Exclusive Interview | Sadak Chaap Founders Sannat Ahuja and Palak Ahuja
/“If it’s not the passion driving you don’t get into it, as it looks all rosy from the outside but it’s not - you have to listen to all customers and keep tweaking things to ensure all your customers are happy. In the food space the customer is always king”
Share the story behind the inception of SADAKCHAAP and what inspired you to start it?
This exciting new expansion marks a remarkable milestone for Sadak Chaap. Fueled by a passion for creating a unique and flavorful vegetarian and vegan street food experience, founders launched their first takeaway outlet in Khar (W) in February 2020. Inspired by global mock meat trends, their vision has blossomed into a citywide phenomenon. In just four years, Sadak Chaap has grown to 10 locations, including a presence at India's biggest Vegan Food Festival and a Master Franchise in Gujarat. Sadak Chaap Founders Sannat Ahuja and Palak Ahuja said they couldn't be more thrilled about bringing Sadak Chaap to SOBO.
"We are incredibly excited!" they exclaim. "This journey has been humbling, and the love and support from our patrons have been overwhelming. We can't wait to introduce our unique take on Soya Chaap to a whole new set of taste buds!"
What unique value does SADAKCHAAP bring to the hospitality industry, and how does it differentiate itself from competitors?
To begin with we are proud to cater to a community of vegans and vegetarians by providing them food which is beyond basic. We take pride in the 10+ flavours and varieties of Soya Chaap we offer to our consumers not just in starters but also in mains and Rice. We also produce our chaap in-house to maintain its softness.
Highlight a pivotal moment or challenging situation you've faced as a founder and how you overcame it?
With all the love we got from our customers, we grew and expanded very fast; from one outlet to 10 outlets in 4 years. Having said that, our biggest challenge was food standardisation across all outlets not only in Mumbai but also Ahmedabad. Our key priority is to maintain taste and flavour and to always see our customers enjoy the food.
We did create a central kitchen where we standardized the food keeping in mind fresh food has to be served at all the outlets, so we created a system where we made fresh food centrally everyday and deliver it every morning to all the outlets 365 days of the year also 2 times a day on weekends, this process allows us to serve fresh food daily to the customer along with standardizing the food , quality and experience.
What have you changed your mind about in the last decade?
We started out as a Takeaway brand and wanted to alway focus on delivery but with the changing times we shifted our focus to Dine-in as well.
What trends or innovations do you believe will shape the industry in the coming years?
One thing we've learnt is that innovation with flavours and proving variety is the only way to stay in the industry. We try to come up with new products within the space to ensure we cover all flavours for Vegans and Vegetarians.
Can you share a recent project or initiative that you're particularly proud of and how it aligns with your company's mission and values?
We can talk about our environment-friendly practices such as - Reusing oil, Reusable food grade containers, making compost of food wastages.
We also do use and serve fresh everyday. None of the food is blast frozen or dehydrated and used over weeks or months. We cook fresh food daily, no preservatives to increase the shelf life of the product.
What advice would you offer to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to enter the hospitality field?
If it's not the passion driving you don't get into it, as it looks all rosy from the outside but it's not - you have to listen to all customers and keep tweaking things to ensure all your customers are happy. In the food space the customer is always king.
