House of Experts Ep13: Vibha Kagzi in Conversation with Gauri Devidayal
Vibha Kagzi, the host, is the Founder and CEO of ReachIvy.com, a premium study abroad and career consultancy organization. Vibha, a Harvard alumna, is a successful entrepreneur herself and believes in helping others chalk out their future careers. In Episode 13 of House of Experts, we were fortunate to host Gauri Devidayal, Director, Food Matters India Pvt. Ltd. She is a law graduate from the University College London and a qualified Chartered Accountant. She has had a lucrative career as a tax consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers and later with KPMG in London, where she lived for eight years. There are various renowned brands under it like The Table, Magazine Street Kitchen, Mag St. Bread Co., Dining Table, The Table Farm, Iktara, Mei 13 and Miss T Delivery, and all of them have been running very successfully.
Some excerpts from the interview:
1) Tell us something about your early years, and your education.
I was always a geek, and used to watch a lot of legal shows while growing up. It was a very deep decision to go into law, and I decided to apply to the UK. It made sense because the Indian legal system is based on the UK legal system. I also did some summer internships with law schools. At that time, it was getting difficult to get work permits, so I interned for a couple of years in London and came back to Mumbai. I worked as a CA for 3 years, and then we set up The Table in 2011. That’s when I quit my job formally, and became a restauranteur.
2)Why did you pick up this food business?
My husband had sold his business in San Francisco. Since he also isn’t from the hospitality background, I was helping him set up his own company. I had my day job and didn’t get completely involved. Slowly, I started enjoying the idea of creating something new. After a while, managing both these jobs was getting difficult. I thought of taking a year off to explore something new, and had a backup plan if it didn’t work out. The industry was different but my professional experience as a CA really helped in running this business. A background in finance really helped to set up the business. It was our passion project and we wanted to see how it works.
3) How did the thought of setting up a restaurant come up? What would you say to someone who wants to set up a business of their own?
Firstly, identifying a need for what you’re about to do is really important. There was no one to mentor us. It was an expensive learning curve. We luckily had the financial backing to do this. You have to be clear why you’re doing it, and be willing to give it your everything. If you’re going into something with a partner, it’s very important to identify the right kind of business partner, and have the mutual trust. Also, building the right team is very critical.
4) What were the first few months of The Table like?
We didn’t have a benchmark to compare it to, and were going with our gut We made mistakes and learnt a lot along the way. People luckily gave us a good response. We were doing a lot of new things and people were excited to have a new restaurant to experience. It took time for people to figure it out, and we were watching and learning on the go and also making mistakes.
5) How did you manage your business during this lockdown?
It’s been about thinking on our feet. We decided to close before the lockdown. There was a growing concern among people, and we had planned to reopen after 2 weeks, but the lockdown happened. We were thinking of how we could reassure our team. Beyond a point, we realised we can’t do that till we resume in some form. We figured a way to resume two of our brands since food delivery was allowed. We moved our team to Mag Street Kitchen and the team had to be living on the premises. It took off really well, and we could acquire a lot of new customers. It did better than pre-COVID. We worked towards reassuring the customers. It’s all about how you make people comfortable.
It has been a real time of innovation for us. We have incorporated more technology into our lives and it’s been great since we’ve gone from being a Mumbai-centric kitchen to international chefs and audience through online platforms. There’s no limit to what we can do.
To watch the full conversation, click here.
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