This circumstance kept him down to the ground for a while, but rather than losing hope, he approached his friend Subodh Joshi.
The two friends decided to sell their hometown Mumbai’s most famous delicacy, vada pav, in London.
Now, only this particular business earns them nearly INR 4.4 crore, and their lives have now completely changed!
Sujay’s former industry was the same food and beverage manager at a London five-star.
Subodh was his oldest classmate in regular touch since 1999 when they were studying at Rizvi College, Mumbai.
After he lost his job Sujay told his friends his dilemma, and that he was now broke.
I told him ‘Man I am so broke that I could not even afford a vada pav now!’
And this candid conversation only gave birth to an idea for the Indo-European food chain. On August 15, 2010 (the specific day selected deliberately as a tribute to their motherland) they launched their vada pav venture, Shree Krishna Vada Pav, at Hounslow High Street.
When the friends started out, they had to struggle even for the place where they could set up their first stall.
Initially, it was a Polish ice cream café owner who somehow allowed the two to take some place for their new business.
He used to take INR 35,000 of rent. And we both bootlegger entrepreneurs would find it hard to arrange the money owing to the extreme financial crunch.
In their initial phases, they sold the vada pav at ₤1 (INR 80) and dabeli at ₤1.50 (INR 131). To bring attention to this fairly new food item in London, they distributed vada pav to random passersby for free.
But since then, their business has now expanded tremendously, so much: that their annual turnover is now nearly Rs 4.4 crore.
The niché stall has now become a popular hotspot for day-going food junkies with up to 60 varieties of Indian dishes available on their list of items.
