From kitchen to Cloud

Shivani Shinde gets a glimpse of how Vij, a chef who pivoted to tech, is steering Accenture's India engine

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Getting a gourmet Italian restaurant to open exclusively for lunch is rare in Mumbai. But for Ajay Vij, senior country managing director, Accenture India, all it takes is a phone call. And why not? Before he entered the tech industry in 2000, Vij was a chef with Oberoi Group-and hospitality, clearly, still follows him.

We meet at Romano's, the Italian specialty restaurant at JW Marriott Sahar, which is usually shut for lunch. Today, it has opened just for Vij. That's not all. The chef has rolled out a special three-course menu: Beetroot roulade to start, followed by truffle burrata salad, ravioli with pistachio, sun-dried tomato ricotta, and finally, a delicate Chilean sea bass.

I'm curious: How does a hotelier pivot to technology services? "I started as a chef, then moved into general management at the hotel," Vij says. "That's when I realised that I needed something more dynamic." It wasn't a mid-life pivot, but a considered one. "I was at a hotel with 80 rooms. I knew the trajectory. Even if it grew to 800 rooms, the nature of the work would remain the same. I needed something new." Bangalore (now Bengaluru), which was then gearing up for the Y2K rush, offered just that.