Rohan Charanji

Rohan Charanji is the Food & Beverage manager at The Club, Abu Dhabi. With over 13 years of working experience in Asia, Europe, North America, and now the Middle East, He brings a diverse understanding of cultures and people to an organization.

Rohan, welcome to my series on Millennials. Tell my audience something important about you.

I was born in India, educated at Bishop Cotton, and studied in Switzerland and London. I have worked in China, the US, London, Thailand, Wales, and currently in the UAE for the last 4 years. 

Talk to me about your passion for hospitality.

My love for Hospitality started when I used to travel around Asia with my dad, meeting people in hotels, especially the staff.

Walk me through your life experiences. What did you learn from it and how has it changed you?

I had a paradigm shift in my early 20s. I was an intern in Wales.  With my Swiss education, I felt a stupid sense of entitlement. I was asked to mop floors, and clean plates and I realized without hard work you can never achieve anything. 

Who are the Millennials? What do they want?

Millennials for me and my generation are in a rush. They don’t wait for their food, drink, flight check-in or hotel room as much as Gen X. They have the power to research anything and put you to the sword if the product is not what it is supposed to be. 

What should employers know about you and how to treat you at work?

Employers should learn to change old policies and procedures from the previous generation. I read an interesting article that Human Resources and the old school management techniques are extremely out of date and not accepted by Millennials anymore.

What are some of the social causes that you are passionate about that the previous generation missed?

I’m extremely passionate about women’s rights in the workplace. I feel the previous generations didn’t do enough, as there was always this stigma that the job of a woman is in the house. You can see the change almost every day.

Explain to me what food and faith mean to you.

Food for me is something so special. Having traveled to more than 30 countries, along with the history, the culture is so much in the food. Our generation I feel is not as God-fearing as the previous ones. I relate most with being agnostic and I know a lot of people in my generation feel the same way.

What do the words trolling, blessed, phubbing, jomo, and YOLO?

Trolling – Make fun of someone online, Blessed – very formal, bounce – leave, phubbing hundo jomo – No Idea pls tell me. My word is YOLO – You only live once. So have fun do what you wanted to do and become a lifestyle blogger!!! you only live once!

Tell me a good joke.

Why did the rocket lose its job?  Because it was fired!

What should Gen X and Baby Boomers know about your generation?

We don’t play by your rules anymore! You play by ours! You are making policies and laws which will affect my generation and the ones of my kids! (If I do end up having any).