Hunger Inc's Success Formula: The Duo Behind Bombay Canteen, Bombay Sweet Shop & Veronica’s

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:08]You have a plan which you know has a lot of pain ahead [music] in it as well and it's a tough business.

[00:00:13]>> 14 years ago now we were wondering what to do with our [music] lives next. A little bit of a aha moment we had was we were seeing local food being reimagined in the countries we were in and we were like nothing like this is happening in India.

[00:00:36]>> I started working when I was 20.

[00:00:38]>> At a hotel [music] not too far away from here as a waiter in a restaurant. It was maybe like 2:00 a.m. in the morning. It was a [music] coffee shop and someone it was just two guests. Slightly drunk.

[00:00:49]They had ordered french fries and I I kept the bowl on and the top one was slightly burned at one side and he pointed [music] at that and he said it's burned and I was like sorry, sir. I'll get it changed and my hand had just gone down to like pick up the bowl.

[00:01:04]He got up and he moved his arm like really close to my face. He didn't hit me. And he closed my face and he said if I slap you right now and I say sorry, isn't that fine as well?

[00:01:13]>> OH, WOW.

[00:01:17]>> [music] [laughter] >> THROUGH THE JOURNEY how you started all start off with Bombay Canteen quickly becomes known also because of the celebrity chef aspect. [music] >> Everyone knew Chef Floyd as a celebrity chef because he had been on Top Chef Masters at one end. For us Floyd was more like a father figure, a mentor.

[00:01:37]>> We were also very conscious of the fact that we can't do this on our own.

[00:01:40]Neither of us cook. At the core of it is the food.

[00:01:43]>> Your favorite dishes?

[00:01:45]>> Yesterday I was craving the pastrami sandwich from Veronica so >> Maybe call it the kaju katli hindi bite.

[00:01:54]>> Samir and Yash with us at their beautiful restaurant. Thank you so much for guys for having us over.

[00:02:00]>> Thank you for doing this.

[00:02:01]>> We really appreciate it.

[00:02:02]>> Was that a fair descriptor of what you wanted to do with the company? Make Indian cuisine a little more elevated or different? What was the idea, Sameer?

[00:02:11]>> I think it definitely started with that.

[00:02:14]When I sort of look back almost 13 years ago now.

[00:02:18]Yash and I were I was in New York, Yash was in Singapore and we were wondering what to do with our lives next and I think the moment which we the little bit of a aha moment we had was we were seeing local food being reimagined in the countries we were in and we were like nothing like this is happening in India.

[00:02:36]So I think the articulation you had is not something we probably had back then but I think it definitely started there where why can't Indian food be something we go out for and enjoy in on a night out because otherwise the context back then either you went to Moti Mahal or Copper Chimney or you went to a South Indian restaurant or you ate at home. You didn't really go out for a great night out where Indian food was at the core of it or Indian culinary traditions were at the core of it and I think that's kind of was our starting point as well that it can be done if you think of every aspect of it around the food, the service and most importantly the hospitality of it and I think that's kind of was the starting point of Bombay Canteen and everything.

[00:03:19]>> But why were you guys thinking of what to do with your life and how did that sort of happen with one in Singapore and and the other one where in the US?

[00:03:27]>> I was in New York, he was in Singapore.

[00:03:28]>> and Singapore. So how was that conversation really taking place because you're doing pretty well in your life at that point.

[00:03:34]>> Yeah, it wasn't bad.

[00:03:35]>> I feel like I have that conversation even today with myself. Like I don't know if everyone wakes up and asks themselves [laughter] that question. Yeah, it's like that.

[00:03:42]I think it is that for me when the I think the Singapore question came or when we asked ourselves for me it had already been like eight years working in the industry. Like I started working when I was 20 at a hotel not too far away from here as a waiter in a restaurant.

[00:03:59]>> Which one?

[00:04:00]>> Um I don't want to talk about >> Okay.

[00:04:02]>> Um then but it was like I always say I the amount of discipline you learn in this industry is is unbelievable. So it was around 8 years you're like reach this point where either you keep growing because you know in hotels how much ever you grow you're still an ant, you know, it's in a in a big hill. And it was reaching that point that you know you put in a lot of effort. Um it's a very physical industry.

