Being My Boss – Nandini Mukherjee

December 21, 2006 in Being My Boss

 Nandini Mukherjee started the Indian Bread Company, a warm fusion cafe in East Village, in Nov 2003. Much has already been written about her food and restaurant. I don’t think it is possible to go wrong with Indian fast-food, especially when you have an innovative menu that includes naaninis and naanwichs! (a play on paninis and sandwiches)

I haven’t met many women restauranteurs so I thought it would be fun talking to Nandini and getting her perspective on being her own boss. She also is a winner of Make Mine a Million contest and I’d like to follow her success here on Being My Boss. Nandini touches on two very important aspects that haven’t been given as much face-time on Being My Boss yet.

1) The importance of joining associations and clubs that support entrepreneurs. "The resources that become available to you are phenomenal."

2) Taking time off from your business is just as important as staying foccused and putting in 16-hour days.

Read on!

Nandini, you are an architect, right? How did you end up as a restauranteur? 

Haha, yes. An architect. I was born and raised in India. After finishing my bachelors in architecture in India I applied to a lighting program at Parsons that caught my interest. As a student, the best thing about New York was to go out and try different kinds of food. I loved eating out.. often craved Indian food but apart from shanty restaurants that sold two day old curries for cheap, I didn’t find a good enough option. How could it be possible? How can there not be fresh and flavorful food at affordable prices in New York!?

So that’s how the idea for Indian Bread company materialized? 

Yes. Well, I do come from a business background. It sounds cliche, but I knew I always wanted to be my own boss. I’ve enjoyed doing creative stuff. I was doing handling my own projects in India. But when I got here I realized that if I wanted to have my own architectural firm, I would need atleast 10 years experience of working for someone else. I wasn’t going to wait that long! No way. Everything was opportune -I met Rupila, who was my room-mate at Parsons and who later became my bussiness partner in the company. And my best friend, (who then became my husband!) got involved, so the team sorta just built itself.

Ok. So you identified a need and found a great idea, the easy part was done. What happened between then and starting your restaurant? 

Haha yes, The story is not so glamorous anymore! 90% of restaurants fail within the three years alone. Neither of us had any background in the industry. We studied the industry and the market for the next 6-8 months. I would go upto restaurants and just ask them if they’d let me sit in their kitchen and just watch. I must have watched atleast 5 kitchens — it didn’t come naturally to me. I also took classes at the culinary school.

One sec, you mentioned you watched kitchens? Did they allow you? What did you say to them?

Yes. I said that I wanted to start my restaurant at some point but I wanted to learn more about the industry and asked if they’d let me watch their kitchen. I was very unobstrusive…almost invisible. And people are nice you know. What did I have to lose?! Yea, some restaurants said no. Said that they don’t allow anyone in their kitchens, but 5 said yes and I got what I wanted. What’s the worse anyone could have done!? Said no. This was very important. All this education that I sought out about the industry, without that we couldn’t have made our projections or worked out our costings, the equipment… we were learning all this first-hand.

I also spent a lot of time looking for a location. I’d learnt enough to know that location was prime in starting a restaurant. One day I was walking in East  Village and saw a sign; this guy was selling his store..It was serendipity. I got in touch with his landlord and it worked out smoothly. We had seen a ton of places with the brokers but this.. just happened!

My readers wonder if all entrepreneurs have a business plan. Did you have one?

Well, we didn’t have one but we needed one because we were looking for investors. We had no idea how to put one together. So we went to the Small Business Center and they helped us put together our plan. And then one day before we were going to sign our lease for the restaurant space, our investor told us that he wanted a higher stake in the company and wanted to change the agreement. That was so last-minute, it took us by shock. It just didn’t seem right to keep such a person on board then and we made a decision to start this restaurant without his backing. We had to take the plunge: I dipped into my savings, my husband invested his savings and Rupila got the money from her friend. We put together about $120K out of which $40K we kept aside as working capital, which included money for the rent.

But ofcourse, losing the investment we had based our business plan on also meant major changes in how we initially wanted to do everything. We had to slash down our budget. We could only hire one cook and two sandwich makers. And Rupila and me decided to work full-time.

How did you market your restaurant?

We didn’t have the budget to hire a PR firm or even a budget for marketing. While our restaurant was under construction, this woman would stop by and ask us about our concept and the idea. Turns out, she was the food editor at NYmag. We were so unprepreared for what came next: you know, when you are opening, you have a certain idea in mind. We were in a prime location in Soho, Yes. But you don’t expect it to be like through the roof. But right before the opening, we got a review in the NYmag and that day, we were sold by out evening. It was crazy, it was fun. It was unbelievable. Press makes such a huge impact. We still keep receiving random press mentions here and there.

Absolutely. People get to know about you. And luckily for us, it hasn’t been necessary. We’ve been getting this attention very consistently since 2003 when we opened. There is no point in wasting money in advertisements: if you put an ad yourself, it just doesn’t get the kind of attention a press endorsement of word-of-mouth does.

I agree. Also, I think that you cannot market a bad idea or a bad concept, no matter how huge your budget is then. I think a lot of entrepreneurs get mired down in thinking that everything requires money.

