Meet The Young Gen Z Chefs & Culinary Entrepreneurs Who Are Rewriting The Rules Of The F&B Business

"I was 22 when I launched The Bread Bar,” recalls Mumbai-based chef Rachi Gupta. “When I hired a 40-year-old chef, he never took me seriously, thinking I’m just a little kid,” she adds. Fast forward to 2024, Gupta, at 26, is successfully running her all-day brunch and cafe in Chembur, Mumbai’s buzzing suburb. Similarly, Raghav Simha, Pragun Bajaj and Jatin Talreja teamed up to launch Project Hum, a community-driven, budget-friendly, clean eatery in Bandra, Mumbai, at the age of 24. Today, at 27, they are set to open another outlet along with a bakery. Tiger Yaki, a fusion of Japanese and Korean street food, is the brainchild of 28-year-old Rahul Vasandani and Karan Sharma. Launched in Bandra, Mumbai, in May 2023, its popularity led to another outlet in Oshiwara, Mumbai, within nine months and to Bengaluru in a year.

And They Cooked

It’s common for established players in the industry to often underestimate the capabilities of young entrepreneurs. Professional experience is undeniably valuable, but today’s Gen Z entrepreneurs are proving that passion, resilience, and a knack for self-learning can also be just as powerful. While the journey into entrepreneurship has always required grit, today’s young restaurateurs have access to unprecedented resources.

From online tutorials to global culinary trends at their fingertips, this generation isn’t waiting for traditional hierarchical institutions to give them a chance. In a cut-throat industry like hospitality, where restaurants come and go, next-gen chefs and culinary entrepreneurs have cracked the code to not only sustain their businesses but expand them too.

Needs & Wants

"You start young in hospitality,” says Simha, who worked at Eleven Madison Park in New York before co-founding Project Hum. He and his partners used their 15 years of combined experience to identify gaps in the market, focusing on sustainability and affordability. Similarly, Gupta identified a need for artisanal bread and café culture in Chembur, Mumbai.

What a lot of people lack in experience in our generation, we make up for it in curiosity.

Raghav Simha, Project Hum

“Whenever my friends and I wanted a quick snack or coffee, we’d have to travel quite a distance. With its high spending power and vibrant community of young people, the suburb needed a local spot that catered to their taste and lifestyle.” Vasandani and Sharma created an accessible, high-quality dining option in Tiger Yaki. “At our quick service, casual eatery, people need not worry about the price or the quality of the food as we have the same vendors that supply to premium dining restaurants and hotels,” shares Sharma.

Knowledge Is Power

During the R&D phase, Project Hum’s founders spoke to people who had shut down their restaurants as opposed to those who ran successful ones. “Understanding the reasons they failed—be it overhead costs, excessive rent, or poor menu planning—helped us avoid similar mistakes,” explains Simha. And their formula worked. At Tiger Yaki, opting for a small space worked in the favour of its founders as it lowered risk. Gupta’s journey with The Bread Bar followed a similar trajectory. What began in the pandemic as an at-home baking venture evolved into a café that continuously reinvents itself to retain customer interest. Seasonal menus, weekend dessert specials, and festive offerings keep loyal patrons coming back. Gupta attributes her success to hands-on learning, making mistakes, adapting and staying curious. She faced challenges with her second venture, Gelato Bar when she had to shut it down within just a year of its launch. “I hadn’t done a good amount of research for it,” she admits. She pivoted the model to a cloud kitchen format, making it more cost-effective and scalable.

Win, Win, Win

Wearing multiple hats and juggling is essential. “When you’re a restaurateur, you’re simultaneously talking to your investor and the plumber. At the same time, you’re taking calls on what your strategy and marketing plan is,” explains Simha. “At Project Hum, Pragun takes care of everything in the kitchen. Jatin deals with business and accounts. And I take care of the menu,” he adds.

Gupta, too, had multiple things to look into as the restaurant owner. “I didn’t know I could negotiate commissions but eventually learned how to. Kitchen design and planning was part of my curriculum at culinary school (IHM Aurangabad), so I designed my kitchen, ” she shares. She underscores the importance of surrounding oneself with skilled people. “We hired a team to help with branding and packaging. My parents helped me with the finances. I had someone to help me with electrical work and plumbing. Investing in the right team is critical. You can’t do it all alone.”

Marketing In The Instagram Era

For Gen Z restaurateurs, social media marketing comes naturally. Platforms like Instagram have become indispensable tools for promoting their businesses. Vasandani and Sharma leveraged social media to showcase their restaurant’s fusion dishes and Instagram-worthy aesthetics. Innovative dishes like the instant pakora salad at Project Hum and the strawberry-themed menu at The Bread Bar not only captivated customers but also generated buzz online, driving traffic and helping the business.

Lesson In Resilience

Despite their successes, these young entrepreneurs are candid about the challenges of running a restaurant. High rents, operational hiccups, and unpredictable customer footfall test their resolve daily. “You have to be patient,” says Gupta. “Some days, you’ll have just five customers; on other days, you won’t have time to breathe—it’s all part of the journey.”

For Vasandani and Sharma, the early days involved overcoming marketing challenges and refining the menu to suit customer preferences. Today, Tiger Yaki is known for its consistency and food innovation, which keep customers coming back.

Building From The Ground Up 

“Working in a restaurant is definitely going to help you streamline your own restaurant operations,” advises Vasandani and Sharma. “Without practical knowledge, don’t start a restaurant as this industry seems very fancy, but it’s quite the opposite. Deliver good quality food and listen to your customers. Attention to detail and leadership skills are key in the restaurant business.”

Simha emphasises authenticity and dedication. “Be genuine in your offerings as that will always connect with your customers. Be in your restaurant for at least one full year. When we opened Project Hum, all of us were in the restaurant every day from 8 am to 1 am. Be in it because you love taking care of people, because you love food, because you love being in the kitchen, you love hospitality, and you’re passionate about those things. Not because, you know, it’s cool to own a restaurant. And the money will follow,” he says.

Whether it’s negotiating with vendors, fixing a clogged drain, or figuring out your next hype dish, these Gen-Z chefs have shown they can handle it all. They’ve turned passion into profits, mistakes into lessons, and social media into their secret sauce. As Simha aptly puts it, “What a lot of people lack in experience in our generation, we make up for it in curiosity.”

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