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When chefs don the entrepreneur's hat
Summary
Chefs are launching their own restaurants, backed by angel investors and eager diners, changing India’s culinary culture with new concepts
"There’s never been a better time in the Indian restaurant industry than right now," says chef Prateek Sadhu over the phone. Sadhu is the founder of Naar, India’s first destination dining concept which opened in Himachal Pradesh in November last year. In March 2022, Sadhu parted ways with Mumbai’s Masque, where he led the kitchen and mainstreamed fine-dining tasting menus, and then made news again when he announced his own restaurant. Apart from the risk of going it alone, the Kashmiri chef was also pioneering the idea of having people make reservations and then wind their way to a village near Kasauli for a taste of his Himalayan cuisine in his 16-seater restaurant. “Every restaurant at one point in time was just a big risk. Only in hindsight does it make sense," says Sadhu, who recently celebrated one year of Naar with a series of pop-ups across the country.
Sadhu is not alone. Across India, professional cooks and chefs are moving away from working in hotels and restaurant establishments to set up their own ventures, switching between their chef toque and other entrepreneurial hats. With their new concepts—ranging from limited seating and reservation-only dining to serving curated, set menus—these chef-bosses have begun changing India’s dining culture. While the chef-founder phenomenon is not new, over the past five years, a critical mass has been achieved and chef-led businesses are opening new avenues for culinary creativity.
What’s driving this trend? For starters, rapid growth and a bevy of investors eyeing the industry. According to the India Food Services Report 2024, brought out by the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI), the Indian food services sector is expected to grow at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 8.1% in 2024-2028 on the back of rapid urbanisation, robust GDP growth, a young population, and greater exposure among diners.
“I’m bullish on chef-forward restaurants because they offer customers a truly unique dining experience, something memorable that encourages them to return. Whether it’s the chef’s presence, a story behind the menu, or a new ingredient, these elements create a distinctive experience," says Neha Anand, founder, Three Layer Hospitality, a collective that has invested in Jun’s in Dubai by chef Kelvin Cheung (previously with Bastian) and Pune’s We Idliwale, founded by chef Abhishek Joshi, (formerly with The Bombay Canteen) and his partner Chirag Jadhav.
While investors are keen, a chef-run business is not for those looking to turn a quick profit. Venture capitalists and corporate investors prefer to back quick service restaurants (QSRs) such as Faasos and Behrouz by Rebel Foods and food tech companies like Swiggy, but the profile of investors in restaurants tends to be independent, angel investors and family offices.
Says Anand, “Chef-driven restaurants are generally more investment-heavy because they tend to be boutique and craft-focused, often requiring higher spending on staff, service, or creating a unique theme or decor. While the return on investment can be slow and subjective, it’s crucial to stay focused on the profit and loss to ensure the business is sustainable. Passion is important, but it must align with financial viability to continue growing and serving more people."
A few months ago, Sadhu—who invested his own savings and those of some close friends into Naar— told me that leaving a secure job and launching an entrepreneurial venture gave him panic attacks. But a year on, he’s more sure of himself and the sustainability of his business. “Yes the logistics are a nightmare but being in the hills puts me in direct contact with farmers and vendors like mushroom scientists who are all based in the area. It’s taken some imagination and creativity to run this business, but I’m pleasantly surprised by our numbers."
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Anand exhibits some cautious optimism, but chefs in the know say that investors are now deviating from investing in only “scaleable concepts" and are backing talent and ideas, signalling a shift in perspective. Vinesh Johny, the chef behind Lavonne Academy of Baking Science and Pastry Arts in Bengaluru and the National Capital Region (NCR), says that these days, it’s not hard to find funding for a solid concept. “Many chef-owned restaurants have perished in the past because monies dried up or because it was ahead of its time. Now, because of a diverse investor pool and an engaged dining community, it’s the perfect storm for anyone looking to launch something unique," he says. This July, the Lavonne group launched Kopitiam Lah, a Malaysian eatery and coffee shop, in Bengaluru. Spearheaded by Joonie Tan, Johny’s wife-partner, the café aims to bring a bit of the Malaysian coffee culture that Tan grew up with to India.
The pandemic has also played a role in this trend of chefs choosing to forge their own path. The restaurant industry felt the impacts of covid-19 and the subsequent lockdowns sharply. Many lost their jobs and income, but the silver lining is that they were offered a rare opportunity to introspect about their career paths. “The pandemic emboldened many people to take the plunge and start their ventures, and I think this has been for the better. The body of work that emerged from this period is remarkable. It all came together in a way that has helped reshape how people view the restaurant industry and how new restaurant formats are being created," says chef Manu Chandra. He launched Lupa, his Bengaluru restaurant, in early 2023 with his long-time business partner Chetan Rampal. Lupa isn’t their first rodeo. The two were partner-investors in A.D. Singh’s Olive Group for years and launched successful brands like Monkey Bar, the first Indian gastropub, and Fatty Bao, which made Asian dining trendy. Chandra believes he couldn’t achieve what he has so far without the support and skill set of Rampal, who looks after operations and strategy.
We Idliwale’s Joshi agrees with Chandra’s perspective about sharing the entrepreneurial load. “The biggest advantage of running your own business is the ability to make decisions without waiting for approvals," explains Joshi. But that freedom which works as a catalyst can also be crippling. “The downside of running your own business is that you have to fight with yourself constantly. As a cook at a restaurant, I can push for stellar ingredients to make a fantastic dish. But running my own business means I need to think about the business viability of everything." This, Joshi says, is where the need for a strategic partner and a solid team comes in.
