Cafe Millets - Smart Foods
Our journey so far...
Here we share the experience of our entrepreneurial journey ,a decade of triumphs and challenges, time of elation and times of uncertainity, it has been an amazing journey
Present Update:
While we have taken a small break from restaurant operations(which we will resume shortly) ,we now have incorporated ' Traditional Whole & Natural Foods' category into our business model - in tune with our tagline 'Smart Food for Smart People'. We apsire to build a business that offers healthy fresh food in the form of variety of Idlis and also promote traditional whole foods. Our aim is to promote healthy eating habits among all for a healthier soceity.
We want to share our interview featured on Great Companies.in in August 2021 where we got a chance to share our story again. Please read it in leisure.
Here is the link : https://www.greatcompanies.in/post/rajesh-bhaktinathan-cofounder-at-cafeidly
We want to thank all of you for your continous support and love..... THANK YOU
Our Story
Our story...
Cafe Idly is a small, privately owned business started right here, in our namma Bengaluru.
We started out from our first store located in the heart of our city in Fraser Town.
Why did we start Cafe idly
After spending few years in the corporate world,
we decided to start a concept cafe..a concept that would.....
> challenge the conventional
> break the rules
> bringing together totally different worlds
And thus Cafe Idly was born.Since we both(myself-Rajesh and my brother-Dinesh) loved rock music , we decided to bring in two totally worlds together ..food and music.
The concept behind Cafe Idly is Classical Rock Music...hence you will find a Electric guitar hanging on the wall soaking in all the spotlight as soon as you step into Cafe Idly
We started our operations on Oct 2009 , more about the early days are captured in
the TOI article that was published on Nov 2009.
Here is the extract from our first feature on TOI: Cafe Idly is a small place,just enough space to stand in line and grab a bite. The name tempts you in & once you enter,more than the idlis,its the ambience & simple,innovative thinking that makes you stay and even come again.Bored of ur usual hangout? Cafe Idly is just the place for you & for those who love music & traditional south india food. An electric guitar hangs on the wall & the long-playing records of the good-old gramophone days,are on display.In the background are rocking melodies of yesteryear. As you tuck into the hot fluffy stuff,you think,Gosh! When did I last hear this..
By 2021 we had 3 outlets in Bangalore, the other outlets were at Indiranagar and Brigade Road .
The onset of Covid pandemic affected us as it devastated the economy. Restaurant sales have tanked. Some closed up shop.
We had to close two of our outlets, cut on operational hours, trim down on menu to stay afloat.
These situations did push us against the wall and affected our motivation and question our way forward..and at times like these a gentle push, encouraging words sure is reassuring.
Greatcompanies.in contacted us for an interview and this interaction gave us an opportunity to reiterate our vision, re-live our journey thus far and help lift our spirits to keep the pursue of our dream and make it happen. We have shared the interview (at the top of this page) and we thank the greatcompanies team for the feature and our customers and friends who have been so supportive and encouraging through this trying times.
Snapshot of our story thus far...
