Sadashiv Nayak is part of the Future Group.

Prior to Future group he has worked with Hindustan Unilever and Asian Paints.

Sadashiv graduated Engineering from NIT, Surathkal and completed his post-graduation in Business Management from XLRI Jamshedpur. He stays in Mumbai with his wife Radhika and twin sons.

DC is a gold medallist engineer, University rank holder, MBA of SIBM and alumnus of Harvard Business School. Over the years DC has led leadership positions with Coca Cola, Asian Paints, Future Group, Walmart and now is Managing Director & CEO of Spencer’s Retail Limited. He has been a mentor to many start ups and a keen observer of consumer behaviour and his thoughts has been published in leading publication like Economic Times, Business Today, Business Standard, Hindustan Times to name a few.

DC takes keen interest in the development of start up ecosystem , mentors many start ups, teaches at Management Institutes, including Economic Times master classes and with Dr. Ramcharan. He has also taken sessions for IFF in the past and AIMAs. DC currently holds a post in CII as well as FICCI committees.

Born in Chennai in a grocery business family, done his basic education in Chennai. A school drop-out but a passionate retailer joined his family business at a very young age. “Nuts n Spices”, his brainchild was conceptualised in early 1990’s but launched its first store in 1999 and went on to become country’s one of the best successful gourmet retail chain. A man of strong Principles with his creative ideas and always striving to be on par with the international standards made Nuts n Spices, a very popular and successful retail brand with 31 outlets in Chennai & one each in Coimbatore & Pondicherry. He also then filled the gap of having a premium Sweet shop in Chennai by conceptualizing the ‘’Indiska Magic’’. He always believed in the power of brand and always strived to make his brands a world class brand. A hard core Karmayogi, also a workaholic always believes and says that ‘’a person must work only where his heart is, then for him his work is meditation’’. He is now a Co-Chairman and active member representing the Chennai Chapter of Retailers Association of India.

He Pioneered Goa’s first Supermarket in 1989-90, Magsons Supercentre, having spread out to 12 Stores across Goa over 30,000 sq ft of retail space and growing. Recently introduced Goa’s premium and only on-line delivery grocery portal covering over 140 Pin codes in the State.

He held several important Positions. To name some :

Chairman, Goa Council of the CONFEDERATION OF INDIA INDUSTRY (CII) for the term 2014-15.

President of the TRAVEL & TOURISM ASSOCIATION OF GOA in the year 2000.

Hon Secretary of the GOA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY, Goa

Some of his Achievements include :

Awarded the “Businessman of the Year” title in 2012 by Business Goa Media.

Awarded “Innovative Retail Concept of the Year” at the Lokmat “Corporate Excellence Awards” in 2015 at Mumbai.

Awarded the “Trendsetters Honours” Award for Retail by the Indian Express Group at the “Food & Hospitality Fair” in 2017

Awarded the Goa State BRAND LEADERSHIP Award in 2018

Featured as one of the “200 Famous Goans” in the 2019 Publication of the same name supported by the Govt of Goa

Hobbies Include :

Ardent Cyclist, Chess, Badminton and Sailing.

Reading (typically non-fiction) and Country/ Retro music.

Sales & Marketing leader with over 17 years’ experience at NESTLE – the leading Food and Beverage Company.

Marketing experience panning a vast array of product categories – snacking, meal embellishment, flavour world, tea creaming, dairy culinary, cold beverages and coffee.

Sales experience in General and Modern trade, as well as Trade marketing.

Mr. Seshu Kumar, National Head Buying & Merchandising –Big Basket had graduated from IIM Ahmedabad in 1991. At Big Basket, Seshu is instrumental in providing strategic direction, building supply linkages with farmers, processors and Consumer Product Companies, and setting up Systems and Processes for scaling up to a multi city national Business. Prior to joining Big Basket, Mr. Seshu Kumar was Head of Rural Retailing in ITC – Agri Business Division where he was running the “Choupal Saagar” chain of Rural Hypermarkets. ITC Choupal Saagar were a unique chain of 24 Rural Stores in small towns with two way flow of products to and from the Rural Customers. Prior to ITC, he joined a startup team in 2000 in e-commerce industry with Fabmall.com (then Fabmart.com). When Fabmall expanded to opening Supermarkets, Mr.Seshu Kumar spearheaded Fabmall’s foray into setting up the chain of Fabmall Supermarkets.
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Seshu had an initial grounding in Sales and Distribution in Asian Paints Ltd in Sales and Distribution before moving to the then fledgling Retail Industry as Manager – Retailing with Walt Disney India Ltd in 1995. Mr. Seshu Kumar followed up his start up experience in Walt Disney with a small stint as Consultant with KSA Technopak at KSA Technopak.

Dheeraj is the Vice President-Modern Trade, e-Commerce, Omnichannel, Cash & Carry and Institutional Business at Unilever, India. He is responsible for delivering profitable, market beating growths in the fast emerging organised trade channel in India for HUL and at the same time building world class working partnerships with all leading retailers. Prior to this, he was General Manager for Central India handling the biggest unit (branch) for Unilever India spread across 5 states with a population of 460 Mn, having a distribution network of 1K distributors and directly servicing 0.4 Mn + outlets.

With an experience spanning 18 years, Dheeraj has worked General Trade, Modern Trade, Shopper Marketing, Trade Marketing, Sales Operations and Sales Automation across India and has held some key profiles including Director Route-To-Market & Sales-IT for S Asia, Africa and Russia. Dheeraj holds a Mechanical Engineering degree and a Business Management degree and has worked with Britannia Industries Limited prior to joining Unilever.

Dheeraj is married with two lovely daughter and likes to run and listen to Indian Music

Dr. A K Tyagi is a Graduate in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics and Masters in Food Technology from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pant Nagar, Nainital specialising in Food Processing, Technology of Milk and Milk Products, Food Chemistry, Food Micro-Biology, Chem. & Micro Evaluation of Foods. Later on he pursued MBA and Ph. D. in Business Administration as well.

Dr. Tyagi started his career in 1984 with multinational company Wimpy International Pvt. Ltd (a Division of United Biscuit empire, UK). Dr. Tyagi later joined in 1988 as Technical Manager at Noida plant of Uncle Chipps Company Ltd. (Formerly known as Amrit Agro Industries Ltd.). He was responsible and leading for complete operations of the unit in 1990 when he was promoted to DGM (Tech.). His contribution was recognised by Management through fast-track promotions. He was made overall in charge of four plants alongwith additional responsibilities of Sales & Marketing and Finance as Vice President (1995-1997) and then elevated as President (1997-2000). Dr. Tyagi joined Amrit Food (a division of Amrit Banspati Co. Ltd.) as CEO of the Company in 2000 and his last designation was Executive President when he left Amrit Food to join Haldiram’s.

Dr. Tyagi joined Haldiram Group in 2006 and was named Executive President. He has directed the company’s global strategy for more than a decade and helped the Group to increase its market share through expansion / putting various green field projects, development of new innovative products and expanding network. Under Dr. Tyagi’s leadership, the Company has grown 13 times over the past 13 years and established itself as a market leader in Salty Snacks and a leading brand within FMCG Sector inspite of stiff competition from Multinational and Indian Companies.

Dr. Tyagi was elevated to “Executive Director” position from Executive President in the Year March 2014. With proper organization in place and vision to increase its market share continuously, the Company has already made its road to expand production through in house expansion as well as third party operations and to grow inorganically through acquisitions.
Under his Leadership and Vision, the Company has achieved Market Share 42% in Traditional Snacks and 26% in Salty Snacks with improved profitability. The Company is exporting to 70 countries across the Globe.

Dr. Tyagi has received various Awards on behalf of the Company as well as at individual capacity in Uncle Chips and Haldiram. He has received following Awards in the Year 2018 & 2019:-

Dr. A.K.Tyagi has received Agribusiness Award 2018 for recognizing agribusinesses par excellence on 27th Oct 2018 at Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, New Delhi for his contribution in the Food and Agribusiness Sector over last 34 years.