[00:04:26]And what are you getting at the end of it from a I I always tell people when you join hospitality start your own restaurants is the dollar effect is not going to be huge but you do get a lot of heart and a lot of happiness through it. But I think we had reached that point where you know even that had started getting a bit frustrating. As you become managers and leaders you're more into back back end stuff, more into the P&L and stuff. So we were like it's it's time because I also felt we were confident enough to come back in our abilities to run a restaurant because after doing it for so long, being in the trenches for so long, you know the ins and outs of doing it.

[00:05:04]>> Yeah. And and how do you guys know each other?

[00:05:07]>> We were classmates at Cornell's Hotel School. That's how we met in 2010.

[00:05:11]>> Okay.

[00:05:12]>> So we actually to be fair we also just knew each other for like 6 and 1/2 months because it was a 1-year master's course and it was a 1-year master's course in upstate New York but I decided to do one semester in Singapore so I had to fly out.

[00:05:26]But I think it was just it's we were one of the few people in a master's course who decided right after that we wanted to do operations again like we want to go back into restaurants and relearn some of the things we had learned.

[00:05:39]Whereas most people who come for an MBA after that want to go up the corporate ladder, get a slightly more well-paying job.

[00:05:46]>> Yeah. No, so it sounds like you have a plan which you know has a lot of pain ahead in it as well and it's a tough business. Everyone says restaurants are a tough business. You're also in a city that is so fickle. Taste change. The next hot Instagram restaurant that everyone queues outside means yours is probably not going to be as full.

[00:06:08]Margins are varying. I mean it's not sounding like a smart idea on paper at that point. But something's motivating you.

[00:06:15]>> I think it's a combination of a couple of things, right? Like I think one I still remember at Cornell when we met we were like Yash was saying focusing on F&B and wanting to do something on our own at some point that sort of kida was there in both of us.

[00:06:31]But I think while that started there passion doesn't always pay the bills. So I think having worked for some of the best guys in the world across the world it really helped us understand that this is doable. If you sort of put the plan down in a way to be able to create that great experience for a guest at the core of it, that's what happens and I think we were also very conscious of the fact that we can't do this on our own. Neither of us cook. At the core of it is the food and that's where my boss at that time in New York was Chef Floyd and I think being able to team up with them really gave us the confidence that we can together put together something which really has that sort of impact in the market to your point of like what's the next great Instagram restaurant. Eventually restaurants are also about like who do you trust? We were having a conversation a little earlier where you order from.

[00:07:24]Eventually it's about that trust and that that's what is the core of it. So yeah, people will walk away for a little bit to that new new place, but eventually they want to have a great time and I think that's what is the core of what we've built Hunger Inc. around.

[00:07:39]>> You know, The journey has been exciting.

[00:07:41]Take us through the journey. How you started off You start off with Bombay Canteen.

[00:07:47]Quickly becomes known also because of the celebrity chef aspect. You know, you guys take a backseat. It's all about the chef and authenticity and ingredients.

[00:07:57]Was that at its core was it also a bit of a marketing idea because you know, you armed with these MBAs and know how to make an idea exciting?

[00:08:06]>> Um I don't think so. I We've also been genuinely surprised. So, let's take it back, right? Like we opened Bombay Canteen on 11th February 2015, right?

[00:08:15]Now, to the earlier question you asked to what we've become now in the first leading up to the year and the way we were looking at our lives, we thought we'll only have one restaurant for 5 years. Like Like also there could be an IVT to it to thinking that one restaurant makes that much money that you can be happy >> What What was the target figure in mind?

[00:08:36]>> The target figure in terms of to be fair in terms of revenue per month was around like 40-50 lakhs a month.

[00:08:44]>> That was >> We Yeah, blew that out of the park and it just like Like Bombay Canteen grew very organically.

[00:08:52]Um Everyone knew Chef Floyd as a celebrity chef because he had been on Top Chef Masters and won it.

[00:09:00]But only the few of us knew his journey to get there. Like he had really put in the hard work to get there.

[00:09:06]And for us Floyd was more like a father figure a mentor who taught us a lot about our food, who taught us how do you taste food? How do you give feedback? How do you like what balances food?

[00:09:18]And [snorts] in the part of it our storytelling was always very honest.

