An Optimal Media Solutions Initiative, A division of Times Internet Limited, circulated with The Times of India, Surat Saturday,

Saturday, 5 May, 2018 An Advertorial, Lifestyle Promotional Feature

besides providing hands-on practice nine hands-on workstations for live cooking classes.
and home chef training, can also certi- With hundreds of inquiries swarming in everyday,
fy the learners under specialised cours- Thakkar looks forward to opening more branches
es as professional chefs and kitch- of Swad across India, starting from various cit-
en experts. ies of Gujarat. She wishes that every house-
Even when her brainchild, hold in the country is able to eat the best of
Swad Cooking Institute was food, and experience the feeling of content-
flourishing at a good pace, ment and happiness that cooking lip-smack-
she did not stop herself ing yet healthy food can bring to one’s life.
from going beyond the For more details contact:
conventional and Address: Swad Cooking Institute
appearing as a celebri- 413, Marvella Business Hub,
ty chef on various Near Rajhans Multiplex,
cookery shows from Opp. Pal RTO
time to time. She Pal, Surat,
appeared on popular Gujarat - 395009
channels. Her passion to Chef Sneha Thakkar Contact: +91 97123 07070
reach and teach the masses swad.surat@gmail.com
led her to become a fea-
tured and noted writer of numerous recipes and
cooking lessons, through various newspapers and
media outlets. She was also recognised as a leading
People Speak
figure in the city for women empowerment and was I have been lucky enough
certified as a proficient business personality by the to visit Swad Cooking
Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce, Surat. Institute in Surat. I think they are
Years have faded away but Thakkar’s zest to doing a commendable job. It's a
spread the message that happiness is indeed home- great place to learn cooking for
made has just intensified. She has shared the stage people who are interested in the
with several celebrity chefs and culinary artists like field”
Chef Ripu Daman Handa, Masterchef Pankaj — Masterchef Ripu Daman Handa
Bhadoria, Masterchef Kirti Bhautika, Chef Harpal Swad cooking institute is
Singh Sokhi, Chef Shivani Mehta and Chef Hina well-known place to
Gautam to name a few. Swad Cooking Institute banks enhance your art of cooking.
on her vast skill-oriented knowledge and expertise Also, it’s the best-equipped
that she has gained over last 20 years of experience in learning studio in the city. Sneha
the field. She also provides hotel consultancy services Thakkar is a well-known, veter-
along with in-house training to chefs of India’s lead- an chef. The flavour, aroma and
ing restaurants, eateries and canteens. Moreover, she goodness of her food spreads
offers diet menu consultancy to help patients eat everywhere she goes”
healthy. —Pooja Vyaas, Tiara India International
At Swad, everyone believes that although cooking

MASTER THE ART OF COOKING

My journey with Swad
is an art, the capacity to learn and practice it tends to started 15 years ago and
differ from person to person. So to serve the needs of we have done hundreds of cook-
a variety of people who seek a platform to learn cook- ing events together. Today, if
ing, it offers almost more than 72 types of courses someone asks me about an
starting from understanding the basics of kitchen institute which is capable and
such as cutting, chopping, dicing and preparing day-

AT THIS INSTITUTE
to-day food dishes to expertly executing the likes of
French, Italian, Mexican and Thai cuisines. The insti-
tute also offers USA-certified courses like cookery
operations that deals with technical kitchen skills
such as kitchen management, production skills, ser-
vice management, cost cutting, food
potential in doing anything with
perfection, the only name that comes to my
mind is Swad.”
— Manish Bhatt, Assistant General Manager,
SUMUL

M
hygiene and soft skills that involves
ore than two decades ago, when
Swad Cooking Chef Sneha Thakkar started her
journey with the simple passion to
guest service management, effi-
cient customer management,

Institute founded by cook, she never imagined that she will have
more than one lakh names of trained stu-
achieving revenue goals, food
marketing and strategies.
Thakkar ensures that her courses
Chef Sneha dents and successful chefs under her belt.
From conducting a cooking class for 35 food
not only benefit the restaurant
owners, chefs, food connoisseurs,
Thakkar provides enthusiasts with basic stove and equipment at
home in the first year, to training thousands of
caterers and students who are flying
abroad to pursue a career in the food
certified
ambitious aspiring chefs from nine to five at Swad industry but also helps housewives,
Cooking Institute, she has come a long way. home chefs and simply anyone who is
In 1997, when the turmoils of personal life hit
courses and Thakkar and she found herself going down the dark
lane, a sudden idea occurred to her, to teach others
ter’s home as a studio to give demonstrations of
curious enough to learn the art of
cooking. Changing with times, Swad
delectable food that was not only authentic in taste, Cooking Institute has expanded and
consultancy what she was good at and that marked the beginning
of her commendable journey. She turned the shadow
texture and appeal, but also healthy and easy to cook.
The number of her happy students grew in a small
transformed into a newer and a bigger
version of itself. Now, it has an ultra-
services for cooking into light by taking challenges head-on and moving
persistently forward. Thakkar earlier used her sis-
span of time and she decided to open an institute that modern modular kitchen setup with

Travel An Application and website where

Experience you can find all the classes of the
Evolve with city at just one click
Find all the classes including dance, music, academics and various
Happymiles activities on class finder

