In his recent book – Beyond the Menu: A Restaurant Start-up Guide – food and restaurant consultant, Ravi Wazir has written extensively about the profile of people entering the food business and the reason behind this new-found interest. The very first profile he talks about are corporate executives. The reason, he cites, is “to escape the dreariness of a 9 to 6 job.”
Bistriti Poddar, who worked over a decade as CXO, was a TEDx speaker, decided to take a plunge into the food business by exploiting the experience and self-proclaimed expertise of her mother-in-law in Pathare Prabhu cuisine, may have had a different reason.
“I quit my job a year ago and wanted to start something on my own. It was an idea that emerged during a casual conversation in the family that culminated in the launch of Gossip & Garnish,” she said, starting the conversation.
For Poddar, women entrepreneurship and empowerment has been so close to her heart and used to talk about at different platforms.
“I thought it was an opportunity to walk the talk,” she said.
From the day Poddar, who is Bengali, married Utsav, a Gujarati, she developed a great admiration for the culinary skills of her mother-in-law. Apart from her culinary skills, Poddar’s mother-in-law Rupa Shah, was also known for her knowledge in hospitality services, and used to be an invitee to the judging panel of competitions in many culinary colleges in and around Mumbai.
It was a time when Shah was feeling lonely after the death of her husband. “I wanted to keep her busy and engaged,” Poddar says, adding that she felt that the food business was the best way out for that.
“I have been a passionate entrepreneur and never hesitated to take risks,” she said when asked about her initial thoughts about the venture.
They started with a conventional menu; but based on the advice of a few senior chefs in the industry, they decided to shift completely to Pathare Prabhu cuisine, which is unique to Maharashtra. Pathare Prabhu’s are a sect believed to have migrated from Nepal and travelled through Rajasthan and Gujarat before settling in Maharashtra centuries ago.
“There are hardly 7000 Pathare Prabhus left today in the world. My mother-in-law was born and raised in Pathare Prabhu culture and she is an expert in Pathare Prabhu delicacies,” Poddar said.
The mother and daughter-in-law duo have hosted over 100 guests at their “exclusive and intimate” home dining at Chembur in the first month itself. These include a few celebrities as well.
“We host all our guests at our residence at Chembur. From the ambience to the table and to the food, we offer a 5-star dining experience in the confines of our home,” she says.
Poddar who brims with confidence about her leadership and entrepreneurial spirit has big plans and roadmap ready to transform the home pop up now to a full-blown start up and a brand to reckon with in the food retail space.
“I have ticked all the boxes from day one. We wanted to test out on a small scale and then scale it up. That’s the path startups generally take,” she informs.
She believes that if one builds a brand on a strong foundation and a vision and gets it validated by customers, nothing can stop it from going to places. “We might also go for a Michelin-star for Gossip & Garnish in the next 3 years,” she says.
As far as raising funds for the ambitious journey, Poddar, with her long association with the corporate world, doesn’t see any road blocks coming her way for dearth of funds.
She is already in talks with potential investors, and believes a lot of investors are coming forward to support as she uplifts the food business into a full-fledged startup.
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