[00:09:24]Like because we were running our social media ourselves, we used to always just put something out there, talk about the chefs, talk about the cocktail program.

[00:09:31]And one of the things you'll also realize is in in India the bar for restaurants sometimes is set too low.

[00:09:39]It is set too low because everyone thinks that you just get a great celebrity chef and that's it. But there's a lot more that goes to it. At the end of the day, what brings people back is how you make them feel. And for us, because we had worked in restaurants, you knew what hospitality meant. Like for me, when I worked in India, at that time service meant servitude.

[00:10:01]Like we were made into these mini robots being like, "Yes, sir. No, sir. How, ma'am. No, ma'am." Right? Whereas if you travel to New York, you go to Bangkok, you are having a conversation with them as an equal. And like those were some of the things with Bombay Canteen from day one that we inculcated in the team.

[00:10:17]If you see now when people talk about Bombay Canteen, the first thing they'll talk about is the service or someone they know in that team who they go back to just to say hi.

[00:10:26]>> You know, that's that's very true. And that's one of the few restaurants I have realized where uh the person taking your order actually knows the >> food.

[00:10:35]>> Yeah.

[00:10:35]>> You know, they've tasted it, they understand it, they will ask you questions and get you what you need at that time. They might also tell you you're ordering too much. Don't add this one dish.

[00:10:46]>> Yeah.

[00:10:47]>> Did that come from some of your experiences here?

[00:10:49]>> it came from a lot of my experiences. I also credit Sam and Floyd to like channel my experience a different way because I had worked in hotel restaurants. And in hotel restaurants, you're like a horse with a blind her on.

[00:11:03]Like you're only told to do this. This is a brand standard. Do it this way. Sam and Floyd had worked for this amazing company called Union Square Hospitality Group. Everyone knows it as the group now that has Shake Shack.

[00:11:15]Um but there's a very like uh someone we look up to, a leader called Danny Meyer, who wrote this book on hospitality first about just treating the way treating the person next to you about how you want to feel. And in that and in the way when we all came together It about what I had was Indian discipline and the way we work in restaurants. What they had was great hospitality from the US and bringing that together, like bringing the efficiency and the hospitality together is what made us special.

[00:11:43]>> your worst experience when you were a waiter 20 years ago?

[00:11:49]>> I've had like, you know, we like simplest thing. I I remember this because it was maybe like 2:00 a.m. in the morning. It was a coffee shop and someone It was just two guests, slightly drunk. They ordered French fries and I I kept the bowl on and the top one was slightly burnt at one side and he pointed at that and he said it's burnt.

[00:12:11]Now, when someone complains in a hotel, the first thing you're said to say is sorry.

[00:12:15]And I was like, "Sorry, sir. I'll get it changed." And my hand had just gone down to like pick up the bowl. He got up and he moved his arm like really close to my face. He didn't hit me. And he closed my face and he said, "If I slap you right now and I say sorry, isn't that fine as well?"

[00:12:31]>> Oh, wow.

[00:12:33]>> So, it's But, you know, when you're 20, you don't really mind it.

[00:12:37]>> Because you don't realize what happened.

[00:12:39]>> that we grew up in was very different.

[00:12:42]You didn't articulate on mental health.

[00:12:43]You didn't articulate on having a bad day.

[00:12:46]But, now when I think of it is I was also happy that I was naive because I didn't want those things to affect me.

[00:12:52]But, it was things and I feel that's why that bar I say is so low, right?

[00:12:56]>> I'm actually feeling angry for you when I heard that story.

[00:12:59]>> Yeah. So, there are a couple like there's a couple of these things that have happened, but I've never really it might have affected for that 5 minutes. I might have But, if I went and told my manager about it, he or she would have said, "Just suck it up and go back out."

[00:13:14]Which is also good in a way.

[00:13:15]>> What if What if uh terrible customer like that walks in and one of the people who work with you has that experience?

[00:13:22]>> We ask the guest to leave.

[00:13:24]>> There's not an if. It's It's It happens.

[00:13:26]It's happened multiple times. We have a line in the sand. If you are rude to the team, we will ask you to leave, and we've done it multiple times.

[00:13:33]>> You don't need to pay the check.

[00:13:34]>> You don't need to pay the check. You just need to leave. That's it.