"Certainly, travel is more than the
seeing of sights, it is a change that
goes on, deep and permanent, in the
ideas of living." - Miriam Beard
learning about the largest particle
physics laboratory of the world,
playing a soccer match with
Spanish students, visiting a com-
munity center in Kenya, studying

T
aking an inspiration by this the school education system of
quote, Sneha Poddar and Finland and Sweden; architectural
Chandni Agrawal joined hands and heritage
with Happymiles. They believe, travel- works ho ps
ling helps a child evolve, and getting the in Tamil
right exposure at the right age definite- Nadu to visit
ly helps each student come out of the to the Maruti
cocoon and their comfort zone.
Happymiles is one such venture that
offers subject focused experiential
People Speak
M
tours for the age group of 08 – 25
years. For the last few years, it spe- Plant in Gurgaon or a visit to the ost of the great start-up ideas Class Finder is a venture based out
cialises in effectively merging learn- We Vidyamandir College of BMW plant in Germany, studying that you come across evolve at of Surat and will soon spread its wings
ing with travel by creating educa- Architecture for women from Surat conservation of tigers in Pench to a tea stall, right? But this one to many cities. It is a platform wherein
tional travel experiences for students has organised our 1st International Study studying the dying coral reef in the is quite different. This one occurred at a one can take various classes in different
across various schools and colleges Tour to Spain, covering Madrid, Valencia Gold Coast of Australia, We cover it soda stall where one of the founder divisions like education, dance, online
of India. Happymiles is an experien- and Barcelona. During the tour the stay at all” members was sipping soda while talk- courses, music, entrance exams and a
tial travel company, seeking to com- hotel and hostel was very well managed At Happymiles, each project is ing to the soda seller who was looking lot more. They have curated classes
bine experience with education, and was located at city centre. The itiner- divided into three phases: Pre-trip, for a tuition class for a grade 12 student. from various areas and division into
learning with practice and travelling ary covered all aspects regarding archi- On-trip and Post-trip. But before the And that’s when Class Finder came into one single platform where with just one
with exposure. It curate special inter- tectural views and the Indian dinner in a trip begins, the product development being. This happened in November 2015 click you get it all.
est travel and learn programs for foreign country was fantastic. team gets together to carve out and it is since then Class Finder is striv- The start-up has a vision of creating
school, pre-university and university The local guides made easy to under- unique need-based itineraries or ing to excel. a platform where one can find all the better manner.
level educators and students in India stand the history of architecture and experiences. They conceive the prod- With each passing day and busy classes relating to the specific catego- — Pamir Shah
belonging to various fields of educa- evolution of cities. The overall budget was uct and design around both student's schedules, it has become a quest for ries along with the reviews that can (Dynamic Warrior Martial Art
tion, i.e., architecture, management, affordable to students. Happy to go ahead and teacher's needs and offer the many a beginners to get the most suit- make search easy for myriad people Academy)
engineering, fashion, hospitality, pri- with Happymiles long way. We can not best in planning, organising and able learning platform for their inter- seeking effective lessons. Class Finder
ests. And Class Finder has successfully in a way is also providing a platform to C l a s s
mary and secondary schooling, etc. thank enough Mark and Sneha for making execution of educational trips and Finder
with a strong focus on brining text- our International Study Tour interesting tours for the esteemed clients. solved it all. mentors, where they can showcase
their services and different talents. has made
books to life, student safety, comfort and mesmerizing.” Happymiles’ travel modules are cus- the searching for
and affordability — Chaitali Shroff, tom-made around student curricu- How to use the PEOPLE classes easy and it
Sneha Poddar shares, “A lot of Principal, Vidyamandir College of lum and key characteristics of a application?
Architecture, Surat destination. They have created this SPEAK has not been long
people think that educational travel Step 1: Search for the application Class that I’m using it
is just a glorified sightseeing tour. But unique balance of addressing educa- but have surely got
tional needs in a fun and creative ‘Class Finder’ in your play store Finder
we believe that that could be further is one enrolments
I had the most amazing time with ambience while retaining the and app store. If you are logging
from the truth. With special focus on of the most through the Class
learning outcomes which entail gain- Happymiles, the tour was very well essence of a leisurely trip. from the web, look for www.
amazing Finder.
ing new perspectives, building skills thought after, the way the education At Happymiles they believe there classfinder.co.in
ideas for any — Meghna Mehta
for the future through experiential tours were blended with all the sight see- is no greater satisfaction than mak- Step 2: Fill in the registration
parent or stu- (Kalasagar Classes)
learning and inculcating skills such ing and parties has to be credited for. The ing a righteous impact in the society form and details. You will receive dent to find a
as critical thinking, problem solving, tour operators were particularly impres- through one's living! an OTP which after entering your place to pur-
For more details contact
collaboration and global competence sive, they handled everything really well. For more details contact : registration will be confirmed. sue their
Contact Number: 8643860000
to approach real world problems I would definitely recommend everybody S1, Regent Arcade Mall, Ghod
Step 3: Fill the details of location interest. I
www.classfinder.in
practically, our products are designed to travel with Happymiles.” Dod Road, Surat - 395007.
and category and there you go think this is unique social media plat- The app can be downloaded from
to cater to the practical education a — Swapnil Goyal, Student, Auro University +91-9724068799/ 7600761498,
www.happymiles.in with the list of classes. form where the class owner and stu- play store and app store of leading
student needs. Visiting CERN and dents both can know each other in a platforms.