Dr A. K.Tyagi has been awarded as CEO of the Year 2018 by the prestigious India Food Safety Summit & Excellence Awards 2018 in New Delhi on 7th Dec 2018 for his contribution in the Food Sector especially in Haldiram Snacks over the last 14 years.

Dr A. K. Tyagi has been awarded as Industry Leader in Food & Snacks Industry in the year 2019 by TEFLA’s

Dr A. K. Tyagi has been awarded as Amity Global Corporate Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution towards Growth in the Year 2019 by Amity University.

Dr A. K. Tyagi has received Global Business Icon Award in the Category of Brand of the Year from Hon’ble Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India in the Year 2019. The Event was organized by NNS Media.

Dr A. K. Tyagi has received Market Leadership Award in Salty Snacks Category from ET NOW in the Year 2019.

Karan Kapur is the Executive Director of K Hospitality Corp, one of India’s largest home-grown hospitality corporations. K Hospitality Corp, has a legacy of 47 years in the F&B business, is present across multiple verticals in the F&B industry, including formats like Restaurants, Travel Retail F&B, Banqueting & Catering, Food Courts, Bars, etc, and owns various brands and companies such as Copper Chimney, Irish House, Travel Food Services, Blue Sea Banquets, and others.

Karan has a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University, a Certificate in Finance from the Kellogg School of Management, and an MBA from Harvard Business School

Mohit Khattar is currently Director and CEO, for Graviss Foods Pvt Ltd, the master license holder for Baskin Robbins in India and South Asia. He is driving its business and helping grow the brand through multiple channels in this geography.

In his previous stint as CEO and MD for Natures Basket (with the Godrej group), he played a key role in establishing and growing the Natures Basket brand and business multifold as a differentiated food retail entity in India.

Over the last 28 years and more, he has earned his spurs building several successful programs, brands and business in general for leading organisations including Titan Watches, Reckitt Benckiser, T.I Cycles of India, Subhiksha and Godrej. Nearly half of his chequered experience comes from senior management roles in the food, grocery and retail space.

In his capacity as a beachhead advisor to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), Mohit has been actively involved in helping new kiwi companies to enter the Food & beverage industry in India and scale their businesses here. He also mentors new food start-ups to attain scale and grow their brands.

Mohit is a Mechanical Engineer and a MBA in Marketing. He is based out of Mumbai.

Managing director of Jalan’s Retail. He completed his graduation from Cardiff University, UK. Then he did a course on leadership from London
school of Economics. After completion of studies he worked in Future group in the guidance of Mr.Damodar Mall for a year as a Senior Executive. He learnt retailing traits from ‘Retail Guru’ Shri S.C.Mishra Ji. Mr Kishor Biyani is a source of inspiration for him.

After gaining the work experience he joined his family business of wholesaling and retailing of Fabric and Garments. After joining the business he successfully took charge of retail and opened new stores and converted existing specialty stores into department stores by introducing new categories.

In July 2014, he entered into the new segment of Super Market (Complete range of FMCG & Grocery Products), which has obtained a great successful start & became a new feather in the cap of Jalan’s.

In 2016, Jalan’s has also expanded outside Varanasi and opened a store in Prayagraj which is running successfully.

In 2017 Jalan’s opened two hyper markets in Jaunpur & Azamgarh respectively, which are showing positive results from day one and are being loved by the people of these districts.Currently he is successfully heading the retail outlets of the group.

Mr. Madhukar Kamath an Economics graduate from the Loyola College, Chennai, studied Management at XLRI Jamshedpur, which has also conferred on him a Distinguished Alumnus award.

Madhukar has more than four decades of experience in Advertising and Marketing Services and has spent over 25 years in erstwhile Mudra now the DDB Mudra Group, in two separate stints. Under his leadership, Mudra transformed itself from an Advertising Agency into one of India’s leading Integrated Marketing Communications Groups. Madhukar also played a key role in the Omnicom acquisition of the Mudra Group and the integration with the Global DDB Network. Subsequently, he facilitated the entry of Interbrand, the leading Global Brand Consultancy into India, and functioned as its Chairman.

In between his two stints at DDB Mudra Group, Madhukar led Bates India as its CEO and was instrumental in the acquisition of Clarion. He also introduced Zenith Media into India.

Following his retirement, he turned an entrepreneur and is now the Chairman of Multiplier Brand Solutions, an Insights & Solutions company, connecting Shoppers with Brands.

Madhukar has served as the President of the AAAI (Advertising Agencies Association of India) and the Chairman of ASCI (The Advertising Standards Council of India). He was also the Chairman of AdAsia 2011, then India’s largest Marketing Congress.

Madhukar has recently been conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by the AAAI.

As the Chairman of the Mudra Foundation and the Chairperson of the Governing Council of MICA, for over a decade, Madhukar helped build MICA into India’s foremost Strategic Marketing and Communications Management Institute. Madhukar also served as the President of MICA, for the academic year 2016-17.

He is currently the Chairman of ABC (The Audit Bureau of Circulations).

In 2013, Madhukar became an Executive Board member of Plan International India, which is a not-for-profit organization striving to advance children’s rights and equality for girls, thus creating a lasting impact. Helping Plan India impact the lives of 10 million girl children as a part of their Country Strategic Plan, is also very close to his heart. Madhukar joined the Board of Music Broadcast India (Radio City) in 2017.  

Hardeep leads 7-Eleven stores entry into India. 7-Eleven is a $100Bn enterprise, popular worldwide for convenience retail.

Hardeep moved into Future Group post acquisition of Vulcan Express. Vulcan Express was the supply chain arm of Snapdeal and was reputed for offering express logistics & supply chain solutions.

Hardeep brings with him over 25 years of experience in end-to-end supply chain. His previous roles include heading supply chain for Walmart in India. Prior to joining Walmart, Hardeep was CEO of Inlogistics, which became first company to run private cargo train in India. Hardeep has worked for 9 years with Hindustan Unilever Limited across variety of domains and roles.

Hardeep is a chemical engineer from UICT, Mumbai and an alumni of SPJIMR, batch of 1994.

An IT professional with over 16 years’ experience across retail and technology organizations. In his current capacity as GM –IT Innovation, Tata Starbucks Pvt Ltd working extensively on the company’s transformational projects, Cloud & Mobility Platforms, Retail Analytics and Security & Information management systems.
Prior to Tata Starbucks, worked with Trent Hypermarket Pvt Ltd as the Head IT strategizing the transformational projects on future technologies on cloud journey, business intelligence systems. At Cybage Software as a Solution Architect in the retail CoE focusing on digital and e-commerce solutions. I also have a vast techno-functional experience with companies such as Future Group, Wadhwan Retail and Zensar Technologies. I started his career as a technology consultant and is passionate about using the latest in technology to provide business solutions for his organization.
I have Post Graduate degree in Business Management from Pune University

Jamshed Soli Daboo is currently the Managing Director at Trent Hypermarket Pvt Ltd, a Trent-Tesco joint venture. Prior to joining THPL, Jamshed was Head – Consumer Finance and Advisory Business at Tata Capital Limited. He has also served as Chief Operating Officer of various divisions at Indian Hotels Co. Ltd. As Chief Executive Officer at Tata Quality Management Services, he spearheaded the Tata Business Excellence Model, a group-wide initiative aimed at business excellence. He has also worked at Titan Industries Limited in various functions. Jamshed joined the Tata Administrative Service in 1986 and has been with the Tata Group for over 30 years. Married with 2 children he enjoys tennis and reading.

Pratik is the CEO & Wholetime Director at Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd., the South Asian Master Franchisee for Domino’s Pizza.

Prior to this, Pratik was Chief Operating Officer, Foods & Beverages at PepsiCo India where he led the national sales operations of the company.

Pratik has a rich experience of more than twenty-five years in a number of roles in General Management, Marketing, Sales and Business Development working with PepsiCo, Unilever and Bharti Airtel.

An avid reader and traveler, Pratik enjoys spending time with family & friends.

