How This Pre-Independence Restaurant has made it to Globe

Who would have ever thought that a small kiosk started in early 1940s at Burns Road in Karachi would travel all the way to Mumbai, India. “After partition, my ancestors landed with nothing else but utensils in which they made pani puri and other Indian food,” shares Kamlesh Mulchandani, the third-gen from the Mulchandani family who joined the business together with his brother Amit Mulchandani in 2004. Whereas, Jay Mulchandani, joined the business in 2006, following the family legacy that was set up in 1952 at Colaba. Destiny brought them to Mumbai and rest of the story remains history. “After a reputed “Halwai” in a lane next to Colaba market, our Grandfather decided to launch their first food outlet named “Kailash Parbat”, he remembers.

Capturing Culinary Delight

The journey has been very enriching and delightful for the Mulchandani family, with a mixed bag, few Sleepless nights, ideation, arguments and criticism that was all smooth sailing for the Sindhi family known for their vegetarian food business. “We approached the challenges objectively finding a win –win for all. To be honest, these challenges shaped us what we are today and made us stronger,” adds the proud restaurateur who has now setup the restaurant empire across Asia, Americas, Australia, Canada, Europe and Middle East. And, has recently opened their 50th outlet in Doha, Qatar. “With franchising, comes scalability. Through this we are able to amplify our speed to replicate our business and reach more customers. It’s also a faster way to penetrate in the market to gain market share,” points Mulchandani.

Think Global, Act Local

Running on a simple mantra: “Think Global, Act Local and Sell like a Retailer” has always worked for this restaurant that has done nothing extraordinary to go out of the way. The brand has stuck to their core and traditional recipes which they have inherited form their grandfather which has been liked by different food palates. “We have taken off our flight and keep our engines running by staying relevant, looking for enhancements, introducing new items, reducing cost without compromising quality and CUSTOMER FOCUSED AS ALWAYS,” smiles Mulchandani who considers  Sindhi food as their staple food, and they still use the same recipes used by their forefathers during the British era.

Overcoming Challenges

Challenges are the norm, a part and parcel of every venture. You face them and convert them into an opportunity or you can sit back and whine about them. “During our international expansion we have found it difficult to export talent overseas given the visa restrictions & regulations,” shares Mulchandani, adding that to ensure the authenticity of the food it is preferred that the homegrown chefs are behind the scenes, however, the brand has now an intense culinary training module at their base kitchen in Mumbai for chefs that have being recruited overseas to understand the KP way. “One such incident in Lisbon with Visas prompted us to invest in local talent, conduct vigorous training and customize our menus to offer European food with an Indian twist. That’s a new start for us,” he remembers. Also, successfully establishing brand in purely non-vegetarian markets like Singapore and Middle East the family takes pride in it.

Taking a Successful Ride

In this dynamic world, the restaurant is keeping them abreast to seize any good opportunities coming their way. “We are a big family and extremely closely knit. There is love and trust amongst us and we all double up for each other personally and professionally,” he smiles. And, given the above strengths and comforts Kailash Parbat is now looking at establishing a home delivery and catering brand apart from scaling up KP in South East Asia, select parts of USA and GCC in the next phase. “We are also planning to launch a vegan restaurant in India. We are already running ‘Veganapati’in Portugal and we want to grow it in India targeting major cities including; Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi in 2019.