With its sixth and largest property, Sorena, the Mumbai hospitality group is doubling down on large-format, multi-concept dining — and betting that the future of urban hospitality lies in experiences rather than repetition.

In Mumbai, where the dining scene is constantly evolving, scale is beginning to mean something different.

It is no longer simply about opening more doors. For hospitality operators, the more interesting question is what those doors represent — whether a new property can create a distinct identity, offer multiple experiences and remain relevant in a market where diners increasingly seek atmosphere, discovery and choice alongside food.

Monarch Liberty Hospitality is placing its latest bet on precisely that idea.

The Mumbai-based hospitality group has opened Sorena, its sixth property and largest investment to date — a 11,000 sq ft duplex dining and bar destination spread across the 11th and 12th floors in Bandra, with a seating capacity of approximately 250.

For Founder and Director Sumit Govind Sharma, the expansion is not about growth for growth’s sake.

“For us, growth has always had to mean something more than just size. Every property has to earn its own reason to exist — Sorena earns it through scale. This is our biggest bet yet, and it reflects where we think the market is heading: fewer, more ambitious spaces rather than rapid, undifferentiated expansion.”

Six Properties. One Expanding Philosophy.

In approximately four years, Monarch Liberty Hospitality has grown to six properties, opening a new destination roughly every six to seven months.

But the group’s strategy has deliberately avoided simply reproducing a successful restaurant format across multiple locations.

Instead, its portfolio is built around category diversity and distinct identities.

Eve operates across Powai, Worli and Santacruz, while Que Sera Sera in Andheri and TAT in Vikhroli bring their own personalities to the portfolio. Sorena now becomes the group’s most ambitious expression of that philosophy.

The strategy is reflected not only in the number of properties but also in the company’s growth. Monarch Liberty Hospitality has recorded approximately 40–45% year-on-year revenue growth over the past four years and expects group revenue to cross ₹100 crore this fiscal year.

Sorena alone is projected to contribute approximately 30% of that figure within its first year of operation.

One Address, Two Experiences

What makes Sorena particularly significant is its format.

Spread across two floors, the property has been conceived as a dining experience and a bar experience operating under one roof — rather than a restaurant with a bar simply attached to it.

“The scale of this space lets us think differently about format,” Sharma says. “We’re not just adding covers; we’re building a dining and bar experience that can operate as two distinct businesses under one roof, which changes the unit economics of the property compared to a standard single-floor restaurant.”

It is a model that reflects a larger shift in hospitality, where larger properties are increasingly being designed to encourage guests to move through different experiences within the same destination.

For the operator, that creates greater flexibility. For the diner, it creates a reason to stay longer.

Five Cities on a Plate

At the heart of Sorena is a culinary philosophy the group describes as “five cities on a plate.”

Rather than committing itself to one cuisine or a single geographical identity, the menu moves across global food cultures within one dining experience.

The idea is deliberately cosmopolitan — reflecting the way Mumbai itself eats, where culinary influences routinely cross borders and diners are increasingly comfortable moving between cuisines in a single evening.

The dining experience is complemented by Atlas, Sorena’s dedicated bar programme, creating two distinct propositions within the same address.

The ambition is therefore not to create another restaurant with a predictable format, but a destination where dining and nightlife can coexist without either being secondary to the other.

The New Luxury of Dining

There is something telling about the scale of Sorena.

Across India’s organised dining and hospitality sector, operators are increasingly exploring experiential and larger-format properties, moving beyond the model of opening smaller, high-frequency outlets simply to expand their footprint.

Monarch’s strategy sits within that larger shift.

The group’s belief is that hospitality is ultimately about more than serving food.

Its founding philosophy describes dining as “a culture” shaped by consistency, ambience and human connection — an approach the company calls “hospitality with intention.”

That philosophy places design, service, operations and food on the same plane, rather than treating them as separate components.

It also explains the group’s emphasis on creating spaces that feel familiar enough to return to, while remaining fresh enough to discover.

Building a Hospitality Portfolio, Not Just a Restaurant Chain

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Monarch Liberty Hospitality’s expansion is what it chooses not to replicate.

The company is building a portfolio of concepts rather than a chain of identical restaurants.

Every property has its own reason to exist, while the underlying principles remain consistent: intention, quality, operational discipline and connection.

That approach allows the group to experiment with different categories and formats while maintaining a common hospitality philosophy.

With a team of 550 across its properties, the company’s growth is also increasingly becoming a people story. Over the past year, Monarch has added two senior leadership positions — Kersi Marker as Chief Operating Officer and Sneha Sharma as Vice President of Marketing — as it builds the organisational structure required to support its expanding portfolio.

Sorena Opens a New Chapter

Sorena arrives at a moment when Mumbai’s dining audience is becoming increasingly sophisticated about what constitutes an experience.

A meal is no longer necessarily an isolated occasion. It can be dinner, drinks, design, music, socialising and discovery — sometimes all within the same evening.

That makes Sorena’s duplex format particularly timely.

The property is designed around the idea that dining and nightlife can be complementary yet distinct, allowing guests to experience both without leaving the address.

For Monarch Liberty Hospitality, it is also a test of whether scale can deliver something more meaningful than capacity.

As Sharma puts it:

“Every property has to earn its own reason to exist.”

With Sorena, Monarch is making its largest statement yet about what that reason can look like.

A larger space.

Multiple experiences.

A cosmopolitan menu.

And a hospitality philosophy built around the belief that dining is not simply a service — it is a culture, an experience and, ultimately, a memory.

Sorena is now open in Bandra, with private dining and event spaces available for corporate and celebratory bookings ahead of the festive season.