Conquering the unknown has been the motto that has driven Rohit Bhatla during his career spanning over two decades. From leading a contingent in the Indian Army to building new businesses in the food processing domain for one of India’s largest Corporations, to paving the way for Kagome to find its footing in the Indian market, Rohit has always believed in creating newer paths of success.

In his current role Rohit spends a lot of time in understanding the constantly changing expectations of customers and going back to the drawing board to innovate and bring fresh offerings. The initial years with the Indian Army taught him to consistently work towards perfection and this has reflected well in his approach towards the business.

Earlier he spent nearly 14 years with ITC Limited across different businesses. His wide exposure across the entire Agri-Food value chain and in setting up new businesses for the Group prepared him to take up the mandate of introducing Kagome Foods in the Indian market.

He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, Rohit was also among a select group of leaders from India chosen for the prestigious Chevening Gurukul Scholarship at the London School of Economics. Rohit’s passion for reading keeps him occupied during his free time and he keenly follows emerging business models in the agri and food tech segment.

In a career spanning two decades, I have been living my passion for Consumer Businesses. Started with FMCG companies – Reckitt Benckiser, ITC and then ventured into Retail Pharma. A few years back got into the evergreen sector of food services and have found it an exceedingly exciting and fast evolving industry. At Paradise we are committed to building a true Global Indian Brand in the Biryani Space based on the core values of Quality of Food and Passion for Service.

Bijou Kurien has 34 years of experience in Indian industry. A post graduate in management from the prestigious Xavier Institute at Jamshedpur, India, Kurien earned his spurs at Hindustan Lever Limited, which he joined as a management trainee and where worked in product management, and sales.

He then joined the team which set up Titan Industries Limited, India’s leading manufacturer, marketer and retailer of watches, jewellery and accessories.

He launched brands such as Titan, Tanishq, Fastrack, Sonata etc and also helped create India’s largest chain of exclusive brand stores. In 2006, he moved to Reliance Retail, the largest private sector company in India, to help set up one of India’s most ambitious retail forays. He is at the forefront of the retail business at Reliance which reported a turnover of almost Rs 11,000 crore in 2012-13, across 1,465 cities.

Kurien has recently joined private equity firm L Capital Asia as a member of the strategic advisory board. L Capital is the private equity arm of French luxury giant LVMH Moet Hennessy and chases essentially consumer sector deals in the region including India.

Mr.Arvind joined Dukes as a Management Trainee in early 2010 and today he is leading the organization to reach greater heights. He is a true technocrat while being an alumnus of NIT Warangal, ISB Hyderabad and Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

He is a competent professional with 10 years of experience as a master of exponential growth in the business. He has a Midas touch in Sales, Marketing, Branding and P&L Management. His passion is to drive business growth through system driven process automation and people orientation. He is proficient in ensuring that assigned products & services consistently resonate with current and potential customers.

As a multidisciplinary young & dynamic leader, he played a key role in developing & executing strategic initiatives and activities for Wafers and played a key role in driving Modern trade Business for various brands under Dukes. He is a Horse-riding enthusiast and derives satisfaction by helping people.

Karan Tanna, Founder of Yellow Tie Hospitality hails from Automobile Engineering background having worked as a Research Analyst with Mckinsey & General Motors. However, he was always passionate about F&B industry & started his journey with ‘Kutchi King’ & played a key role to expand its business to 200 outlets!
Karan believed that F&B scalability through franchising in India was in its infancy as the country is yet to have a single sustainable local brand. This, to him, was an opportunity to change the scenario. Harnessing his understanding & experience of F&B franchise market he founded Yellow Tie Hospitality in Dec 2015.
As part of Yellow Tie Hospitality, Karan also launched Incubation Program to support young F&B Retail start-ups that wanted to grow & took over 2 locally grown high potential brands to help scale through franchising. Today, the company boasts of a portfolio of 12 brands with 70 restaurants & presence in 20 cities.
Karan has launched a cloud kitchen company by the name Ghost Kitchens and started 150+ point of sales between 10 brands as on May 2019. He has been elected as the Youth Committee Head of National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI).
Over the past 10 years, Karan has been known for his acumen & expertise in brand conceptualisation, brand positioning, menu engineering, scalable menus & training programs, scalable food logistics & economics, training, SOPs, scalable network marketing & management.
He has also been featured in Forbes 30 under 30 list, Entrepreneur 35 under 35. GQ 50 Most Influential Young Indians 2019 as well as awarded Most Talented Food Industry Leaders by Asia Food Congress & Most Admired CEO of the year by ET Now Stars of the Industry Awards.
An avid traveller & foodie by heart, Karan loves to explore different cuisine during his travels and dots Bollywood movies.

Mayank is the CEO of Sanjeev Kapoor Restaurants which has 70+ restaurants spread across 11 countries globally.

Mayank has 23 years of experience in the Food business. He has led and scaled up businesses’ at corporations like Future Group, Reliance Retail, Radhakrishna Group, Aramark Corporation, USA and Taj Hotels. In his professional journey, he has managed a diverse portfolio of building restaurant brands, large commissaries, cloud kitchens and food retail stores.

With a constant endeavour to create value for partners and customers he has consistently delivered results by creating a high-performance work environment, incubating business solutions, establishing systems & processes and building strong relationships.

An alumnus of Penn State and Strayer University in USA, he has a Master’s degree in Business Administration along with a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management.

Kishore Kumar has 15+ years of experience in retail cutting across both Modern Trade and E-commerce formats with stints as a Management trainee in RPG group’s Spencer’s Retail, a 10-year stint with ITC and currently in the consumer insights team of India’s No.1 e-grocer – bigbasket. He currently leads the Brand Intelligence and “bb accelerate” functions in bigbasket. As part of the Brand Intelligence team, they work with larger FMCG brands on deep-dive studies and personalized activations. As part of “bb-accelerate”, our teams support start-ups to move up the next level.

He is a generalist with experience in Retail operations, ERP Roll out, Marketing operations, Store operations, Category management and Consumer insights experience.

Experienced Food Professional with 19 years of extensive exposure in product development, new project conceptualization and set up, menu & recipe development and F&B operations with in renowned brands such as – TGI Fridays, Khana Khazana India, Godfrey Phillips India Ltd, Dr. Oetker India, Hindustan Unilever & Griffith Foods

Alumnae of IHM Jaipur and had the extensive opportunity to work both in India and International locations for various projects and work experience.

Proficient in menu & recipe development for Restaurants, QSR, Food retail, books, websites, print media & various TV shows.

With more than 75 opening to the credits have setup outlets for QSR, Food courts, Restaurants, food kiosk and satellite commissaries for reputed brands such as –
Yellow Chilli Restaurants
Yellow Chilli express Model
Khazana by Sanjeev Kapoor
Twenty-four seven food retail chain
Simpli Food courts – Indian, South Indian ,
TGI Fridays India
Las Iguanas group of Latin American restaurants in U.K.
Knorr Soups Station: Innovative concept developed for Knorr Soups Kiosk
Menu Development for Singapore Airlines as part of Chef consultant team for Taj Stats and Stats Kitchen Singapore.

Have gained core expertise in developing products for private labels and FMCG category in –RTC (ready to cook), Instant Mixes, Pickles, Blended spices, Emulsions and derivatives, Italian cooking sauce, diet chips, Retort meals, Retort Gravies, frozen products and customized products as per the interaction with major QSR clients.

I am an avid reader and collector of books and interested in cook books on one side and in complete contrast love reading spy and war thrillers and my favorite writers are – Alistair Mclean, Robert Ludlum, David Baldacci and many more.

Dream to open my own Indo-Mexican Fusion restaurant.

Pranav M Rungta (b. 1982) is an alumnus of Cathedral School, Mumbai and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he studied Bachelors in Electronic Engineering

He entered into Hospitality in 2007 in Pune, opening Garden of Eden, spread over 1.5 acres of lush greenery, consisting of a restaurant and Banquets.

Subsequently his company got an opportunity to take over the Iconic Café Royal in Colaba, Mumbai (famous for Bill Clintons visit here during his maiden India trip) which they relaunched in the original avatar and spread their wings

As trends in food & beverage industry started shifting towards deliveries, he set up a chain of cloud kitchens (under the name CURRY ME UP & CHOW ME UP) delivering north Indian & Chinese food.

