Thirteen years at the live counter.
Sumit Garg opened one chaat outlet in Kalka in 2013. It has grown into The Chaat Project, live counter catering run from the Chandigarh Tricity across three states.
From one outlet in Kalka.
In 2013, Sumit Garg opened his first outlet in Kalka, under Olive Hospitality, a small operation in a small town on the road to Shimla. It taught him the lesson the business still runs on: people do not come back for a menu, they come back for a plate they watched being made.
The move from an outlet to live counters followed from that. If the first bite is best within seconds of the tawa, the kitchen should travel to the guest, not the food to a buffet tray. The Chaat Project builds that kitchen inside weddings, corporate events and prayer gatherings, and Sumit still oversees every booking personally.
Today the crew and the kit travel from one kitchen in the Chandigarh Tricity, out across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal, and up to hill venues in Shimla, Mussoorie, Kasauli and Kufri. One wedding a date, led personally by Sumit from the first reply.
The first hard question about a live chaat counter is always the water. A family asks it across a table; a planner asks it again, because a licence has to sit on file before a vendor goes to the client. The answer is the same to both: we are FSSAI licensed, potable supply is used for service, and we carry our own water for preparation. What a planner needs beyond that is set out in how we work with event planners.
Sumit Garg
Swaad matter karta hai,
khilane ka bhaav bhi.The taste matters. So does the feeling it is served with.
Live counter catering since 2013.
- 01 2013 · Kalka The first outlet opens under Olive Hospitality, on the road to Shimla.
- 02 The outlet years The menu grows, and so does the lesson: the plate is best within seconds of the tawa.
- 03 The move to counters The Chaat Project begins building live stations inside weddings, offices and prayer halls.
- 04 Into the hills Elysium ITC in Shimla, Royal Orchid in Mussoorie, Royal Tulip in Kufri, Parv Vilas ITC WelcomHeritage.
- 05 Today Live counter catering across the Tricity, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal. Hill venues a speciality on top, not the whole story.
What the kitchen holds to.
Four working rules, unchanged since the Kalka counter.
Planning an event?
Reply within 24 hours · One wedding a date · Punjab, Haryana and Himachal · Menu, counters, crew and clearing included