The next time you step into a Goli Vada Pav outlet and bite into a vada pav, remember that the company is the brainchild of 42-year-old B.Com graduate S. Venkatesh.
He had a successful career in corporate financing, which he got into after graduating from Mumbai University, including his own corporate advisory firm.
Venkatesh says he always wanted to get into the food business. Should he start a venture that sells idli and dosa, though typically South Indian but quite popular across regions, or should he sell vada pav, which was typical to Mumbai, where he lived?
Walking with a vada pav in hand one day in Mumbai, he noticed a banner for McDonald’s. It struck him then that the vada pav sold on Mumbai’s footpath and a burger sold by a glitzy McDonald’s outlet had a lot in common.
He lists them – both are fast food, to be eaten on the move, a filling between bun or a ‘pav’. More importantly, vada pav does not require side dishes to eat it with or a plate and spoon to eat from. It can be wrapped in a piece of paper and you can munch away at it even as you are walking or sitting in a bus or an autorickshaw.
This meant that it will not require as much space as an outlet that serves idli and dosa. Real estate being prohibitively expensive in Mumbai, it was a no-brainer for Venkatesh. Vada pav won.
Thus came into being Goli Vada Pav in 2004, which Venkatesh funded with his savings. By this time, Venkatesh had wound down his corporate advisory firm. The initial investment was about Rs 40 lakh. It soon increased to Rs 1 crore as the business got under way. Goli Vada Pav is majority-owned by Venkatesh and his friend and co-founder Shivadas Menon.
The first outlet came up in Kalyan, a suburb of Mumbai. It did roaring business and very soon there were a handful of outlets. But, things did not go the way Venkatesh expected. Problems cropped up. He was confident of what he was doing. He persevered. The venture got funded.
They planned a large-scale expansion. Disaster struck and that expansion had to be abandoned.
Venkatesh says he was determined not to give up and hence worked on overcoming the problems. It worked. What he thought was essentially popular only in Mumbai suddenly found a market outside the country’s commercial capital. Someone offered to start an outlet in Nashik. One store led to another and very soon Goli Vada Pav found itself outside Maharashtra. Now it has 150 stores, a majority of them run by franchisees. Venkatesh hopes to have a pan-India footprint. It sells about 75,000-100,000 vada pav a day.
What is Venkatesh’s message? Always pursue your dreams. If your idea is good, it will do well.
Source: thehindubusinessline
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