“It isn’t rocket science, but two heads are better than one," says chef Niyati Rao, the founder of Mumbai’s Ekaa and the newly launched “elevated dive bar", Bombay Daak. Rao, who honed her skills behind the stoves at the Taj Group, now pulls her weight in her own kitchens, while her husband-partner, Sagar Neve, a hospitality professional, runs operations. “We’ve found that this makes the most sense for us, business-wise," she says. The couple raised funds from an angel investor and entrepreneur Pradhyuman Maloo to launch their ventures.
Also read: A new bar honours the age-old drinking culture of India
Increasingly, more ambitious and highly educated talent is entering the market. They’re serving well-travelled diners eager to experience new food concepts in India, and they’re being backed by an ecosystem of investors and partners with relevant experience who can help structure the business. The risks are high, but the returns could be too, in terms of freedom to set the menu and shape food culture. It begs the question, is this helping create a more innovative, robust food and beverage industry?
“Chef-led restaurants and chef-forward concepts not only benefit the industry as a whole but also heavily promote homegrown, India-based talent, which is the most exciting part for me. This focus allows lesser-known ingredients to gain recognition. Recently, I was dining somewhere, and they were using ingredients from different parts of India that I had never heard of. It’s ironic because we know so much about Japanese and Italian ingredients, but we’re not as familiar with our own. This has a profound impact on the industry," says Anand.
Her words ring true, when We Idliwale’s Joshi says Indian diners are more familiar with pappardelle pasta than pesarattu. The Pune-based restaurant and bar offers idli-curry combos and creative renditions of dishes from south India, which, Joshi says, was initially met with apprehension. “When we launched in 2021, people thought that we were doing fusion food, when in fact, we were simply introducing diners to the regional Indian cuisine that I grew up with. It was as good as foreign to them because they had never encountered it."
Apart from ingredients and recipes, chef-entrepreneurs are using their own businesses to influence kitchen culture and change the rulebook. Lupa’s Chandra, who was tired of seeing elitism play out among staff with differing education and exposure, spends much of his time in the kitchen to bridge that gap by flattening structures and running sessions on art, history and culture for those on his team who didn’t have the advantage earlier in life.
In NCR, chef Bani Nanda, pastry chef and founder of Miam Patisserie, ensures that female staff who work late hours are dropped home by a trusted driver that her family has employed for years. “I wouldn’t book a cab myself at those hours, so I can’t expect my staff to," Nanda says.
Then there’s the exciting innovation coming out of these ventures. Some of the most creative, cutting-edge, high-quality food concepts to come out of India in the last five years have been chef-owned ventures. In Bengaluru, chef Kavan Kuttappa has consistently wowed diners with his pocket edition ramen bar, Naru Noodle Bar, a 20-seater counter-dining restaurant that he set up in 2021 after spending years working with various restaurant groups and running a delivery-only service during the pandemic. In 2019, Alex Sanchez, the Puerto Rican-Jewish chef who was known for his innovative cuisine at The Table in Mumbai, set up Americano with his partner-wife Mallyeka Watsa. Five years later, Americano hasn’t lost its sheen and is still a buzzy South Mumbai hot spot that’s difficult to get a table at. Emboldened by the success of Americano, Sanchez and Watsa opened the doors to Otra just a few months ago.
Restaurants such as Naar, Americano and Otra are tributes to the flavours the chef-owners grew up loving, finessed with the expertise of someone who has studied food reverentially and worked in Michelin-starred restaurants. They offer an invitation into the mind of the chef.
If you thought chefs were only setting up new restaurants, think again. In June, Pune-based chef Gayatri Desai, who shut her restaurant Ground Up last year, relaunched the establishment in a new avatar that spans the identities of an experimental kitchen and fermentation lab. Ground Up 2.0 serves tasting menus thrice a week while also focusing on funky ideas coming out of the fermentary—like inoculating Koji spores on all kinds of local grains. “Fermentation is change over time, and we will continue to evolve and change alongside," says Desai, in a video on Instagram about the new space.
Also read: This Pune-based chef creates flavours from scratch
Blending ideas of nostalgia with French patisserie techniques was what Heena Punwani, previously executive pastry chef at The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro in Mumbai, wanted to do with her Maska Bakery, which opened late last year in the city. Punwani conjures up fantastical treats such as chocolate-dipped rose cookies, Kejriwal babkas swirled with Bhavnagari chilli chutney, coriander and cheese, and “bread jam" topped with compote and crumble from her sunny delivery kitchen helmed by a mostly all-women team.
Some chefs, in true start-up style, have had to pivot as circumstances changed. Mumbai-based chef Divesh Aswani was midway through research and development for a restaurant when the pandemic hit. A year after the lockdown, the former head chef at Magazine St Kitchen in Mumbai broke his proposed restaurant’s menu down into its basic elements and launched a cloud kitchen serving “simplified gourmet". His Commis Station now has a cult following for its tiramisu, condiments and kitchen staples like fresh pasta and tacos.
A few years ago, Thomas Zacharias, who was chef-partner at The Bombay Canteen, set up The Locavore, a platform for storytelling, partnerships, events and advocacy related to food. “As chefs, we have the ability to influence people through our work. Being able to do some good, either within the food systems, for people around us or the community, is the opportunity," he says of his motivation to venture down an unknown path.
“What excites me the most is that focus is back on good food," says We Idliwale’s Joshi. Armed with learnings from their previous ventures, culinary degrees and bright ideas about the future of Indian cuisine, India’s chef-entrepreneurs could lead to the evolution of India’s food industry. The results are bound to be delicious.
Smitha Menon is a food journalist, India’s only 50 Best Tastehunter and the host & creator of the Big Food Energy podcast. She posts at @smitha.men on Instagram.
