LESS IS MOMO

FOR THE RAPIDLY GROWING KOLKATA-BASED QSR CHAIN, THE SMALL KIOSK EMBEDDED IN A MALL HAS PROVEN TO BE A PROFITABLE IDEA. ESPECIALLY WHEN IT SERVES ONE OF INDIA’S FAVOURITE FAST FOODS.

- Debojyoti Ghosh

THE STORY OF HOW SAGAR DARYANI, co-founder-CEO, Wow! Momo, settled on the momo (a type of dumpling native to Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and the Northeast region in India) as his business proposition is the kind Bollywood might lap up. To begin with, it is based on a tiny white lie—the kind that did no harm to anyone, but helped give the then 21-year-old the foundation for his dreams. Add to that the narrative with the pace of a blockbuster, reaching its climax in a mere 45 days.

It began when the self-admittedly restless Daryani, having finished his final-year Bachelor of Commerce examinations from St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata, purposefully made his way to Mumbai. This was in 2008, and he wanted to start a business in the food space. Daryani was open to a range of options—but some ideas were not viable because “to start a [for instance] bakery business would require about ₹30 lakh-₹50 lakh of initial investment”, he says. “I couldn’t arrange that much capital. And no bank would give a loan to a fresher without any collateral.”

He took the reality check on board, returned to Kolkata and started exploring ideas which would need minimum investment.