With Goa’s hospitality sector expanding alongside record tourism, food safety, sustainability and operational efficiency are becoming increasingly important for hotels, restaurants and cafés. Goa Tycoon speaks with Sanjay Jain, Founder & Director of Elan Professional Appliances Pvt. Ltd. (Elanpro), about Saksham, the knowledge platform helping Goan food entrepreneurs strengthen operations, reduce waste and raise service standards.
Goa’s hospitality and tourism industry is one of the biggest drivers of demand for food-service infrastructure. From your experience, what are the key refrigeration and cold-chain challenges you see among businesses in Goa?
Goa’s hospitality industry operates under a unique set of conditions. Businesses have to manage fluctuating demand, high ambient temperatures, coastal humidity and the need for uninterrupted refrigeration, often simultaneously.
During peak tourist seasons, hotels, restaurants, cafés and food outlets see significant increases in volumes, putting greater pressure on refrigeration and cold-storage systems. Maintaining the cold chain consistently—from receiving and storage to preparation and service—is also critical, as even small temperature fluctuations can affect product quality, shelf life and food safety.
Businesses sometimes focus primarily on upfront equipment costs rather than energy consumption, reliability, maintenance, service support and total cost of ownership. Refrigeration therefore needs to be viewed as an important part of business infrastructure, with equipment suited to local conditions, capable of handling peak demand and backed by dependable service.
Saksham came to Goa after editions in several major cities. Why did Elanpro feel Goa was the right market for this platform at this point?
SJ: Goa was a natural next step for Saksham because of the scale and diversity of its hospitality and foodservice ecosystem, which includes hotels, restaurants, cafés, QSRs and independent operators.
As the industry grows, businesses are also dealing with greater expectations around food safety, operational efficiency, sustainability and compliance. We felt there was a need for a platform that could bring these subjects into a practical conversation with the people actually running these businesses.
That is what we want Saksham to do in Goa. It is not simply a one-day seminar, but a platform where businesses can hear from experts, understand emerging requirements and exchange experiences around operational challenges. Goa’s hospitality industry has its own realities, and Saksham allows us to have a more local and relevant conversation rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.
Goa has a large number of hotels, restaurants, cafés and food businesses, including many independent and smaller operators. How can better refrigeration technology and sustainable infrastructure help these businesses improve efficiency and reduce food wastage?
SJ: Refrigeration has a direct impact on both operational efficiency and profitability. When ingredients are stored at stable and appropriate temperatures, businesses can protect quality, extend shelf life and reduce unnecessary spoilage. This is particularly important for smaller operators, where even relatively small amounts of daily food wastage can meaningfully impact margins.
Features such as efficient compressors, good insulation, appropriate condenser design and high-ambient performance can help refrigeration systems maintain required temperatures without excessive energy consumption. Equipment designed for the environment in which it operates can also reduce system stress and maintenance requirements.
Sustainability is not only about electricity consumption. It is also about how long equipment lasts, how well it protects food, how much maintenance it requires and how reliably it performs over its operating life.
Better refrigeration can therefore contribute to sustainability through improved energy efficiency and reduced food wastage, while helping businesses utilise resources more effectively and lower their overall operating costs.
With Goa’s tourism industry seeing a steady expansion of its hospitality and food-service ecosystem, do you see a need for greater awareness around compliance, food safety and refrigeration standards among businesses in the state?
SJ: Absolutely! As Goa’s hospitality ecosystem expands, food safety and compliance need to become an integral part of everyday operations, rather than something businesses address only when an inspection or audit is approaching.
Food safety is closely connected to how food is received, stored, handled and served. Temperature control is an important part of this process, which means refrigeration practices, equipment maintenance and monitoring cannot be looked at in isolation.
Good compliance practices can reduce operational risks, improve consistency and ultimately protect both the business and the consumer. This is particularly relevant for smaller and independent businesses that may not have dedicated technical or compliance teams. Through Saksham, we want to make discussions around safety, sustainability and compliance more practical and relevant to the day-to-day realities of the foodservice industry.
Looking beyond Saksham Goa, what role does Elanpro see itself playing in strengthening Goa’s food-service and cold-chain ecosystem, and are there any specific opportunities you are looking to explore in the state?
SJ: As the hospitality and foodservice industry grows, we see our role in Goa going beyond supplying refrigeration equipment. Our objective is not simply to expand our presence, but to build stronger relationships within the local ecosystem and contribute to an environment where businesses have access to the right technology, service support and knowledge to operate efficiently and responsibly.
We see opportunities across hospitality, restaurants, cafés, QSRs and food retail, as well as in areas such as cold rooms and specialised cold-chain applications. At the same time, there is a need for greater awareness around equipment selection, temperature management, energy efficiency and total cost of ownership.