His latest venture is TAMAK, a unique micro restaurant specializing in authentic North Indian cuisine.

Pawan is a Hospitality graduate and masters in management with nearly two decades of experience in Retail and Hospitality. He began his career with McDonalds, where he was part of the country’s opening team and moved to being the Regional Head at Pizza Hut. He then took over the realm of Mocha as the COO, being involved with all aspects of the business. He is the winner of the Leadership Excellence Award by Asia Food And Grocery Awards and CMO Council and also a part of the Mocha team which won ‘Best Café Bar by Times Of India. With deGustibus Hospitality, he is the Head for the Value Dining segment handling the brands D:OH!, Indigo Burger Project , Neel Ki Biryani, Dakshin Rasoi, the food court 11 Kitchens and the latest venture Mandarin Monkey.

I’ve spent most of my free time in my teens and early twenties, either playing video games or reading fantasy fiction. Whether it was playing Diablo, Baldurs Gate or reading LOTR or Harry Potter – I would envy the protagonists in these stories and wonder if one day will my life be worth watching or reading about? Will I slay dragons and achieve milestones worthy of publication?

Slowly, steadily as The Bohri Kitchen unravelled itself and started to take over my life, starting with weekends and eventually every waking minute – I realised that while I wasn’t saving helpless princesses from goblins and ghouls, I was unwittingly living a life that other people found very exciting and sometimes inspiring.

Which is why it was and remains absolutely surreal when last week one of the worlds largest publishing companies HarperCollins commissioned me to author a 60,000 word Paper-back, titled – “The Guy who Quit Google to Sell Samosas by Munaf Kapadia.”

All credit to Zahabia for playing a top secret role in this project. To Kanishka Gupta, Asia-Pacifics leading publishing agent and of course Sonal Nerurkar from Harper for believing in us.

Will keep you updated dear reader – It’s time we move forward by going back to our roots. From whatsapp forwards, email blasts and facebook updates – to good old fashioned papyrus.

Hopefully 6 months from now you might see my pretty face on the shelf of a bookstore near you!

Thomas Fenn is an Economics graduate from St Stephen’s College and has worked as an Analyst with an infrastructure consultancy for two years before handling Operations, Marketing & Business Development for the Stellar Children’s Museum, Ambience Mall Gurgaon since its inception in 2012. He co-founded Mahabelly with Zachariah Jacob and Prem Kiran in March 2015.

Mahabelly is a speciality restaurant serving authentic Kerala cuisine located at DLF Place Mall, Saket, Delhi.

An idea conceptualized by three childhood friends in an effort to bring traditional Malayali delicacies to the National Capital, Mahabelly was inaugurated by Dr Shashi Tharoor, Hon’ble Member of Parliament in 2015. The restaurant has pioneered traditional Malayali fare to the modern day dining out experience, offering a window to Kerala right in the heart of landlocked Delhi.

Drawing its inspiration from Kerala’s rich pop culture such as cinema, music & folklore, Mahabelly’s décor, ambience and service offer a unique, affordable perspective into God’s Own Country. The food served at the restaurant offers a slice of Kerala’s culturally diverse population with influences from the Syrian Christian, traditional Nair and the Malabar coast’s Moplah communities along with quirky takes on lip smacking bar food from the famous toddy shops of Kerala.

Through popular opinion from patrons and restaurant critics alike, Mahabelly has proven itself as Delhi’s favourite!

Sahil Jain is the Co-founder at Dineout and also the driving force behind the product and technology solutions offering from the brand. Identifying the gap in the dining industry in India, he co-founded Dineout in early 2012, with his childhood friends – Ankit Mehrotra, Vivek Kapoor, Nikhil Bakshi and positioned it as the largest dining out platform in India. With a successful round of angel investment in the year of its inception, the company was acquired by Times internet Group in year 2014.

Sahil is an alumnus of B.M.E college of Engineering, with a strong foundation in Engineering. He further went to IIM Kozhikode to study MBA in finance, strategy and marketing. He has enjoyed a fruitful career of over 13 years in information technology and data analytics space.
With special focus on building innovative and scalable tech products, Sahil is spearheading the product development and growth retention strategies at Dineout. Sahil along with other 3 co-founders have successfully led, Dineout to India’s largest Dining out and Restaurant tech platform which seats more than 3.5 million diners every month and has 45,000 restaurants on its platform.

Through his vision and experience in designing products & strategies for various industries he has managed and engaged strong business relationships with all customers and partner restaurants to ensure high levels of service, response and overall success of customer-driven business/ generated significant business value for his clients.

Before co-founding Dineout, Sahil served as senior marketing analyst for NexTag and was settled in Chicago. He has also worked with globally recognized data analytics firm Mu Sigma as senior business analyst and managed a team responsible for revenue management.

Pankaj Renjhen is the Chief Operating Officer at Virtuous Retail South Asia. With six centres across India and an area of 8.3mn sq.ft under its India retail portfolio and more in the pipeline, VRSA develops, owns and manages community-oriented retail and lifestyle centres. The current portfolio of operational centres includes VR Bengaluru, VR Chennai, VR Surat & VR Punjab

With over 20 years of hands-on experience in the real estate space, Mr. Renjhen brings with him the knowledge and experience of having advised leading corporate occupiers, renowned retailers, private equity players and developers pan India. He also comes with an extensive working experience and understanding of real estate segment across India and Sri Lanka.

Prior to joining Virtuous Retail, he was associated with JLL as the Managing Director of Mumbai and North India, before going on to assuming the role of Managing Director – Retail Services.

He is currently on the CII National Committee on Retail 2017-18. In the past, he has also served on other committees such as the FICCI Retail Committee, Assocham Luxury Committee, and Asia Pacific Board for retail. He has been actively participating in large retail industry events of Images, CII, Assocham and other industry bodies in the capacity of Speaker and Moderator.

BORN IN A MARWARI FAMILY AND HAVING PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION HELPED SANJEY TO HAVE A BLEND OF MARWARI BUSINESS PARTHA SYSTEM AS WELL AS THE MODERN BUSINESS SYSTEM.

STARTED HIS CARRIER WITH THE PLYWOOD INDUSTRY WHICH WAS THE FAMILY BUSINESS HE MOVED TO IMPORT OF CONSUMER PRODUCTS WITH THE OPENING OF OGL TRADE IN INDIA IN 1998.

LAUNCHED AMERICAN GARDEN BRAND OF FOOD PRODUCT FROM USA IN 2005 AND TODAY AMERICAN GARDEN IS CONSIDERD TO BE ONE OF THE MOST SUCESSFULL IMPORTED FOOD BRAND IN THE INDIAN MARKET. AMERICAN GARDEN IS SOLD IN 45 COUNTRIES ACROSS THE WORLD AND BAJORIA FOODS HAS BEEN AWARDED AS THE DISTRIBUTOR FOR THE YEAR 2008 FOR ” BEST DISTRIBUTION & BRAND BUILDING ” .

HE ALWAY BELIVES IN ONE THING: ” WE’RE NOT SELLING TO THE RETAILERS . WE ARE SELLING THROUGH THE RETAILER.”

HIS MISSION: To Lead and grow with the flourishing Indian Retail Industry, which is considerd the fastest growing in the world, by providing products of the highest quality , superior service & integrity.”

The grandson of Sri Muthuswamy, founder of Nilgiri’s, Gopalakrishnan joined the family business in 1974 as a maintenance engineer. In 1994, he started Nilgiris Franchise (P) Ltd., A path-breaking strategy in franchising Supermarkets, Post the sale of the family-business, in 2008, Gopalakrishnan with his rich and diverse expertise in the back-end and front-end of dairy products’ retailing, launched a new company — N Dairy Farm (P) Ltd., to continue the franchising strategy in his second coming as a food & grocery retailer

Hemang Started his career 20 years back as a Finance Advisor. Approached by Team India Managers Limited (TIML) in 2007 as Director and involved in almost all their ventures as a guiding and motivational force since. A connoisseur himself rearing a passion for food he has tied up with B Bhagat Tarachand a 120 years old tradition known for their taste and delicacy. Hemang introduced this legendary logo to the malls and high streets of Mumbai. He has a knack for spotting opportunities and turning them into wonderfully rewarding plans. Thanks to the positive outlook, hard work and unlimited passion of the workforce that it has helped meet our goals. Besides this he is also a member with Rotary Club of Nariman Point thus working towards his responsibility in the philanthropy world.

