Sanjay Menon, Lia Mathew and Ranjana Karunakaran, three young friends since kindergarten, were chattering over a cup of coffee at the Cocoa Tree in Kochi.
Sanjay owns a technology-based company in Thiruvananthapuram, while Lia works with Amity and Ranjana is in the health sector. Food has always been a common denominator in their chats and opening a restaurant had been a long cherished dream.
“Procrastinating about plans hardly helps in turning them into reality. Why don’t we start a restaurant? It’s now or never,” Sanjay had exclaimed during that meeting.
Today, he, along with his pals, is the proud owner of Kahawa — Something’s Brewing, one of the most happening coffee shops turned bistros in Kochi.
Joining the three friends is another close friend of theirs, Sreenath, a lawyer who also decided to indulge in the experience of being the owner of a food joint.
Today most young foodies are not content with just satisfying their palates, they want to fulfil their passion by opening their own restaurants.
Remember Prithviraj and Samvrutha Sunil’s coffee shop, Casablanca, in the movie Thirakadha?
Says Sanjay, “We are all in rather hectic professions but every time we get together in our bistro we get a huge thrill. With a sports floor attached to our shop, we are now a favourite haunt with the young crowd. And now that we have expanded the coffee shop turning it into a bistro, offering a hot and delicious daily menu together with coffee and breads, even the older crowd has started looking at Kahawa differently.”
For young journalist Suneesh, it all began with his transfer from his native place of Cherthala to Ernakulam. Establishing a first-of-its-kind restaurant called Shap Curry, Suneesh brought to the city a horde of spicy dishes straight from the toddy shops to the tables of a family restaurant.
“It was my desire to share some new, fresh and tasty dishes with my friends and this was what made the start my own restaurant. Even now, commercial interests are seldom my concern but there are things that I don’t compromise on. I don’t use a refrigerator so that no food is left over and if something is left, I distribute it among my friends the very same day."
"I go to the market every morning to buy the freshest stuff available and this is prepared in the traditional stove using firewood,” says Suneesh, who runs the restaurant with the help of his family and visits his outlet many times a day from his office.
At Zam Zam, the most sought-out restaurant in Thiruvananthapuram today, you might bump into a handsome young man whose young age makes you wonder how he sits at the owner’s desk!
Mohammed Abdul Nafi, an MBA graduate has teamed up with his father to broaden the network of well established restaurants by employing some unique marketing tactics.
“I have spent time in the hotel industry ever since my school days and therefore I have but naturally, developed an innate taste for the hotel business. With my dad, creating a new restaurant is like reinventing the wheel. Hence I decided to use my marketing strategies to develop the firm. With god’s grace, we have very recently opened new branches of Zam Zam in Kozhikode and an outlet in the capital city,” he sums up on a triumphant note.
Gastronomic passion
1] Sanjay Menon, Lia Mathew, Sreenath and Ranjana Karunakaran started Kahawa — Something's Brewing, one of the most happening coffee shops turned bistros in Kochi
2] Suneesh established Shap Curry, bringing to Ernakulam a horde of spicy dishes straight from the toddy shops to the tables of a family restaurant
3] Mohammed Abdul Nafi, an MBA graduate, teamed up with his father, and launched Zam Zam, one of Thiruvananthapuram’s most sought-out restaurant today
