BENGALURU: It was late 2021, and the city was just easing back to normalcy as the restrictions imposed during the second lockdown were slowly being relaxed. Having been forced to remain within closed walls for nearly two years, people in the city, like most parts of the world, started to travel and explore to make up for lost time during the pandemic.
Among them were two friends, Tinoj Kumar and Akhil Venkatesh, the former, a human resource professional, the latter, an owner of an auto detailing business. “We used to finish our work and at night we used to meet. Regardless of how much work we had, we would meet every day for at least an hour and roam around the city. Soon we realised that it was difficult to find quality south Indian food. The only choices were push carts selling egg fried rice and such, and high-end restaurants,” shares Tinoj.
Although frustrated at first, the duo soon saw an opportunity for a business venture. “We used to explore a lot of places to eat at night. But we found that the city didn’t have many places that offered quality hot food. So we wondered if we could do something around that,” Tinoj explains. After a year of planning, they had brought their two other friends – Manish Gowda, a marketing professional and Nihal Ashwanth, an assistant operations manager, on board to start a food truck venture.
KA05 Kitchen operates out of JP Nagar. Uniquely, customers that patronise the food truck are a mix of late-night party-goers, working professionals with later work hours and gig workers. “We are located at a prime spot, near several pubs. People who frequent the pubs visit the food truck late at night for a quick bite, especially during the weekends,” Tinoj shares.
Started in December 2022, positive customer response since the launch has prompted the founders to think about expanding their side hustle to other areas of the city. “The reason we started at night is because we can go about our day jobs as usual, while being able to learn new things through the food truck. One of my goals is to eventually open a restaurant. So this is a stepping stone. Currently, we are open between 9 pm to 2 am every day, but we are planning to extend that further into the morning,” Tinoj concludes.