Brand:
HAS Juices & More: Fresh fruit juices, smoothies, milk shakes

HAS South Bombay: A South Indian Cafe serving traditional as well as fusion having South Indian cuisine as base.

Independent writer, Food critic, and columnist, Mini Ribeiro is a qualified Journalist, from IIMC New Delhi. With a background in food & nutrition, she specializes in the Food & Beverage and the Hospitality space.

As an established food & beverage writer, Mini contributes to several leading English publications across the country including The Hindu, First Post, Jet Wings, BBC Good Food India and is the Lead Critic for EazyDiner in Mumbai. She also has her own You Tube channel called Mini’s Food Fundas.

Fond of cooking, Mini enjoys experimenting in the kitchen with various cuisines, but Indian regional food, is her all-time favourite.

Mini is a regular Panelist and Judge at several food events across the country.

She is also an actor and a trained Kathak dancer with a Gold Medal from Allahabad University.

Graduated from Nagarjuna University and PGDMM from Indian Institute of Materials Management, D S Prasad started jhis professional ourney in 1981 and has 19 years experience in Manufacturing sector and 20 years in the Organized Retail -FMCG (Supermarkets/Hypermarkets).

Sunil has 20 plus years of Hospitality experience serving Procurement/Supply Chain Function for various Five Star Hotels and restaurants in India.

He have been associated and had worked with The Regent Mumbai, Taj Lands End, Grand
Hyatt Mumbai, The Westin Mumbai, Sofitel Mumbai as a pre-opening Member supporting
its launch/opening.

Currently being associated with Gourmet Investments Pvt.Ltd since 2012 who hold franchise rights of PizzaExpress , Ministry of Crab in India – recently acquired the franchise rights for Chillis for South & West India.

Was responsible for setting up Supply Chain function for PizzaExpress for their successful
launch in India during the year 2012

Strong expertise on Hotel Operating goods and services procurement, food & beverage
, process enhancement, strategic sourcing, Import Operations, People Management, Vendor
Development, Cost Optimization & Supply chain management for Restaurant Openings.
Extremely focused on Quality & establishing concrete efficient systems enabling operational efficiency for business.

Yogesh Samat is an industry veteran has over 25 years of experience working with a wide variety of consumer goods (FMCG) & services and retail businesses. An MBA from IIM Bangalore and a CFA, Yogesh has worked in Parle Products, Unilever and many other companies of repute. His first leadership assignment was as Business Manager – Beauty Services for Unilever. He was reponsible for extension of Lakme cosmetics into Beauty Services with Lakme Beauty Salons in the early 2000s. He has been the CEO of Barista Coffee Company, Inorbit Malls and Ritu Kumar since then. He also started Foresight Opticals, an optician chain store business which he mentored for 8 years.

Yogesh is now the Principal of Aharved which is a Food Advisory and Investment company. Aharved enables food companies to grow effeciently and smartly. His objective, within Aharved, is to help make Indian companies get to the leading edge of innovation and growth in the Food Industry. Aharved clients include FMCG food companies, Restaurants, Bars, Cafes, Organic Foods, Food Tech companies, HORECA focused businesses and cloud kitchens. His key role is aligning companies towards a robust growth trajectory.

Sachin Dhanawade has over 20 years of extensive Retail & Shopping Centre industry experience, having worked with renowned Shopping Centres like Oberoi Mall, Piramyd Mega Store (Cross Roads) and Virtuous Retail South Asia Private Ltd. At Oberoi Mall, Sachin was instrumental in formulating SOPs for operations, security and retailer lease management, launching the customer loyalty program and reducing (and maintaining) the common area maintenance per square foot charges, substantially without compromising on the operating standards.

At Virtuous Retail, Sachin was instrumental in turning around their flagship shopping centres – VR Surat and VR Punjab. He played a significant role in the pre-operations of VR Chennai and stabilising VR Bengaluru as well as successfully driving the P&L’s of VR Punjab and VR Chennai, contributing to the 70% of Virtuous Retail NOI portfolio. He was a part of the core team for Pizza Hut (Yum brands-Mumbai) for 7 years. His last assignment was as a COO for Beyond Squarefeet Mall Management, where he was responsible for Shopping Centres P&L and Business Development Head for National & International projects.

Sachin has been consistently recognised as the Most Influential Shopping Centre Professionals in 2016, 2017 and 2018 at Pan India Level by Asia-Africa-GCC Retail & Shopping Centres, Congress & Awards. Sachin is an alumnus of Rizvi College of Hotel Management and Catering Technology and a post-graduate in Business Administration and Retail Management from WE School (Prin. L.N.Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research) Mumbai.

Ram Vriksh Dwivedi is CHPM – Certified Hotel Purchase Manager from American Hotel & Lodging Education Institute (AHLEI) he brings 24 years of wide experience in Hotel, Hospitality and Retails Business with him currently working with Sahara Aamby Valley Limited as Sr. Purchase Manager he is actively involved in Managing Procurement and supply chain procedures required for Operational and Project Material.

Worked with ARAMARK INDIA as Manager Procurement Corporate and played instrumental role in setting up Centralized Supply chain across Pan India for various Unit and Received best performance Manager of the Year award in 2010, Intercontinental “ The Lalit” for 6 year and played major role in Purchase of Equipment FF&E Items, Operating Equipment , F&B , HK , General Supplies at Mumbai Unit was best Manager of the Year 2012 (Nominated), Kamat Hotels India Limited “The Orchid” an Ecotel Hotel as Manager Purchase – Corporate Managed cost effective purchase and achieved significant savings through centralized Contract and Received Appreciations Certificate, worked with Radha Krishna Hospitality (Now Sodexho), He was Awarded a special Jury award for the use of Innovative Technology in the year 2016 by HPMF.

Harvey is a procurement professional with 27 years of experience in procurement planning, profit center management. Purchase operations with reputed names in the hospitality industry. He was actively involved in establishing Rodas, Meluha the Fern and other Fern group properties, setting up their procurement department, recruitment and training of team members, policy creation, procurement of all operating equipment’s and supplies FF&E and consumables including inducting the newly joined Operation Manager and General Managers of the Fern group.

Harvey completed his Foastac training as a supervisor, setting SOP’s for the Department. He imbibes sustainability values in all that he does, thus furthering change in the procurement sphere. An active Core committee member of HPMF, Harvey and his team has won several awards including the Paryavaran Sanrakshan Award for Green Initiatives in 2018.

Sharang is currently the Market Leader for Nielsen India (South Zone) and Sri Lanka. In this role, Sharang leads the commercial engagement for Nielsen with clients across sectors, creating new business opportunities, and developing talent and culture. Sharang also leads the Retail Vertical at Nielsen South Asia helping retailers on their business objectives.

In the 18 years he has spent with Nielsen, Sharang has been involved across a plethora of assignments for a large spectrum of clients constituting local and multinational entities across numerous sectors like Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Products, Retail, Infrastructure, BFSI and Telecom in India, Vietnam, China and now Sri Lanka.

Sharang has been a part of key Business Process Improvement projects as an executioner in India and a sponsor during his stint in Vietnam.

Sharang was also on the Nielsen Green Executive Board as Lead for India Region working on Environmental Sustainability initiatives.

Sharang attended University in Mumbai, India where he graduated with a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Sharang acquired a Diploma in Marketing Management with specialization in Pharmaceutical Marketing.

Sharang also dedicates a significant portion of his life to service of the community with various roles within Rotary International. Sharang also completed The Landmark Educations’ curriculum for living.