[00:13:37]>> Even with the team, I feel, and I've spoken about this before, is we, in this industry, there are very few women leaders. So, like, if you go to a lot of our restaurants, a lot of our GMs are women. They find it, sometimes, the simplest thing we tell them is, one, obviously get some other team member to come in, but call the cops. This is not something we need to handle in today's day and age. This is not something we need to um you know, just put under the blanket. Call the cops. It's as simple as that. That person needs to understand the repercussions of what they've said or done.

[00:14:08]>> Mhm.

[00:14:10]So, you have this very modern, unique kind of a business model for a very traditional, old industry, right? The restaurant industry works by certain rules. There's there's volume, there's a certain function and form, and then you go off and branch out in different ways, and Bombay Sweet Shop is that innovation which comes in.

[00:14:30]Uh what was the idea there? Is that your sort of mass outreach product? Was any of that origin story about slaking your own sweet tooth uh in a different way?

[00:14:41]>> I wish.

[00:14:42]>> No, nobody has a sweet tooth here?

[00:14:44]>> We have sweet >> one. I eat >> Yeah, we both eat sweets, but not to the point where we want to like that is the reason where the business comes from.

[00:14:51]>> Two restaurants down, and we were like, okay, the next brand. So, when people ask me, and I think we only articulate this now, I don't think any founder was good at when you're doing in the middle of it, but Hunger Inc. is all about celebrating the India of today through its food, right?

[00:15:06]That's all it is, and that's how what brings all the brands together.

[00:15:10]And in that case, we were like, okay, if we were to do another brand, the focus needs to be on a product, like maybe very product, so that the same love we have, it's not within the four walls of a restaurant. It can go to people's homes all over the country.

[00:15:24]So, we started like playing around with this idea and you know that when you run restaurants, you start saying, "Okay, hot sauce banana is a bottle of let's put a label sell it." Then we tried doing it with your favorite dish, the Kejriwal toast. We have a really good Kejriwal sauce. Um didn't work. And it wasn't something that was really like inspiring us and I was lucky I was traveling to New York and had a layover in Turkey and I was passing through the airport and the guy at the airport made me try baklava. He didn't make me sell He wasn't selling it. He was making me taste it. And there was a queue of people tasting it and then buying it.

[00:16:00]And I had just flown in from Bombay where we are busy selling like Swiss chocolates or Kit Kats or Milka and I'm that you know that aha moment happened that in 2015 we looked at Indian food from a different angle. Like is this the time to look at Indian sweets from a completely different angle because Indian sweets have always been part of moments, on journeys, and for life but have never really evolved to the India of today the way we see it, right? And that was the whole idea with which Bombay Sweet Shop started.

[00:16:31]>> You know, the thing with fusion is and I don't know if you're going to like me calling your idea fusion.

[00:16:36]>> Yeah, it is.

[00:16:37]>> Yeah, fusion. But there is so there are so many versions of fusion food, right?

[00:16:43]The fact is that the dosa seller on the corner also does fusion food. What else is paneer Schezwan dosa?

[00:16:50]>> Yeah.

[00:16:50]>> I mean, what is it? So, then there [laughter] is there is fusion food and then there is fusion food, right? So, how do you distinguish and make sure that you're sitting right up here so that you have the average selling price that you do, you have the price point that you do because you're clearly a premium product.

[00:17:05]>> Yeah.

[00:17:06]I think it's a great question. So, we learned this through the first couple of years of Bombay Canteen and we call it our form versus flavor um component when it comes to fusion, right? Simplest example of it is like if you take any product, India is we have a huge nostalgia towards food, right?

[00:17:27]But if you take that same memory of that product too far away in its form or the flavor in both axis, when they get that first bite in, there's no like a memory to it.

[00:17:40]When we said we want to be a new Indian sweet shop, we were doing ties with different flavors and aspirational flavors, but we also said for the newer generation to start identifying as Bombay Sweet Shop as they are sweet shop, we need to create a form that they like.

[00:17:57]>> You know, I think about what you guys do with your menus is the Zara model where and I don't know if that's been a it's it's been a thought, but where anyone coming to you needs to come back because they want to know, oh, what's new?

[00:18:10]>> What's in the next >> always be something in the next collection and then you feel, oh, this is going to be limited time only, so I better try it now because it won't be there. Was that Was that an inspiration?

