When London-based Sujay Sohani reached out to his college-mate Subodh Joshi for help after losing his job, little did he know that his one statement will determine their futures. A couple of days after he told his friend that he barely had enough cash for a measly vadapav, it struck him to take the food item into business in London. That was in 2010. The idea has since then evolved into three branches across the region and an annual turnover of £5,00,000.
Both the young men first met at Bandra, Mumbai's Rizvi College in 1999, where they studied hotel management. “After completing the course, we decided to pursue a post graduate degree in London. When we finished the course, we got jobs in reputed hotels and were earning well. Everything was fine, until the recession hit us,” Joshi said. The starting of their joint venture saw several anxious moments like the best possible venues in the city. Sohani said, “Hounslow was a good spot, since it is frequented by Southeast Asians. We started looking for a stall there.” They eventually chanced upon a Polish ice cream cafe and put up two tables.
Their first vadapav and dabeli were sold on August 15, 2020. “We first began serving vadapav for £1 and dabeli for £1.50.” They said described their profits as abysmal for the first month. “We realised that to popularise our product, we had to advertise it.” Sohani said, “As burgers were being sold in other shops for nothing less than £5, we promoted our item as the Indian variant that was available to them for less than half the price at £2.”
Eventually, their business began gaining strength. The two were approached by the owners of a Punjabi restaurant called Big Bite. “We decided to give a shot, and that's how the Shree Krishna Vada Pav stall turned into a restaurant.” Now, with 35 employees spread across three branches, the men have no regrets about their pasts.