Sharang resides in Bangalore, India with his wife and two lovely daughters. Sharang is a music and travel enthusiast and an avid speaker at various business, commerce and social events.

Kunal brings over 15yrs of research, analytics and consulting experience. At Nielsen, Kunal has led some of the key initiatives around Big data, data monetization and micro-segmentation. A consumer behaviour scholar, Kunal has had the opportunity work across multiple domains/industries, retail, automotive, telecom, media and digital.

In his current role, Kunal leads the mandate of revolutionising e-commerce measurement and driving deeper understanding of e-commerce shopper.

Mukesh has 20 years of indigenous and overseas experience in diverse activities with key focus on bottom line profitability by ensuring optimal utilization of resources. Expertise’s in formulating purchase/sourcing strategies, vendor identification/development, supply chain management and analytical assessment to strengthen effectiveness.

He has expertise in OPEX and CAPEX related purchases, estimating, costing proposals, budgets, pricing projects, time estimation, sourcing & SCM. And materials management function in pre-opening stage, E-tender process and annual rate contracts PAN India basis. He has done many projects of hotels and restaurants. He is member of prestigious HPMF.

Mukesh has 20 years of indigenous and overseas experience in diverse activities with key focus on bottom line profitability by ensuring optimal utilization of resources. Expertise’s in formulating purchase/sourcing strategies, vendor identification/development, supply chain management and analytical assessment to strengthen effectiveness.

He has expertise in OPEX and CAPEX related purchases, estimating, costing proposals, budgets, pricing projects, time estimation, sourcing & SCM. And materials management function in pre-opening stage, E-tender process and annual rate contracts PAN India basis. He has done many projects of hotels and restaurants. He is member of prestigious HPMF.

Celebrity Chef Pallavi Nigam Sahay is a published author, columnist, now a TV host and food consultant. After graduating from ICIF – International School of Italian Cuisine, Italy, she has worked in Cellini, the Italian restaurant at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. Being specialized in cooking, her heart lies with pure old school recipes and bakery. In 2017, she had published a book named ‘The Bhojpuri Kitchen’.The book had won the Gourmand Award in India under the ‘Easy Recipes’ category, and the same was recognized among the ‘Culinary Treasure of 2017’ by India Today.

She has also worked with Sanjeev Kapoor’s web series Working Women, a series based on the concept of quick, healthy and yet delicious recipes. Additionally, featured in numerous web shows such as Vrat Ka Khana, Kissan Tiffin Timetable, Knorr World Food Day and on the online channel ‘Indian Food Network’ and many more. Early in her career, she has also worked with Times of Oman, writing recipe columns for their weekly magazine for two years. She has also hosted a food show named ‘Truck in with Thursday’ for their YouTube Channel.

Currently, she is hosting the cookery show named Amma Superstar on Living Foodz TV Channel. She is also representing Fortune Oil in its latest brand campaign appearing on TV Channel Food Food.

Stephen D’sa is a Hospitality Procurement Professional with more than 22 years of experience, having worked with hospitality chains and restaurant brands like RKHS, Intercontinental, Retreat Hotel, Peninsula Hotel, Ideal Hospitality, Olive Bar And Kitchen Pvt Ltd, Monkey bar, Fatty Bao, Soda Bottle, Olive Bistro, Toast & Tonic, Hello Guppy, Olive Beach, & Canton Chinese Restaurant.

A Specialist in Pre-Opening and set up of Procurement and store processes for new outlets on Pan India basis, he is currently working with Olive Bar And Kitchen Pvt Ltd. as a Corporate Purchase Manager Since 2014 handling 16 Restaurant across India.

Professional over fifteen years of exposure in the industry. Specialised in the pre-opening and set up of procurement for new outlets. Core competencies – Centralised procurement and single vendor rate contracts for outlets across multiple locations. Have worked with various international brands – Marriott’s, Accor, Hard Rock Café, California Pizza Kitchen, Manchester Utd. Sports Bar to name a few. Strongly believes in healthy and professional team work and organised manner of functioning.

17 years of Experience in Hospitality Procurement. Held Position of Purchase Manager at Grand Hyatt Mumbai prior joining JIO World Centre as Purchase Manager. An MBA in operations management and Materials Management Diploma. Being awarded the All India Purchase Manager of the Year 2108 at Hoteliers India in December 2018.

Rahul Agrawal is the President at Barbeque Nation. He has over 14 years of experience in Finance, Investments and managing portfolio companies. He joined Barbeque Nation in 2017 and prior to that was working with CX Partners since 2009. He holds a bachelor degree in commerce (honors) from Shri Ram College of Commerce and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru.

Gorakh Chaudhari is handling procurement as a head since December 2015, handled many pan india initiatives for Ibis hotels in his tenure

He have won:
1) Purchase Person of the Year 2017 award by Accor hotels India

2) Procurement Manager of the Year 2018 Award by Hotelier India in Economy to Budget Segment

Vishnu Vardhan specialises in providing actionable consumer insights to retail, foodservice and FMCG companies, to inform their strategic decision making. He consistently engages with the industry leaders to discuss the impact of pressing industry issues and topics such as store of future, rise of digital commerce and evolution of physical space, on the services industries.

His opinions on the topics are published in thought leadership pieces and podcasts. Vishnu has spoken at conferences as well and was a key note speaker at The Indian Home & Personal Care conference organised by HPIC India.

One of his recent thought leadership pieces touches open opportunities within e-commerce in India. His work highlights the evolution of digital commerce in India and the role of private labels to achieve profitability. As a part of his focus on evolution of physical space, Vishnu is currently working on identifying the impact of aggregators in foodservice industry and the rise to ghost kitchens

Prior to joining Euromonitor International, Vishnu worked at Deloitte. There he was responsible for developing thought leadership insights regarding the global travel, hospitality and retail industries for Deloitte’s Industries and Insights digest. His most recent contribution was to Deloitte’s 2018 “Back to school” and “Back to college” survey which highlights the key consumer shopping preferences during the shopping seasons.

I am CEO & Managing Director for ANAROCK Retail, the retail division of ANAROCK Property Consultants headed by real estate industry stalwart Anuj Puri. ANAROCK Retail is the result of a strategic partnership between ANAROCK and Faithlane Property Advisors, which I launched in 2017.

Prior to launching Faithlane in and its subsequent absorption into the disruptive ANAROCK Group, I was National Director for Retail Services at international property consultancy JLL India. In this capacity, I set strategic direction for the retail division and drove revenue growth for the West India market. I also oversaw the retail business in Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.

I was Key Relationship Manager for India’s largest and leading retail chains and retail real estate owners. I was also part of the Retail Capital Markets team and in this capacity, actively applied my vast experience in strategic divestment of retail real estate Assets to institutional buyers and HNIs.

Overall, I have 13 years of hands-on experience in advising domestic and multinational retail property owners, occupiers and investors. At ANAROCK Retail, I align the retail business to ANAROCK’s first-in-industry business models to dovetail with the overall operations and consequently deliver a unique bouquet of services to its retail clients.

I head a team of 30+ highly experienced retail real estate professionals, and we are looking to ramp up the headcount to 100 over the next 12 months. The new retail division will be active across ANAROCK’s 10 Indian city offices and internationally in Dubai, and will grow in tandem with the Firm’s expansion into new territories.

Oliver Mirza is the Managing Director & CEO of Dr. Oetker India Pvt. Ltd. – a leading purveyor of western sauces and spreads in India and has been successfully managing the company for over 8 years.

An industry veteran with over 25 years of food business experience, Mirza in his current role is responsible for managing and growing the business of Dr. Oetker in the country with full P&L responsibility. He was appointed for this role to set up the India entry strategy through the acquisition of FunFoods and to further define the vision, create culture and build the senior management team. Under his decisive leadership Dr. Oeteker has strengthened the FunFoods sub-brand and is the market leader in the western sauces and spread category in India.