[00:18:21]>> Zara was not the inspiration, but >> I love the Zara >> definitely going to use that now.

[00:18:26]Uh but Chef Floyd, when he came on board right at the beginning, he was clear on two things.

[00:18:31]He was like, I'll give two guardrails which we need to stick to. One is the use of local ingredients and two, he's like, I do not understand why restaurants in India have the same menu through the year.

[00:18:42]And I kid you not, like when we were talking about this idea, especially when we were raising our sort of money for the first restaurant, etc., pretty much everyone told us we are crazy to have like a seasonally changing menu. But like [snorts] you said, it's become part of our DNA in a way where everyone now looks forward to it and no one is bored about coming to any of our spaces or restaurants to say that, okay, I that newness, that discovery is so much such a great part of that experience which has become core to what we are.

[00:19:12]>> I need to talk a bit about your funding journey. So, you have you know, you're in New York, you're in Singapore, you say restaurant let's have our own situation.

[00:19:22]What does that funding journey look like because your entire industry had a bad time in COVID. But you've grown from there. Your last funding round is at 250 crores. What has that journey been like and have you been lucky enough to always have people saying, "Hey, great idea. I like you too. Here's a check." Or has it been very different?

[00:19:41]>> I think we've been very fortunate. I think we've our journey is not dissimilar to so many other people who start up, right? I think at the beginning it was friends and family who really really supported us. We had a great group of people who came on board who really supported our vision for what Bombay Canteen could be. From then on we were also lucky to meet great people along the way including the Godrej family who are our landlords here at O Pedro, but also trusted our vision for the restaurant to sort of make that investment with us as we were growing at that stage.

[00:20:15]COVID in itself was crazy time to say the least and I don't think we would have survived it but for sort of the entire village coming together whether it was our investors, whether it was our existing landlords at Bombay Canteen here etc. to really support us through that journey and I think in the last year as our first institutional round has happened we took that call to do that not for any other reason is because we realized that we had the scale and ambition we had that ambition to scale, but to really be able to do that we needed the right resources to be able to do it. And at each stage the question we've asked our investors, whoever's coming on board is to be patient and understand that what we are trying to do is not be sort of that flash in the pan but to really build something that's sustainable and I think at each stage we found the right people who believe in that piece. So, it's never been a disconnect from the point of view that they want us to do something versus we wanting to do something and that's really what's allowed for uh this journey to happen in the way it has.

[00:21:16]>> Mhm. So, now you're well-armed uh with with cash. A jib pura garam hai.

[00:21:22]So, what are you going to do with all that money?

[00:21:24]>> I feel like um we've learned a lot. I think Sam, when he talks about it, it sounds like a very like smooth romantic journey.

[00:21:31]>> it does. You say it's like most founders. No, >> Yeah, yeah.

[00:21:35]>> most founders don't have this wonderful experience.

[00:21:37]>> Like the first friends and family, it's great that people supported us, but we also tried going the conventional way. I think there were like these startup government funds.

[00:21:46]We were supposed to get something through that. We had put a really like big big file together and last minute like they changed the terms on us. So, we've gone through those like, you know, bad times and Sam says this well, is capital is always available in the market. It depends what threads or what strings is coming attached to it. So, like for us, our relationships are what helped us.

[00:22:09]What do we want to do with all that um money is very simple. We really need to take this year to build a foundation for scale.

[00:22:19]Um two parts to it, Bombay Sweet Shop.

[00:22:21]Um there's a certain amount of density we want within Bombay itself. Uh we are presently at six stores. Um the seventh one opens in Borivali um next month, hopefully.

[00:22:33]Um what we've built is a great distribution with dark stores with great, great partners like Zomato and Swiggy who've helped us on the way. We use aggregators really well to hit our consumers. So, from Bombay to Thane, you get a Bombay Sweet Shop fresh in 10 to 15 minutes. Um so, that was the idea.

[00:22:51]The reason of putting stores in is visibility. They act as billboards for us. They're also our experience centers.

[00:22:58]Uh we want to see presence in airports increase for us because Bombay Sweet Shop is something I feel we need to be proud of ourselves. We want to take it when we go to someone even from a Bombay to Hyderabad saying, you know, this is from our city and gift it.

