BENGALURU: Six months before the second wave of Covid-19 in April 2021, four friends-Vignesh M, Balashankar, Ranjith Kumar and SM Ramkumar--gathered to discuss the prospect of venturing into the hospitality business. The result of the discussion was not any run-of-the-mill idea, but something that was in sync with the buzz surrounding popular Netflix show, Money Heist. El Professor Cafe, inspired by the flamboyant character The Professor, now stands off Sarjapur Road.
“Initially, we thought of a theme-based cafe centred around the epic drama Game of Thrones, but Money Heist seems to have gripped the interest of many with its cliffhanger endings,” says Vignesh, the ‘chief cook’ at the cafe, who wanted to cash in on the rage surrounding the show. “As partners, we are also ardent fans of the series,” adds Vignesh, who has been associated with the hospitality sector for three years, while other three partners are IT professionals working in Bengaluru.
Upon entering the cafe, you are welcomed with portraits of characters and stills from Money Heist, all of which are displayed on a red wall on your left. You will also find pillars with the names of characters and dishes handwritten on them. “The dishes are purely based on the characters in Money Heist. Our signature dish is the El Professor pizza... it’s quite obviously dedicated to the hero of the show who is the mastermind behind all the successful heists,” says Vignesh. Other dishes include Nairobi chicken wings, Tokyo lemonade, Rio Tart among others.
“Money Heist is like any other robbery story. But the screenplay is what outshines the show. As partners, we used to break down each character and identify how we could blend this into a concept that would work in the hospitality sector. That’s how the cafe was born. We are also streaming the show on a TV in the cafe,” says Ramkumar Mani, one of the partners and a private consultant.
While they were to start operations of the cafe in April this year, the pandemic played spoilsport. But they managed to keep the concept alive through the lockdown, not wanting to give up on an idea that they were so passionate about. “Now that the Money Heist fever has gripped Bengaluru, we are increasing our social media presence to showcase the character-based dishes we offer,” says Vignesh.