A German by birth and a nutritionist by qualification, he graduated from Germany’s Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in 1993 and obtained his master’s degree in International Food Marketing from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia/USA. In parallel he started his career with Kambly USA; a premium Swiss biscuit maker. Back in Europe in mid 1999, he joined Tengelmann-Group, a European food retailing giant as a management trainee.

In 1996, he became the Product Manager at H.J. Heinz Germany, responsible for marketing of Heinz Ketchup, Mayonnaise and Sauces. Thereafter he had a short stint at Europe’s No. 1 brand Honey brand, Langnese, before he joined the world’s No. 1 Pasta and Pasta sauce maker, Barilla, where for nearly 8 years he held various senior positions in centeral Europe’s.

Mirza’s profound management, strategizing and marketing skills won him many accolades and recognitions. He is the winner of ‘The 1995 International Marketing Award’ awarded by Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia/USA. He was also honored with the ‘ECR Best Practice Award 2004 for best Category Management in Food, Awarded by GS 1 D-A-CH.

A competent professional with over 20 years of rich and qualitative experience in Brand Management, Strategic Planning, Marketing Research & Data Analysis, Advertising, Communication & Media and Consumer Behaviour. Proficient in managing Brands and New product launches to meet the Corporate objective of Top line and Bottom line. Conceiving as well as directing creative development to improve Corporate and Brand image through Advertising & Communication using Marketing Research and Data Analysis. Skilled in strategizing media plans as well as evolving dissemination techniques for effective Communication. Resourceful in image and brand building; growing & managing Associates as well as agency/partner relationships. Implementing plans for product lines, corporate image, etc. to build consumer preference. Solid professional standards with a track record of dependability and effective problem solving.

Gary.C.Coutinho is currently working with Ramee Group of Hotels as a Corporate Purchase Manager. A group consisting of Hotels & Restaurants 10 in India and 21 in UAE.

Gary is a Graduate from Mumbai University with a Bachelors degree in commerce. He has obtained a Diploma in Software Mangement from Aptech Institute. He has done his MBA from IIMM –Indian Institute of Materials Management securing a First Class. GDMM-Graduate Diploma in Materials Management – IIMM –First Class. PGDMM –Post Graduate Diploma in Materials Management – IIMM – First Class. PGDLM – Post Graduate Diploma in LOGISTICS Management –IIMM –First Class .

Gary brings with him a experience of over 29 years to start of with Jindal Iron & Steel Co Ltd, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts –Nariman Point, Mumbai. Fariyas Group of Hotels , Ascott Residencies , Devyani International Ltd and currently at Ramee Group of Hotels.

Gary has been instrumental in opening of Ascott Residencies and pre-opening of Ramee Hometel –Khar , TANATAN Restaurant –Kolhapur, Bombay ADDA Restaurant – Bangalore, Bombay ADDA Restaurant –GOA, TANATAN Restaurant –Dadar , JHATKA Restaurant at Juhu and many more upcoming projects in Udaipur , Goa ,Indore, Surat and Delhi.

Having a strong interpersonal relationship, good communication and building skills to interact with cross functional departments. He also brings in an rich experience in Setting up of Materials Department, Training of team members , creation of policies and procedures and manuals, strong problem solving skills and decision making.

Gary is also the Core Committee member of HPMF – Hospitality Purchasing Managers Forum. HPMF is a Global Forum first of its kind in INDIA and which can boast of having over 3000 members.

Jacob Singh is the Chief Technology Officer at Grofers. In his current role, he is focused on driving technology and innovation within the company. He is overseeing the hiring for senior-level positions in product and engineering teams. Jacob is also helming key structural changes at Grofers aimed at delivering record-breaking revenue growth.

In a career spanning nearly 20 years, he has held diverse roles with specialization in public speaking, sales, presales, developer evangelism, alliance management, web development, content management systems, agile development, scrum, and product management. Over the years, he has led transformational projects in India and internationally, delivered significant business impact and has won accolades for the same.

Jacob started his career as a Coordinator at Prison Book Project Inc followed by Head of Sales and Marketing (CRM) at Value One. He held the positions of Technical Director at CalabashMusic.com and Consultant Technical Project Manager at Amnesty International. Prior to joining Grofers, he serviced as Regional Director, India (Country head) at Acquia and was the one who started Acquia India.

Considering the utmost importance of security of company’s systems and its customer’s data, Jacob has taken initiatives such as Web Application Firewall, Automated security testing in the build process, security testing steps within the release process, data leak protection tools, and process to prevent credentials leakage via GitHub etc.

Education-MBBS
Service-Indian Revenue Service(IRS)
Batch-2002

Work experience-In the Assessment,Investigation, Transfer Pricing and International Taxation charge of Income Tax Department at Kolhapur, Pune,Chennai and Mumbai

Also worked on deputation as Director in Forward Markets Commission.

Before joining in FSSAI, I was posted as Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax, at Pune.

I have joined as Regional Director(Western Region) in FSSAI at Mumbai in the month of May 2019.

Rajiv is a Food Enthusiast, having founded, scaled and successfully exited Culinate, a cloud Kitchen brand that he bootstrapped from one outlet to 9 outlets in less than 3 years. Otherwise a Management Consultant all his life, Rajiv is keen to solve the Broken ecosystem in the Food Industry.

Chef Vinod currently is the range and commercial manager at IKEA India Private Ltd as Range and Commercial Manager – Responsible for planning and development of menu at IKEA Restaurants in India which is the world’s leader in home furnishing and which is well recognized in its first year of operation in India. He was instrumental in developing and conceptualizing the whole menu from scratch, for a thousand seater restaurant which have served 4 million customers in its first year of operation in Hyderabad.

Mr. Kabir Suri holds a degree in Economics and Business Management from Wheaton College, Massachusetts, USA.

His professional career began from commercial real estate finance in North Fork Bank in New York followed by Argent Fund Management in London as an analyst. His role required him to assist in providing investment strategies and in-depth research focussing on the hospitality segment.

Kabir’s personal interests in the hospitality segment led him to the hospitality sector where he spent 3 years with international award-winning restaurants Zuma and Roka. Initially involved with operations, he then shifted to business development, spearheading global expansion and brand development.

He is currently the Managing Director of Azure Hospitality, which owns and manages brands such as Mamagoto, Dhaba by Claridges, Speedy Chow, Rollmaal, Mamapaati and Celeste Food Services.

Just off of the coffee plantations across south India, where she created a skeletal frame work for Third Wave Coffee Roasters, a heavily curated menu to be paired with their diverse Roasts across 35 outlets pan India, she resides in Bengaluru, but is a Bombay Girl at heart.
While it may come as no surprise that earlier this year she was juggling setting up a Modern Indian Fine Dining Restaurant in Ludhiana and a Roof top Grill in Puducherry along with researching material for a new book; she has worked hard to get where she is. A curious soul with a B.A. in English Literature from Sophia College, Mumbai, and a Diploma in Cinematography at FTII, Pune; she went on to pursue her love for food at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts in Vancouver, Canada. She is known to be able to hold her own in both — Pastry as well as Culinary kitchens.

Aditi works as a Consultant for food businesses and has made her presence felt across Vancouver, Dubai, Delhi, Bangalore, Cochin, Goa, Pune and Mumbai. Bread by Us in Ottawa, An artisan Bread Bakery is a business she hold very close to her heart.

Having learnt under industry legends like Julian Bond, Tanya Heck, Ian Klienman, Mourad Lahlou, James Coleridge, Vikram Vij, Jamie Oliver, Anthony Bourdain and Michele Roux Sr., she brings to the table practical contact with food trucks, hotel kitchens, as well as high-end restaurants and small scale cafes.

She has also worked with a gelato master, an 8th-generation artisanal bread baker, and a master of Molecular Gastronomy. She is also a trained competition chef.

A WSET certified wine professional Chef Aditi also dabbles professionally with Beer, Whiskey, Coffee and Tea pairings with savory and sweet courses.

