CHENNAI: For Shibu Raj, a travel enthusiast and a beer connoisseur, food and friendship are all there is to a good life. A businessman and an entrepreneur, travel has always been his choice of escape. Launching and co-founding the newest resto-bar in the city, DANK, with his close-knit gang of school friends, he talks to us about childhood friendships, his travels and finding joy in the little things in life. Excerpts follow:
What would you say is your life philosophy?
I’m a simple person and don’t like to make things very complicated. So, in my life, I’ve tried to keep myself grounded by enjoying the little things like a conversation with loved ones over a drink and good food. ‘Money can’t buy happiness’ would be a suitable summary of it.
The relationship with your childhood friends is your solace outside of work. How did that come to be?
The four of us go back a long time, almost 35 years, right to our schooldays in Hospet, Karnataka. Although we lost touch after going our separate ways in high school, we reconnected a few years ago and the frequency of our meetings have only been increasing with every passing year. As clichéd as it may sound, we’re all avid travellers and travel has been the core ingredient in reviving our childhood friendship. We try taking as many trips as possible, but we have one mandatory annual vacation that none of us misses.
Among your travels, are there any trips that truly stand out in your memory?
A couple of years ago, we took a trip to Phuket and it’s the one that immediately pops up in my mind. One would think that we did a whole load of activities, but for those few days, we did nothing but eat, drink and spend time with each other. If I think about it, it’s the same atmosphere and ambience that we’ve tried recreating in our new venture together — DANK resto-bar in T Nagar. DANK means ‘awesome’ in one of the local Swedish tongues and it’s also an apt summary of our friendship.
Coming from different business backgrounds, how did you and your friends decide to co-found a resto-bar in the city together?
The beauty of this entire process has been that we’re all from completely different career paths and for all of us, this is the first time being a part of the food and beverages market. Sreekanth and I are the business minds in the group and the other two cover the finance and technology portions of managing a start-up. A fantasy of brewing our own beer and having a microbrewery was the thought that set this whole process of co-founding DANK into motion. I remember texting them with a proposal, and we immediately met over the weekend and decided to take the plunge. Although the microbrewery part of it is still a distant dream, we wanted to improve the experience and ambience of a resto-bar.
Being in the restaurant business now, what is your favourite cuisine?
I’m a big fan of all varieties that fall under the big umbrella that is Indian cuisine, although I’m probably drawn to a fusion of south Indian and north Indian dishes. I remember visiting Kochi and snacking on pani puris filled with a tangy tomato rasam. It was the dish which convinced me that a fusion was the way to go.
What’s your beverage of choice to go with your plate of Indian-inspired fusion food?
There’s probably nothing better that I enjoy than beer. Freshly brewed wheat beer to be specific. The wheat beer in Toit in Bengaluru is an absolute delight and probably the closest you can go from Chennai to enjoy a robust home-brewed wheat beer.
Apart from food and travel, what other hobbies do you enjoy?
I used to enjoy reading but due to the lack of time, I haven’t picked up a book in the longest time. But sports, cricket to be exact, has been a passion since school days. Having played for the school and college teams, it’s something that I enjoy now as well. With the Indian Premier League coming soon, I’m very hyped to see my favourite Chennai Super Kings on a winning streak again.
What would you say is a social cause that is close to your heart?
I try doing my small part in different venues in society. But being an entrepreneur, the creation of jobs has been very important to me. Over the past four years, I’ve seen a lot of people lose their jobs and the economy flailing, but the one industry that I’ve noticed to be immune (as a matter of fact, growing at a rate of 16-17%) is the Food and Beverage industry. So, when added to my love of food, this opportunity to create jobs was also an incentive for me to start this business.
DANK promises to deliver on food, drinks and music R Satish Babu