[00:23:13]Um so, we want to increase that density and that needs like a bigger production and manufacturing center for us. We've outgrown what we do right now. So, setting that up and then in a year, year and a half, start setting up our this for a new city.

[00:23:29]Um we'll start there with a sweet shop.

[00:23:32]Um most probably will be Delhi.

[00:23:34]>> Okay. Now, I you know, I was actually going to ask you that question. Is the DNA and authenticity of who you guys are and what the company is, is it limiting?

[00:23:45]Because would you have this kind of a response in any other city but Mumbai?

[00:23:50]This is a You have Bombay Sweet Shop, you have Bombay Canteen.

[00:23:53]This is where you are, right? Are are other cities going to be as experimental, happy to shower you with this much love?

[00:24:01]>> Yeah.

[00:24:01]>> And have you thought of that that you might have to pivot a bit to really achieve scale?

[00:24:05]>> Yeah. It's a great question. I do feel we chose Bombay also to start with because like we said earlier, he's from Delhi, I'm from Pune. So, Bombay became a natural choice from the point that both of us had our first jobs here, right? So, there >> And we love the city.

[00:24:20]>> Yeah. The city is like everyone says it's a melting pot, X Y and Z.

[00:24:24]The city does let you experiment a lot.

[00:24:27]But with Bombay, I do feel Bombay really pushes you hard on getting consistency right.

[00:24:34]When we go to another city, we are not going to be blind to say, "Oh, we are Bombay Sweet Shop, we are here." No. We need to know that what products can we create for that city that create that certain level of ownership for that city itself. Thankfully, the way sweet shop is is also very data-driven business.

[00:24:51]Because we also have our own website, we know which city orders a lot from us right now itself, which city has the higher loyalty. Do they order it only during festivals or they ordering it throughout the year? So there's a certain track you can use to make that right decision and because it's an online heavy business also gives us better like geo location also like to say where in Delhi would be a good one to start. So there are certain things that are helping us make that decision but from our side from a personality point of view we'll never take it for granted that if we go into that city we are going to be a success. No, it's not.

[00:25:27]>> And just the way we did for Bombay you'd have to go into a Delhi or a Bangalore and really understand like what will create that emotional connect with that city right?

[00:25:36]At the end of the day restaurants and food brands are about that emotion and how do you tweak your menus? How do you sort of tell the stories in a way that it appeals to the market over there is going to be so so important for us to do.

[00:25:50]>> Okay, as we wrap up how does this equation work running the business?

[00:25:56]>> Uh pretty well I think.

[00:25:58]>> Yeah.

[00:25:58]>> Yeah, as in in >> Who has veto?

[00:26:01]Who has the final call?

[00:26:02]>> Both have veto. I think we now in the last year and a half we've also like as we are beginning to scale we've broken up our relation like not relationship our responsibilities in a way that obviously if there's something that we need advice for we'll go to them but there's clarity within the team who do we go for what? I think earlier we used to share a lot of our responsibilities. I look after operations, marketing and people. Sam looks after finance, business development and production. So >> Who's chief taster?

[00:26:33]>> I think both like I was telling you yesterday I had to taste 17 cocktails.

[00:26:38]>> Yeah, you sound very sad about it.

[00:26:39]>> Yeah, yeah. [laughter] >> The same.

[00:26:41]>> Yeah, so we taste a lot that I think that's what keeps it going for us also like the thing what people think is when we taste you know you're only tasting great stuff. It's not true. We also taste some really not so There's a lot of filtering that needs to >> There's a lot of filtering, but that's only way you get better at it.

[00:26:57]>> Yeah, you do all the hard works for your customers.

[00:27:00]>> [laughter] >> Your favorite dishes from amongst everything that you serve.

[00:27:06]>> Yesterday I was craving the pastrami sandwich from Veronica, so definitely top of the list for me.

[00:27:12]>> For me, we call it the kaju katli indie bite. So, it's like kaju katli with chocolate ganache on top. So, it's got like nice dark chocolate and the richness of cashews.

[00:27:21]>> That's actually a really good one. Thank you so much for welcoming us in to your business, to your plans, and giving us this time.

[00:27:30]>> Thank you. Thank you so much.