Young CEO adds to holdings with motels, eateries

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Goonjit Mehta knew early on he would follow a career path similar to his father, a successful local businessman. He did not know where it would happen or what he would run.
Known in the business community as Jett Mehta, the 26-year-old leads a firm that oversees 37 restaurants and hotels that are open or under development. Mehta, president and CEO of Indus Cos. in Pittsford, on March 12 purchased the Microtel Inn and Suites in Victor from Hudson Hotels Corp.
Indus’ operations include 15 planned Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins franchises in Western New York as part of a contract signed in December 2002, and an existing chain of 18 Ponderosa steakhouses. The company also has three Microtel Inns & Suites, with a fourth on the way.
Microtel in 2002 recognized Mehta as its franchisee of the year.
In addition, Indus holds several other real estate investments in 20 counties in Western New York and Pennsylvania.
Indus’ corporate office has 100 full- and part-time employees, Mehta said. He estimated the total number of employees at its businesses to be 900.
Indus opened its first Dunkin’ Donuts on Feb. 4 in Wellsville, Allegany County. It plans to open four more in the Southern Tier, five in Rochester and five in Buffalo.
“Dunkin’ Donuts has propelled me into the real estate business in many ways,” said Mehta, who was born in Newark, Wayne County, and raised in Pittsford. “Nobody sells more coffee, bagels and doughnuts than Dunkin’ Donuts.”
Indus, which handles its own general contracting, will include one kitchen in each of the three regions, with Dunkin’ Donuts pastry shells to be shipped to each region’s four other restaurants.
Five of the Dunkin’ Donuts sites will include Baskin Robbins shops, although no decision has been made on locations, Mehta said.
Along with the Microtel in Victor, Indus owns two in the Southern Tier.
“I saw how Hudson Hotels had built along (the Thruway),” Mehta said. “I wanted to do the same thing along Route 86 (also known as Route 17 and the Southern Tier Expressway).”
Microtel this year became the first hotel chain in the economy-budget segment to offer free local and long-distance calls within the continental United States, and free wireless high-speed Internet access in every room, along with advance online check-in and check-out.
Mehta serves on the Nazareth College Entrepreneurial Partnership with David Koretz, president and CEO of BlueTie Inc., a fellow twentysomething business owner.
“Jett is probably one of the strongest people I’ve ever met when it comes to the hospitality and food service business,” Koretz said. “He was the probably the first to offer free wireless Internet. I would clearly look at him as one of the pioneers in that industry.”
Mehta and Koretz met on an airplane on Sept. 11, 2002, the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
“We were about the only people flying that day,” Koretz said.
The two began talking business and often consult each other on issues related to their companies.
“We were friends first, and it was only because we thought so highly of each other’s business skills that we started working together (as business confidantes and on the Nazareth panel),” Koretz said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we go into business together someday.”
The Victor Microtel, at 7498 Main St. Fishers, features expanded cable television, voice mail and a complimentary breakfast buffet. The hotel participates in the MicroPass frequent-stay program, offering members their 10th night free.
Indus owns Microtels in Wellsville, Springville and Victor, with a fourth to be built across from St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, in the Olean area, Mehta said.
“Jett has a good sense of customer service and a good sense of financial management,” said Michael Leven, chairman and CEO of U.S. Franchise Systems Inc., the parent company of the Microtel chain. “He has a very good business sense. He’s 26 going on 60. I could use about 20 more like him.”
Indus was founded in 1981 by Mehta’s father, Bhoopinder, a former engineer at Mobil Chemical Corp. in Wayne County, and three others. His father’s original business plan involved buying multifamily residences, Mehta said, but has expanded to include restaurants.
His father eventually developed 18 Ponderosa restaurants in the Rochester, Buffalo and Elmira areas, becoming the largest U.S. franchise holder in the chain and second only to an owner of 32 restaurants in Puerto Rico.
More Ponderosas are planned for the next two or three years, Mehta said.
Mehta, meanwhile, graduated from Clarkson University in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, in 1999 with a degree in civil engineering. He decided to follow his father into the business world and faced a choice between Rochester or Los Angeles.
Although the economy out west arguably was more vibrant, Mehta chose to stay close to his roots rather than risk getting lost among West Coast developers.
“I made the decision to come to Rochester because I saw a more viable business opportunity,” he said.
Primarily, it was his passion for and familiarity with the region, along with his familiarity with the banking industry here.
“It’s easier to approach a local bank that knows you’re a local person,” Mehta said. “Also, it doesn’t hurt to go to a local bank and say, ‘I grew up here and went to college here.'”
Despite his father’s background in the restaurant business, Mehta’s interests have turned elsewhere.
“What I was always interested in was hotels,” Mehta said.
His father, 62, oversees the Ponderosa franchises, Mehta said.
“I go to him for advice because he’s a seasoned businessman,” Mehta said. “He tends to come to me for advice on technology issues.”
Bhoopinder Mehta also handles multifamily dwellings and real estate at Indus. His son is responsible for the company’s construction business, its retail real estate, the hotel business and its other restaurants.
Mehta declined to give details of privately held Indus’ finances.
“It’s clearly in the entrepreneurial stage, based on the revenue I do,” he said.
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04/30/04 (C) Rochester Business Journal