BUILDING ON HARD WORK & GOOD TASTE!
Most people don’t dream of a fast food job right out of college, and neither did I, at first. After college, I got a job at McDonald’s corporate where I helped build the chain’s first self-ordering customer kiosk. This experience opened my eyes to the corporate structure that runs fast food chains, and I was hooked. Growing up with a deep love for Indian food, I became convinced that I would create the first “Indian McDonald’s.
With no experience running a fast food business, I took the opportunity to start my own Auntie Anne’s franchise while still working at Mcdonald’s. As soon as I gained essential food-business experience, I quit my job and developed my first restaurant concept. At the same time, I went to work at Starbucks & Nutella Cafe in Chicago to better understand successful front-end practices. Fast forward to May 2019 when I opened up my own Indian fast food restaurant, Moti, located in River North. Our numbers were growing when, less than a year into business, COVID happened! Sales slowed dramatically. Then my restaurant was looted, twice! I was forced to temporarily close.
WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES A VIRTUAL KITCHEN OPENS
When I reopened Moti, I felt as though my back was up against a wall. Focusing only on takeout, I started to research how other restaurants were faring. That’s when I realized that pizza sales had gone through the roof. It’s at this point that I said, “Why not Indian Pizza?!” With no experience in making pizza, I pitched my idea to my hometown pizzeria. We could supply our delicious sauces and ingredients to his pizzeria to make Indian-flavored pizzas alongside his current menu, giving us both another revenue stream. This is how Masala Pizza was born, becoming the first virtual kitchen Indian pizza brand focusing on online sales. In the first five weeks, we generated over $35,000 in sales!
A Slice of India
WHAT’S NEXT FOR MASALA PIZZA COMPANY:
Inspired by our early success and aware of changes in the human eating experience, we have taken the time to study the numbers for dozens of locations around the country. We launched our second hub in the New Jersey-New York region. Our focus is creating easy-to-execute, flavorful, and authentic Indian pizza virtual restaurants that our partner pizzerias can seamlessly add to their current operations. This requires finding clusters of franchisees to establish new markets around the US, and eventually around the world. The food world is changing, and we’re confident that the opportunity for Indian pizzas is huge. We’re keeping an eye on new and innovative ways to bring them to customers everywhere, including new technologies and business models. If you want to try one of our pizzas, click the button below to search near you. Can’t find one near you? Let us know where we should expand next!