In the fourth episode of Decode, Kaushik Roy, Founder & CEO of the much-loved biryani chain Biryani By Kilo spoke to us about his journey. We take a closer look at the man behind the brand in this blog.
In the fourth episode of Decode with UrbanPiper, Mr. Kaushik Roy, Founder and CEO of the much-loved biryani chain Biryani By Kilo spoke to us about his journey. While many people have enjoyed the authentic flavors of their biryanis, kebabs, kormas & phirni and have fond memories associated with the famous brand, we take a closer look at the man behind the brand in this blog.
Kaushik Roy is the CEO and Founder of SkyGate Hospitality Pvt. Ltd., which owns the famous Biryani by Kilo. He has over 22 years of experience in the foodservice sector, having overseen the operations of over 200 restaurants in a variety of categories. Biryani by Kilo is an attempt to restore the Khansama cooking tradition, in which each order is cooked individually in natural, handmade clay handis and delivered fresh to customers' doorsteps.
Kaushik Roy earned his bachelor's degree in Hotel Management and started his career in 1997 as a Regional Manager at Pizza Express Plc. During the year 2008, he was appointed as the CEO and COO of Daily Bread Gourmet Foods Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Britannia Industries Ltd, where he was in charge of over 30 premium bakery and confectionery stores in Bangalore and Delhi, in addition to FMCG and institutional sales.
Four years later he joined Zooropa Foods (2012-15), the investing arm of the VC company SAIF Partners that focuses on QSR investments, right before founding his current venture where he applied his prior knowledge and continued his path through testing and experimenting.
Biryani by Kilo, a premium biryani brand, was formed by Mr. Kaushik Roy and Mr. Vishal Jindal, a finance graduate from the London School of Economics. The two began their entrepreneurial journey in May 2015 with the intention of starting something of their own. The duo's idea, Biryani By Kilo, was a big hit among biryani fans since the concept was new and unique.
Unlike most restaurants that cook in bulk, Biryani by Kilo's USP is to 'dum cook' fresh biryani for each individual order and deliver biryani in that very handi to the customer to ensure maximum freshness.
They also include an earthen angeethi with each order, which is used to reheat the biryani in the handi and maintain the smokey flavor, thus enhancing the entire experience. They started with a small kitchen in Gurgaon, where they made sure they used the best ingredients, spices, selected meats & vegetables for their biryanis & kebabs. He believes biryani is a versatile and complete meal that has many variants such as Hyderabadi, Lucknowi, and Bengali; caters very well to delivery, and is a part of India’s heritage.
According to Kaushik Roy, setting up the process took over 90 days, and one of the most challenging issues they had in the beginning was standardizing and maintaining the food quality across all their outlets. Currently, BBK has around 40 outlets across 20 cities in India and are growing at a very fast pace.
He understood the importance of technology at an early stage and started using tech to scale up the business efficiently. He also mentions that with the best SOPs, technology, and operational efficiencies, Biryani by Kilo was able to scale as a world-class F&B company very quickly.
BBK aims to sell on their own platform, along with maintaining a presence on food aggregators such as Swiggy and Zomato. They claim to be profitable and growing for the last four years from a revenue of Rs 86 lakh in 2016 to Rs 48 crore in 2020.
They plan to open 150-plus outlets pan India in the coming years and expand to international markets like UAE & UK as well, where biryani is a super famous dish.
Kaushik mentions that in this pandemic people will shift majorly to ordering from brands that they can trust for safety and hygiene and Biryani by Kilo has taken all necessary steps to ensure hygiene and safety of employees and consumers. He strongly believes that the biryani category and food delivery, in general, has enormous potential and BBK is set to expand and create a worldwide biryani brand from India.
When asked about his favorite item on their menu, Kaushik chose the Kolkata Mutton Biryani without hesitation, and he also claims to be a huge fan of oriental cuisine. When he gets time off his busy schedule, he likes vacationing in Coorg. Finally, when asked if he has a favorite quote that has helped him in his life, he says “Be nice to people on your way up probably you will be meeting them on your way down”.
Watch the entire episode of Decode with UrbanPiper featuring Kaushik Roy on our YouTube channel now!
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