‘We just couldn't stop ourselves
from starting this restaurant’ says Ram, one of the founders of IDLI HUT, when
asked about his decision to go for a start-up. IDLI Hut is a startup restaurant
founded by Ram and Rajat back in 2010. They started their business with a
‘Tri-Cycle’ selling delicious and hygienic south Indian dishes in a place
called ‘Chappan’ in Indore (famous for Food items, especially north Indian
CHAT). They slowly grew their business by shifting from ‘Tri-Cycle’ to a proper
location ideal for restaurants in Indore city. Now, after three years since
their startup, they are located in four places in Indore, one in Pune and one
in Mumbai. They are also constantly expanding their business by adding more
franchise in and around Indore. The startup has reached revenue of Ten Million
INR within three years which is a great progress for a startup.
The main motto of the startup is to
provide Hygienic and Delicious south Indian food to satisfy the customers
craving for mouth-watering South Indian Cuisine. They offer a plethora of
dishes, which includes 25 varieties of soft Idlis, 19 varieties of crispy
Dosas, many varieties of Uttapams and also other items like Pav-Bhaji, many
varieties of Cold-Coffee, soft drinks and Ice-creams. The have a properly framed
training material to train the chefs in all their branches and provide their
own raw materials like masalas and other ingredients for the menu, ensuring the
same quality and taste in all their branches. They also have regular training
for their chefs to maintain the quality of their service.
Q: What is the main motive or
driving force about the startup? Why did you choose this startup?
A: We both had plans during college
for doing something different other than the monotonous job which the companies
provide. Many people including me have wondered why only Mumbai has restaurants
providing delicious south Indian food and not Indore. We wanted to bring
authentic South Indian Cuisine here in Indore. So we came up with the idea for
this startup. When we planned for this startup, we were already working. Ram
was a professor and I (Rajat) was working in HDFC. But both of us weren’t happy
with the job and we had to startup something different which they dreamed for.
But we had lot of problems, problem for initial capital and many more. So we
planned to do both job and the startup together. So me and Ram hired a
‘Tri-cycle’ and two chefs and one more worker and started making and selling
Idlis in the ‘Tri-cycle’ after the working hours, from 6PM to 10 PM. This way
we had job security and also lived our dream. When the business started to heat
up, it was more demanding and we had to choose between either of the two. So I
and Ram took the toughest and riskiest step in our life. We chose to leave the
job and follow our dream. Initially we didn’t have much support from our
parents. But we had to do it. We had interest in no other work other than this
startup. So we continued with the ‘Tri-Cycle’. After few months we collected
some capital to start a proper restaurant in Indore city area. Initially the
business was slow, as people weren’t aware. We never lost hope in our business;
we started including new recipes every month. Slowly our customer base grew,
and we started taking orders for parties and other college events. Now we are
successfully running four centers in Indore. Proper planning of training
modules ensured the quality in all the centers.
Q: What are your present expansion
plans?
A: We are planning to expand our
business also to towns around Indore. We are not particularly interested in
opening our business in big cities as the capital required is more and also
there is heavy competition. We are presently concentrating on small towns
around Indore, but will surely come to other cities once we earn a good brand name
and when the business is stabilized.
Q: What will be your advice to
students who are interested in startup?
A: I would say ‘Just go for it’.
There is never a better time, than doing it right now. We will never know how
the situation will be in future. Just follow your dreams now, or you will be
following others later. The difference between the two sides is just a small
step, but this small step makes huge difference.
A Team of three SESC (Student
Entrepreneurship Support Cell) members visited IDLI HUT on Nov 16, 2013 in one
of their main branches in Indore. The interview lasted for an hour and was very
inspiring to students planning for a startup right after their college. For
more details about the interview please hear the Audio recording sent along with
this report.
SESC NEC Team
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