CEO Insights India

In the land of foods, flavours, and fanatic foodies, India is yet to envisage and experience a prominent F&B chain like McDonald's or Burger King. Owing to his diversified expertise as an entrepreneur and investment experiences across distinctive industries, Vishal understood the nuances of the F&B segment and came forward with his unique insight of making India proud by launching & leading the biggest and most loved Biryani Chain the soul food of many Indians. Almost every city of India, starting from Hyderabad to Bangalore and Kolkata, has added some innovation to the heritage dish of India, either in terms of ingredients or cooking style,that enhanced the love for Biryani. With vision to deliver consistent biryanis across different cities, regions, countries,and be able to create a universally loved brand, Vishal founded Biryani By Kilo that promises authenticity, fresh & great taste.

Below is an excerpt of Vishal’s interview with CEO Insights magazine

Share about the learnings and experiences that you have acquired from IIT Varanasi and how do you apply them in your current role?
I actually had tremendous learnings at that stage of my life. It was the first experience of living independently in IIT BHU, away from my home in Delhi. I had to be independent and take courageous decisions & find innovative methods to life problems. My entire college journey from IIT BHU to Syracuse University, New York taught me how to maintain relations with friends, professors, family, and people around me. I got to observe and learn how to respect individual strengths, work in teams, and even

lead at times. I would say this overall educational journey has shaped my thoughts & overall personal growth.

Define Biryani By Kilo as an organization and where is it positioned in the industry? What is the unique proposition that your organization offers to clients?
BBK is more than 200 Crores annual revenue currently with 85+ outlets in 25+ cities of India. We are the leading biryani & kebab food delivery chain of the nation in terms of scale & reach. Biryani By Kilo footprints stretches from the EastKolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Jamshedpur to North Delhi, Gurgaon, Punjab, Jaipur to West Mumbai, Pune, Nasik, and to South Mangalore, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mysore, and so on. The unique proposition of BBK is that we dum cook fresh handi biryanis for every individual order which is dough-sealed, and the same handi gets delivered to the customer. This ensures freshness, hygiene, great taste & authenticity.

We offer three different styles of authentic Biryanis – Hyderabadi, Lucknowi, and Kolkata which no other brand is offering. We also have Guntur & Nilgiri in Hyderabad, Bangalore & South India. We have a wide variety of Veg and Non-Veg biryani options like Mutton, Chicken, Paneer & Kathal with other food items like Kebabs, Kormas & Phirni. Such wide range, freshness, authentic deliciousness, and consistent quality is what sets us apart and gives Biryani By Kilo a competitive edge in the F & B world.

Reflect on some of the major challenges you have experienced in your journey so far? How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?

We had to face many of challenges, as we were the pioneers of the Fresh Handi Biryani concept. We have been delivering and making fresh handi biryanis on every order since inception. Unlike western foods like pizza, burger and many more, Biryani can’t be Dum cooked in 10 minutes, instead, it would take us around 60-90 minutes to Fresh Dum Cook and deliver the biryani successfully. While moving against the fast food ethos of getting food delivered in 30 minutes,it was challenging to convince people that the freshness & hygiene was worth the wait.

Secondly, winning the trust and convincing investors that the brand would be able to expand with pan India footprint and a worldwide presence was tough. Also, it wasn't easy to build a strong team within BBK from scratch with the same passion & zeal as founders. All these challenges have been hard to overcome, but we are proud that we've made them our strengths today.

Going forward, what are the goals that you wish to invest in and how do you plan to take them further?
So, the goal is to make Biryani By Kilo, the leader & most loved biryani & kebab chain in India and the world. We aim to take the heritage & soft power of India to the entire world. Also, we wish to make the world fall in love with Biryanis, which is more whole some, healthy, and delicious than QSR foods.

Vishal Jindal, Founder & Co-CEO, Biryani By Kilo
The Founder and Co-CEO of Biryani By Kilo, Vishal is a diehard foodie with extensive expertise of scaling updifferent businesses across geographies. A frequent speaker on startups/entrepreneurship and a passionate reader/traveller, Vishal has 25+ years of entrepreneurial/private equity and investing experience across different sectors and countries. He holds a post-graduate management degree from Syracuse University, New York, and a B.Tech Engineering from IIT BHU, India.