Mr. Kanta Rao, Purchase Manager, the Lazy Lagoon, Sarovar Portico, Goa

At the age of 43 years, our Purchase manager from the Lazy Lagoon Mr. Kanta Rao has a career of 9 years in the hospitality industry in totality. Initially he started his career as a store manager for a manufacturing company. One of his friends recommended him for the hotel industry job and thus his career in the hospitality industry bloomed. He initially started as a Store supervisor in the Dudhsagar Spa resorts ,Mollem, where he worked for 2 years. Then he moved onto a boutique resort in Colva for 4 years as a Material Executive. Then he worked at the Lazy lagoon as a Purchase Executive and later got promoted as the Purchase Manager. He has worked as a purchase manager in Sandalwood resorts as well in his tenure.

Nowadays, the purchase department represents a major interface between the hotel and the vendors or the service providers. The purchase department has to work very closely with all the internal departments and support them in a most efficient and effective manner. So in order to keep self updated, our PM Mr. Kanta Rao reviews the magazines on hospitality industry as well as refers to the recent mails also subsequently.

With ever-increasing expectations of the customers for excellence, growing competition and severe pressures on pricing, the demands on the purchase managers are undergoing a sea change. In order to shortlist the vendors, our purchase manager first overlooks the quality of products provided as well as his payment status basically his term and conditions. Some of the vendors are so sluggish, that even after sending the purchase order they do not update if they have the material available with them or not. The credit terms and the stock availability are the two main criterions looked upon by our purchase manager to shortlist a vendor.

The most challenging part of the job of a purchase manager is handling the vendors. They need to maintain a healthy relationship with the vendors so that they can rely in terms of giving credits. It is the reputation of the purchase manager which is at par to close the deals with the vendors. On the daily basis, there are many circumstances which need to be dealt with tactfully. For example, during the monsoon, the availability of fresh vegetables and fruits is a major challenge. The task of finding a substitute to an otherwise expensive commodity is the major area of work enjoyed by Mr. Kanta Rao. He says that a good and efficient purchase manager has to develop certain skills such as commercial competencies, vendor knowledge base, negotiations skills, costing and financial skills, rate analysis skills, payment terms, vendor relationship management skills, inventory management/material control skills, supply coordination and logistics management to excel.

The basic needs of any employee that should be taken care of, according to Mr. Kanta Rao are to give them good salary packages and remunerations. They should get good food as most of the staff canteens don’t serve quality food. Also when required, the management should provide a hygienic and clean accommodation to their employees. Some extra-curricular activities should be organised for the employees to break the monotony of their daily routine.

To keep the guests happy and hailing, our PM Mr. Kanta Rao majorly focuses on the food and beverages being served to them. The cost cutting effectiveness helps in giving a high-rise to the revenue generation. The lesser the cost spent, the more the revenue is generated. To get the best deal, the inspiration is being vigilant. The appreciation given by the management is also a source of motivation to get good deals for the purchase order.

When asked about his preference over the central or local purchase system, the central purchase system is best according to Mr. Kanta Rao as the rates are pre decided and no major change is inculcated.  So uniformity is maintained. If something urgent is required, then the local market is to be relied upon. All the big brands are centralised to maintain the brand value of the hotel or the resort.