly arranged tables and chairs, paintings hanging around with soft instrumental music playing in the background. Sounds more like the ambience of Hyderabad’s popular cafes in Banjara Hills or Jubilee Hills.
However, this is no longer exclusive to upscale areas—eateries in Hyderabad’s Old City have reinvented themselves to cater to the tastes of the younger generation.
In one year, around 25 eateries like cafes, bakeries and restaurants with fancy names have come up in Hyderabad’s Old City areas such as Moghalpura, Falaknuma, Hussainalam, Shamsheergunj, Kanchanbagh, Santoshnagar, Golconda, Bahadurpura, Edi Bazaar etc.
“A tidy and upscale place is what the young prefer. We aim to set up an ambience in line with prime commercial areas of the IT corridor,” said Sarfaraz Khan, who set up an eatery at Moghalpura.
The target customers are mostly young men and women studying in various Hyderabad colleges and universities who prefer aesthetic cafes over Irani Chais or local bakeries to hang around. Fast food such as burgers, pizzas, sandwiches, shawarma or Chinese food are prepared and made available in different varieties.
“The next generation of Old City look beyond Irani chai and biscuits. Their preferences have changed. They no longer want to munch on egg puffs or veg puffs at a bakery or sit idling in an Irani hotel. They want to sit at a good place no matter if it means shelling out a few bucks more,” said Irfan, who set up an eatery at Bahadurpura.
A small investment of Rs 3 to Rs 4 lakh is required for setting up the cafes and restaurants for starting a business in Hyderabad. “If the business picks up the monthly profit will be around Rs. 25000 to Rs. 30000. Think if you have to do research to understand the local pulse of youth,” said Junaid, who runs an eatery at Falaknuma.