Hello Everyone,
I’ve been having this idea for some time now. The idea is simple, as the heading suggests – a wonderful joint for Samosas which are very affordable along with Tea, I’d like to make it a brand. (Main focus would be the Samosa where we’ll have different varieties – aloo, onion, mixed, chicken, mutton, paneer , etc)
I’ve done some research on the same, I haven’t seen well established brands for Samosa. I know we have a very huge market for the same where North Indians love to have it during the first half of the day and the south Indians in the evenings ( So a good business throughout the day).
What are the things I need to keep in mind? 4P’s, then?
How do I make sure the taste is uniform all the days initially then when expanding, how to maintain the same taste throughout various outlets?
Any help would be of great help. Thanks from my heart.
P.S. – I also know there are different taste for different states, but as a whole when it comes to a brand, how should I maintain the same taste.
Karthikeyan.
Neharika Roy
Hi,
It seems like a fun thing. Have you heard of Tea Junction? I think it’s there only in Calcutta. They opened their first store in a mall, selling tea and samosas. It was a huge hit with the casual shopper who liked to snack on something light (and cheap). Any time of the day, it was the most crowded area of the mall. Now, I’ve seen their stalls popping up all over the city, and they have introduced a lot of other items, but the tea+ samosa is still a favourite.
As for maintaining the same taste, I suppose having well-defined recipes and sticking to them would help.
Karan Pandhi
Hi Karthikeyan,
Well there is nothing as P’s in a business for me, I’m a foodpreneur too in Mumbai.
The idea of Samosas is nice, and in Mumbai let me tell you Vada pav and Samosa Pav are sold in more numbers than the population of the city.
A few pointers from me:
1. Make your own recipes. Keep it small but a strict recipe this will help anybody cook your product.
2. Don’t think about popping up stores in a year, Mc Donald’s took 3 years to open their 2nd outlet in India. Build your product you will have to keep on tweaking and changing the recipes to the likes of the customer.
3. Don’t try to make a 100 types of Samosas, make around 15 and start with 10 of those. Do trials with friends and families.
4. This is highly important, get the staff before you have your store. I made a big mistake that I didn’t get the correct staff and right now my store is shut since a week and I’m hunting for the right guy to re-start my store. This damages your image and reputation in the market.
5. Let me tell you I have already planned to add Samosas in variations just like you in my Menu from June onwards. So I can surely advice you then about how it goes about.
A bit about me,
I’m Karan Pandhi running a start-up called as Veging, as the name suggests we are a Pure Veg QSR. We currently are into Sandwiches, Pav Sandwiches, Pasta, Shakes and etc. I run it from Vile Parle (west), Mumbai. You can always watsapp me on 9699-246-444, will be glad to help out.
There are a few more foodpreneurs like Hitesh ‘Noodleman’ Bhatia, Divyesh ‘Just Unjunk’ Panchal, Perzen ‘Bawi Bride’ Patel.
Regards,
Karan Pandhi.
Tweet me @Karanp17
Founder @Veging
Karthikeyan
Thanks a lot Karan for your insights, appreciate it.
Karthikeyan
Thanks Neharika, haven’t come across this. And BTW who doesn’t like the cutest couple, Samosa+Tea?
;))
Shravan
A similar idea had been toying in my mind for some months now. I am not too sure, but I think Future group had started a similar venture called “Chamosa” a few years back which used to sell Samosas and Chai in small kiosks. I am not too sure whether its operational now.
I did try searching Google for it and found some old blog posts and news items related to it.
Link is here
If I am not mistaken, I read about it in Future Group Founder- Mr.Kishore Biyani’s book “It happened in India”