Tiny Giant
Best dosa in town
Carnatic Cafe is building a local business, one dosa time
Carnatic Café is a tiny giant in Delhi-NCR. It doesn’t just serve delicious food, it is evolving into a bootstrapped, sustainable and profitable community business. Unlike the food startups, it is growing slow. They have opened only five stores in the past ten years.
Shilpi and Pawan started Carnatic Café in 2012. The first outlet opened in New Friends Colony. It housed an open kitchen. The menu was small. It had authentic food from Karnataka. Jagan wanted to serve fewer items with the highest quality. Times Food Guide Awards voted them the best South Indian restaurant within a year of opening. Food writers Marryam Reshii and Rahul Verma loved the food. It became popular.
Pawan said in an interview, “I am not in favour of big menus; I like short menus. I like to concept a recipe which is more of a classic where the guest would like to eat the same thing again and again. And, you really need to give your honest shout to the recipe. I need to focus on simple things that can create the magic.”
It took ten years to open the fifth outlet ( Three in Delhi, one in Noida and one in Gurgaon) . In 2017 it also launched Jaatre, a vegetarian ice cream brand. The first outlet opened in Meherchand Market. It focuses on conscious living. Pawan focuses on training the employees, one of the key things to run successful local businesses. May the tribe of tiny giants grow.
Know more: Shilpa and Pawan’s journey Link