Born and Raised in Mumbai, She has been a mentor for and created the skeleton for India’s first personal chef website, Hopping Chef; Set up a Poutinerie as well as a Nutritional Snack line and has also been the foundation for Eatyadi, a consultancy for all things edible. In 2016 she was sanctioned to Research and Create Content for Television and the Web that revolved around food and Drink that is currently being aired on different visual mediums across Asia. She followed it up with a Passion Project in Goa, where she trained Village women to be self-sufficient by successfully run a Vegan Café.

Her passions include children’s nutrition which led to the launch Munchster, which is a personalized baby food service.
India’s only Female Personal Chef; her private catering services are much sought after and have made their presence felt in the gastronomic circles of Asia and Beyond.

Her latest stint as the Executive Chef at Arugula&Co. finds her creating delicious new flavours, and product lines, digging deep into India’s roots to find indigenous ingredients, and developing new avenues for growing sustainable, healthy and fair trade foods.

Seema helms the Commercial and Marketing portfolio at THPL. She has been part of the team that has shaped change in strategy @ STAR which led to building significant trade momentum. she has also guided her team to take the ‘Own Brand’ dream from ideation to reality, across many FMCG categories. She is credited with launching KLiA, FABSTA and SKYE in home care, Food and Beverages and Health and beauty respectively @THPL

Seema was the first woman Managing Director of Heinz India Private Limited, a role she took up in July 2012 on her return to India after a successful three-and-a-half year spell overseas with Heinz ASEAN, covering five countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand). Seema undertook the role of Managing Director at Heinz ASEAN and was Marketing Director at Heinz ABC (Indonesia).

A post-graduation in Organic Chemistry from Mumbai University, Seema completed her MBA at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Bombay. She has close to 30 years of experience in reputed organizations like Heinz, Parle and Colgate.

Starting out as management trainee at Colgate, where she built a robust foundation for her chosen profession, she spent 3.5 years in the New Product Development Department of Oral and Personal Care at Colgate. She joined Parle Products Ltd., taking on a totally new experience to market candies and biscuits. Parle inculcated the entrepreneurial spirit in Seema, while she also learnt about high intensity cost consciousness, which she believes eventually benefits consumers.

After five years in Parle, she found her calling in Heinz where she spent the longest part of her career. During her tenure at Heinz, she has won many awards for driving growth with the most notable one being H.J. Heinz Chairman’s Award 2010 for Driving Consistent Double Digit Growth. Her work has also featured in the H.J.Heinz Annual report of 2010.

Seema also holds Independent Director position in SEAMEC Ltd and Huhtamaki Ltd.

In 2011, Avni Biyani conceptualised and incorporated Foodhall, which has since grown into one of India’s foremost lifestyle food retail destinations.

The idea behind starting Foodhall was to expose modern Indian customers to the finer nuances of food. The format targets well-travelled urban Indian consumers who love to experiment with global cuisines and promises to expose customers to the next level of food retailing. Within a short span of time, the concept store launched at Palladium, Mumbai garnered immense popularity with a discerning customer base and now has its presence across the high-end regions of Delhi, Bangalore and Pune.

Foodhall outlets offer an assortment of fresh and packaged foods, covering international and pan-Indian cuisine. From avocados from South America and over 60 varieties of cheese to freshly made authentic breads by in-house chefs, from well stocked fresh produce, dairy and packaged foods to an extensive frozen section and a good delicatessen selling cheese and poultry, the store is a delight for the food savant. The trend currently is towards health-based foods and convenience, ready-to-cook foods as seen in the rising demand for gluten-free, dairy-free, kosher and sugar-free products, all of which are on offer in the format.

Biyani is a graduate of New York University’s College of Art & Science and has specialised in sociology and politics. Apart from her interest in liberal arts and humanities, she is a connoisseur of food and global cuisine. She also enjoys travelling and exploring new places and has travelled extensively across the world, which translated into her vision for Foodhall.

Vishnucharan has a decade’s experience in Retail, manufacturing and operations within the UK and India cutting across the domains of food processing/manufacturing and private labels in both modern trade and e-commerce format.

“With a master’s degree from Leeds Metropolitan University and a Solid foundation coupled with creative thinking and logical reasoning has led me to strive for excellence in every aspect of my life, Vishnu currently leads the Private label business for gourmet category in Bigbasket striving for customer delight, New product development, sustainability and responsible sourcing.”

Samosa Singh aims to recreate & lead the Indian snacks category. Built at the intersection of consumer insights, technology & a high bar on quality , they aim to make household nostalgic Indian snacks accessible across online & offline channels. What makes Samosa Singh unique is their intuitive fusion of traditional recipes with modern textures & flavors. Samosa Singh recently raised $USD 2.7 million to enable scale through innovation, cloud kitchens & a larger footprint across online & offline channels. The brand has sold more than 20 million units led by Nidhi Singh and Shikhar Veer Singh.

Samosa Singh is the only Indian snacking start-up with scientific core team with 100,000 +_ research hours behind it’s products.

Dr. Dnyanesh V. Darshane (D.V.) has been working as an independent consultant since September of 2018. Dr Darshane aims to support organizations in the food and beverage industry and to improve their food safety, ameliorate their Quality, and optimize their Supply Chain as well as bring innovative products and services to marketplace.

D.V. holds a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry and an M.B.A. from Emory University. Dr Darshane has extensive experience in both strategic and operational areas for 35 years in Pharmaceutical and Food & Beverage industry. Dr. Darshane has held positions as a board member in various non-profit organizations such as GFSI, SPRI, SIWW and ISBT. DV is a Senior Advisor for FSSC 22000 helping businesses achieve their food safety certifications in India and South Asia.

D.V. has also gained experience and exposure to international markets as he has worked in Asia, Europe and the USA. Dr. Darshane has extensive experience in designing Policy and Standards and has lead development of strategy and execution plans for implementation of various global quality, food safety standards and advanced analytical testing laboratories in a large US based multinational.

I am currently working as Group Leader in Mondelez India. I have more than 12 yrs of professional experience in R&D and Specification Management in Heinz and Mondelez. During my stint as specification lead in Mondelez, I was exposed to food regulatory environment of Asia Pacific region. As an R&D personal I have gathered experience in new product development, recipe and cost optimization, developing R&D policies and process and managing regulation changes in terms of recipe re-engineering.

I am an author of 3 books, blogger and founder of foodpathshala.com and maniavarsity.com, the online forum to support and guide budding food professional. I am the member of Co-Expert Committee of Ministry of Food Processing Industries. I am life member of AFSTI, ex-Chief Editor of News Letter issued by AFST Mumbai Chapter and Editorial Member of Indian Food Industry Magazine published by AFSTI Mysore. I am also visiting faculty of several food technology colleges across India.

Established Shree Sai Super Sandwich in 2011–2015
Established Stoned Monkey – 2015

A dream come true for the budding entrepreneurs like us. Being passionate about food, decided to bring in the concept of stoned ice creams which is quiet new in the nation. We focus on serving exquisite stone beaten sundaes with the highest quality ice cream blends, hand crafted waffle bowls, contemporary flavours and constant commitment to augment customer satisfaction at every stage. Along with bringing in new ice cream concepts, our goal is to offer a plush ambience for our customers to unwind their mind and soul with our delicately blended ice cream creations made with the best quality ingredients and lots of love!

Established Swiss Cub Dairy Products – 2019
State of Art Ice Cream Manufacturing Unit

ACHEIVEMENT & RECONGNITIONS
• Best Frozen Delight, Bengaluru 2016
• Best Student Entrepreneur of India, New Delhi, 2017.
• Best Ice Cream Parlor, South India 2017.
• Most Hygienic Food Store, Bengaluru 2017.
• Best Ice Cream Parlor, Bengaluru 2018.

Currently the Country Manager for Mintel for India & Sri Lanka, Murtaza Bakir has been responsible for incubating new business processes and leading growth for Mintel in this region. In his stint with Mintel over the past six years, he has had opportunities to work with leading brand manufacturers, ingredient suppliers and flavor houses to develop the food & beverage products of tomorrow working with domains as diverse as R&D, Marketing, Consumer Insights and Innovation. Murtaza believes that the consumer must be at the heart of every business decision and enjoys analyzing and studying shifts in consumer behavior”.