For brothers, Sagar (30) and Sahil (27) Arora, it was their love for food and a childhood dream to open a restaurant. That led to setting up of their food business, Smart Chef LLP, in 2017. But before they joined hands, each pursued their own interests. Sahil left for Mumbai soon after completing school and lived there for a couple of years, trying to enter the world of Bollywood as “I really wanted to become an actor. Though opening a restaurant was a childhood dream, acting was/is a passion.” He even went to New York for a six-month training trip.
Meanwhile, Sagar tried his hand at various ventures. But nothing seemed to materialise for the two. Though stressed on what to do next, both were clear since the beginning about two things — they didn’t want to pursue higher education or join their father’s business. So, they ditched their respective “trial ventures”, and floated Smart Chef LLP, following their instincts to uniquely combine pao, dosa and cuisines from the South East Asian region. The brand packaging and sorting of the menu started in 2019.
“Everyone at home is a big-time foodie, so venturing into the food business was a collective decision. However, during research we realised that a lot of investment, funding and labour is required for it. And since none of us had any experience in the food business, we wanted to have something that would be easier to handle yet serve good food to people. We contemplated on whether we should venture into it for almost two-and-a-half years before taking the final decision to start our Quick Service Restaurant (QSR), Dosama, offering coastal cuisine, only for home delivery,” shares Sahil.
“We spent around six months designing the menu, logos and packaging of the brand. Dosama was followed by the launch of Mr Pao and Dimbao,” adds Sagar, who looks after the operations and is the chief taster of every new culinary creation, while Sahil is in-charge of marketing. “These are only home delivery outlets. We recently launched Mr Pao’s third outlet at Kamla Nagar, adding on to the existing kitchens and the QSR outlet in Vijay Nagar and Gurugram,” informs Sahil.
Ever since they got into this business, the Arora brothers have always been on their toes. “We are available 24x7 to ensure all safety protocols are in place for the delivery agents as well as our customers. When I am not available, Sagar is and if Sagar is not available then I am,” avers Sahil, who like Sagar, is an alumni of Modern School Barakhamba Road. Surprisingly, the two brothers, who are just three years apart in age, rarely argue or disagree about anything.
“We work as a team on the idea which is profitable for the company. So, there are no egos, no competitions. After all, both of us want the company to perform well,” says Sagar. On what Sahil likes and dislikes about Sagar and vice versa, the younger brother says, “Since he does a lot of food tasting for our three brands, Sagar is very careless about eating on time, which bothers me. He needs to take care of his health.” Sagar, on the other hand, feels his younger brother is a pro in looking after and promoting the business. “This quality will take us to greater heights,” he admits.
Both mutually agree on being a big source of inspiration and motivation for the other, apart from the fact that “Sahil bosses around more than me”. Up next, the duo plans to expand their QSR model. “We want our brands to have a pan-India presence,” Sahil signs off.