In our own words.
Kovid and I go back to our first year of college. When you find someone who thinks the way you do, you hold onto that. So when we decided to try building something together around 2013, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
It was a food startup. It didn't work. We didn't understand product-market fit, unit economics, or really anything about running a company. In 2013, fewer people in our circles were even using the word "entrepreneurship."
"We didn't reach PMF. We didn't even fully understand what PMF meant. We just knew it wasn't working — and we shut it down."
The business ended. The friendship didn't. That's the part that mattered.
Six years passed. I was doing tech consulting, travelling globally. Kovid was in the UK — studying entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde and managing a Tim Hortons store in Glasgow.
Then I went to Düsseldorf. I visited Altstadt. And I walked into a world I hadn't expected.
"Beer bars serving thousands through tiny cobblestone streets. Complete calm. Everything streamlined. A crowd that could have been chaos — handled like clockwork."
The name "Old Town" registered instantly. But more than the name, it was the operational precision that stayed with me. The idea that you could serve massive demand through a small, beautiful space — if you just got the operations right.
Kovid came back from the UK. We became roommates. And almost immediately, we started talking about building something again.
Most ideas felt too theoretical. But we kept arriving at the same anchor: the food business space was overcomplicated. Too many variables, too easy to lose the plot.
"Simplify the KPIs, and you build something scalable. That was our thesis. We just needed a product to test it on."
Fate handed us one.
My then-girlfriend — now my wife — was visiting for the first time. We took her to Frozen Bottle in Versova, a local ice cream brand we genuinely loved. When we arrived, we found out it was closing down.
We tracked down the owner. We negotiated. We bought the franchise.
"Too aspirational? Honestly, yes — it felt so at the time. But that feeling was enough to bet on."
We were completely bootstrapped. Every rupee from our own savings. No safety net.
We were ready to launch. Everything was in place. Then COVID-19 hit India. Lockdown. Zero revenue. Full savings on the line.
"There's a specific kind of helplessness in having built something and watching the world shut down around it. All you can do is wait."
So we waited.
Our landlord refused to reduce rent. ₹70,000 a month for a space we couldn't operate. We moved during a Mumbai lockdown. Found a new space in Seven Bungalows.
Moving day: the ceiling leaked. Monsoon rain poured through and destroyed our computers and furniture.
"We were on the streets during a pandemic, with wet computers and damaged furniture, trying to start a food business. At some point you just laugh and keep going."
We rebuilt from scratch and launched around Dhanteras. Not smooth. But open.
Running a franchise meant someone else's margins, someone else's rules. We needed something fully ours. Kovid knew coffee from the inside. We launched Bold Brew inside the same space.
"Own the brand, own the margins, own the outcome. Bold Brew was the first thing that was truly ours — and it set the template for everything that followed."
India's second COVID wave hit. Sales dropped hard. Instead of going quiet, I started reaching out to other food brands facing similar pressure. One conversation led us to Get A Whey — a protein ice cream brand struggling with its own challenges.
We proposed something simple: we provide the ops, they bring the brand. KPI: improve ratings organically. No paid promotion.
"We were the engine. They were the face. And it worked."
Get A Whey got featured on Shark Tank India Season 1. We weren't on the show. But we were behind the product that appeared on it. National exposure followed. More brands started reaching out.
"We didn't pitch the model. We proved it. And then Shark Tank proved it to a much larger audience."
At our peak, from a single store in Seven Bungalows: Frozen Bottle, Bold Brew, Get A Whey, Doof (cloud kitchen, thick American shakes), and Mezaya (baklava). One kitchen. One lean team. $50K annual revenue. Zero external funding. 18-hour operations, every brand optimised for its daypart.
"Operations ran 8AM to 2AM — each brand optimised for a different part of the day, all from one kitchen, one address."
To grow beyond one store, we needed investment. The feedback we heard: no IIT tag, startup winter. The funding didn't come. Then Frozen Bottle and Get A Whey were both acquired at a national level. When large players move in, small operators get squeezed. Payments became irregular, then problematic.
"It wasn't a dramatic exit. It was a practical one. You cut what isn't working and protect what is."
Old Town Foods consolidated. The multi-brand portfolio scaled down. We're still bootstrapped, still profitable, and still selective about what we take on. The model is proven. The infrastructure exists.
The story isn't over — it's just in a quieter chapter.
"We built five brands from one store with no outside money. We learned that operations is the product. That lesson doesn't go away when the noise dies down."