Yes. We are probably guilt of that as well. When we decided to do without the investor, we cut costs where we thought it wasn’t possible. Rupila and me are both creative and we are both architects. So we designed the interiors of our restaurant ourselves and it was a great lesson. Because we lost that backing, we had to trim the edges everywhere and had that not happened to us, we could have never thought we could have done it.

Did you ever feel like giving up, like it wasn’t worth it? 

No. When we started, we had no idea what we were getting into. And then after the investor backed out, Rupila and me had to work full-time for the restaurant. We end up working 16 hour days and we were doing that for one full-year. At the end of the year, she wanted to move on. It was very tough at that point. I was faced with two options. 1) to either sell the business and take our share or 2) to buy out my partner’s share in the company.

We had worked so hard for this restaurant, I wasn’t ready to give it up yet. So I had to buy out her share. It was mutual, there wasn’t a falling apart as such. I took out a home equity loan and paid her. But then it really hit me. That this business was now mine. I was aware that the business was going to need more time to succeed and I just had to stick it out.

Was that a good decision then?

It was. Infact, we recently won "Make Mine a Million." American Express is the founding sponsor of this program. 40 women business owners are chosen nationwide. And at this major event, each business owner delivers a 3 minute business speech that is voted live by the audience and judges. This year, Hilary Clinton, Suze Orman, Dani Levy of Daily Candy were judges among others. The event is televised so even viewers can send in their votes. And out of the 40, 20 are chosen are winners. It was a fantastic experience. You meet so many entrepreneurs from all over, it really opens you up.

The winners recieve help to build a million dollar enterprise. There are a couple areas I’m being helped in – American Express gave me an unsecured line of credit. And about 180 mentors who are specialists in their areas are available to you. Count me In, an organization that supports women’s financial independence also made a loan available.

Cisco had another contest for the 20 winners out of which 5 were chosen to recieve a complete technology package. I won that contest as well and they are in the process of setting up our tech plan and providing us with equipment and support.

I would strongly recommend  entrepreneurs to participate in such events. Especially women, since we tend to bond well and work together. Being an entrepreneur at most times is a very solitary affair and to find other women that share your sentiment is good. You learn so much from each other and you meet so many people.

Some other organizations for women entrepreneurs are, Women’s Venture Fund and the National Association for Women Business Owners.

Did you ever feel at a disadvantage because you were a woman entrepreneur?

I’ve always totally enjoyed being a woman. I don’t think I’ve been side-lined or faced anything like that yet. Infact, when people see that I am a woman, they want to talk to me. Also, when I meet other women entrepreneurs, it is an instant connection. I think an entrepreneur as an entrepreneur. You know it. They know it. We all go through the same things. It can be a little easier or a little more difficult for someone else, but essentially, it is all the same.

How has your business changed since you first started it?

For one, I don’t put in 16 hour workdays anymore! It actually stopped at the end of the second year. I’ve been phasing myself out. If I want the business to grow, it is not feasible for me to be there all the time. Now I concentrate more on the vision, networking, looking for new areas to expand into.

We do a lot of office and corporate catering and that’s been picking up. We were the only South Asian fare at the Republican convention. The event planner for the event had to come to the restaurant and tried our food and she loved it. She asked me if I’d like to be in the event and that w would be catering for 1000 people. We pulled it off and it recieved a lot of media attention. It made other events possible.

Right now we have a couple things we are planning. We want to expand into a multi-unit enterprise. In New York itself for now, in certain areas taht are major hubs. Maybe after that we want to hit other cosmopolitan cities like Boston, Philadelphia, DC…

As I always ask – what’s your advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?

1. Be active in organizations that support entrepreneurs. And especially if you are a woman. It is a very good support system.
2. Break down your goal into small deliverables. To achieve one big goal can be very daunting. If you break it down, into things-to-do list, it is more encouraging. It’s hard to get people to believe in you when you first start, which is why setting smaller milestones helps. You know you are going somewhere and you know you are on track.
3. It is very important to take time for yourself. I cannot stress that enough. I was working with my Make Mine a Million mentor and we talked about this. I admitted that I actually feel guilty about taking time off. My business is always on my mind but I’ve learnt that taking some time off actually helps me focus better on my business.
4. I couldn’t have done this without my the support of my family. It is so important to surround yourself with people who encourage you. Just that positive attitude can do wonders for your own psyche and your business. Build your support system and keep yourself surrounded by it at all times.

I’m glad you mentioned about taking time off. I am hardly an entrepreneur but my friends are very successful business owners and I see them agonize over their business even when they are on vacation. It must be hard to step away but it is important.

It is so important to step away from it. You burn out if you don’t realize it. It is very difficult to delegate. I had big problems delgating and allowing others to handle my business but you know what, you can’t do every tiny thing. I love traveling and am an amateur photographer, so I now take time off consciously from my work to puruse my hobbies. And I return renewed and fresh.

What’s the best thing about being your own boss? The flexibility to plan my schedule and the direction I want my business and life to take. That’s what makes it worth it.