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These Guys Decided To Follow Through On Their Food Dream With Coma Coma
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These Guys Decided To Follow Through On Their Food Dream With Coma Coma - In The Spotlight


And So Nikhil Gonsalves And Hersh Kumbhani's Mexican Takeout Joint In Mumbai Was Born

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An easy way to get an idea of what interests a person and what makes them tick is to have a quick look-see at their Instagram feed and it won't take you long to deduce that Nikhil Gonsalves and Hersh Kumbhani are all about the food. But you need a lot more than that when you want to be a part of the F&B industry. So, it also helps that in addition to their shared love of grub, they also seem to have the innate drive that separates the dreamers from the doers.

Since they started out, their Mexican take-out venture has been stealing one heart at a time. And for good reason. From toying with the idea of taking a swing at the F&B scene, to testing out their possible audience at food fairs, and finally opening the doors of Coma Coma, they've put in their fair share of blood, sweat and tears into this dream.

The dream is simple. To pay homage to a cuisine that puts a premium on freshness and taste above all else with the use of locally sourced ingredients, whilst at the same time fighting off preconceived perceptions of what it is and is supposed to be. But as anyone who's tried to do 'simple' knows, it's never ever easy.

And if that's not enough to pique your interest, they also seem to have a penchant for wordplay. How else do you explain the cool, catchy name 'Coma Coma'. Coma means eat in Spanish, and coma also refers to the unconscious state from which you cannot be awakened. See what they did there?

AskMen India caught up with these two self-professed paunch brothers at Coma Coma to talk business, passion and above all else, food.

1. How long has it been since Coma Coma started? And how long before that had you been toying with the idea?

Nikhil Gonsalves: We will be six months old to the public on March 23rd, though we've been working relentlessly on the idea behind Coma Coma for about a year. Hersh and I had been toying with the idea of getting into the F&B space for years though it was only at the beginning of 2016 that the stars aligned for us to leave our jobs to do this.

2. What did you do before this? Did you always know you wanted to do something food-related?

NG: I worked in advertising for the largest part of my career before this, then moved to digital marketing and eventually gravitated to the food space after some serious soul-searching. Bombay always seems to have space in the market for quality. But more importantly, it was Naina Meattle, my wife, who gave me that final push and convinced me to go for it.

Hersh Kumbhani: I was an investment banker in New York in a previous life. I left that career after a few years, backpacked through Asia and Europe for over a year and launched a travel startup called Trabblr. And right before starting Coma Coma, I was with Zomato where I helped expand their footprint in Europe and North America.

After years of "creating value" through financial analysis and software, I was suddenly dying to create something more tangible. I started getting interested in food and design and that's when Nik and I started talking about doing something together in the food space.

3. Why Mexican and not some other cuisine?

Honestly, Mexican food is a constant craving for us. Not the cheese overloaded, predominantly vegetarian offerings we've been accustomed to accepting at multicuisine restaurants here, but the honest-to-goodness stuff. Seeing that there was pretty much no genuine Mexican offering in Mumbai, coupled with our desire to do a cuisine we love, made us choose Mexican. We hope that we're doing the cuisine some justice through Coma Coma because we're having a lot of fun doing it!

Plus, if you think about it, Mexican food is very similar to what we are used to eating in Indian households--you have your beans, rice and curries. Even the structure of a taco is similar to our classic chapati sabzi home food. We think that if done right, Mexican food will win hearts over all over India.

4. How did you two meet and subsequently decide to start this up together?

NG: We've been friends since our late teens and thankfully we both bring different, but equally valuable insights to Coma Coma. I love to cook and so I'd often grill for a bunch of close friends and Hersh would always be curious about what I'd be doing-- 'What's in the marinade?' 'Which cut of meat is that?'. On our many trips with the guys, Hersh and I would keep each other company on 7am spicy noodle bowl runs in Bangkok while our friends slept in or satiated themselves with bags of Lays. Over time, we realised that there was something here that we should totally explore.

HK: Definitely. I've never been much of a cook (though I am known to make a mean omelet), but I love food and Excel. I guess it's tough to get the banker out of me! We're lucky that we complement each other really well.

5. What are the biggest learning you both have experienced so far?

Navigating the bureaucracies and regulations is always challenging but that's not exclusive to us. Business in India is tough no matter the industry. The flipside, however, is that we have been pleasantly surprised by the level of helpfulness from all the associates and partners that we work alongside in the industry. There is a genuine sense of camaraderie and a feeling of 'We're all in this together'. Players in the entire supply chain are aware of the grind of this business and are more often friends than foes.

A lot of people are surprised when they learn that we started Coma Coma despite not having an F&B background. We respond by saying 'We're not launching rockets into space. We're selling burritos. It's not rocket surgery.' We've learned a lot on the fly because we wanted to start this business. Passion leads to self-education.

6. What's the biggest pay off for you?

Being able to build something from scratch, have it appreciated and then to have people vouch for what you put out; that feeling cannot be topped. We're humbled by the fact that we are job creators, too. We have a small team of great guys who we hope love coming into work every day. It means a lot that we can create that sort of environment.

7. How did you decide on your menu and why take-away?

NG: Before starting Coma Coma, Hersh and I were aware of our shortcomings, namely that neither of us had any prior F&B experience. Rather than get bogged down with all the complexities and costs of a full-fledged restaurant, we were keen to just get our food out there and build a fan base in the most economical way possible. We didn't want to bite off more than we could chew. We're only in our thirties and have a lot of life left to try other formats!

HK: Yeah, but when you're delivery-only, that puts immense pressure on the food. Honing the menu was tough because we wanted to put out so much more and be more daring, but we had to continuously remind ourselves of our market and delivery-only format. We needed a menu that balanced creativity with saleability and one that would still taste fresh an hour after being made. And that's what you have in front of you.

8. Is entrepreneurial skill inborn, you think?

NG: I don't know the answer, but I do know that you just need a serious amount of drive to keep on trucking.

HK: That's a tough question. On one side, you need to have some innate traits to choose an unstructured path where the odds of success are often slim. You can call it balls, you can call it genes, you can call it your star sign, you can call it whatever. But some people are born to create their own path and others aren't. One isn't better than the other and the world needs both types of people. On the other side, being an entrepreneur also depends on something very practical--your life circumstances. Not everyone has the luxury to take a leap of faith. Someone may want to start a business but they have existing obligations like student loans to pay or a family to feed. Nikhil and I are fortunate that we did our time in the corporate world to build our savings and that we have the support of loved ones to keep pushing us forward.

9. What's your favourite part of being in the kitchen?

NG: Rush hour. Once the adrenaline kicks in, time just flies by and all the madness makes sense.

HK: Couldn't agree more. Also, interacting with our customers. We can't see them, so it's nice talking to them!

10. Where's Coma Coma going in the next 5 years?

You'll have to wait and see. Can we reserve an "In the Spotlight" slot today for 2022? If so, please pencil us in.

11. And finally, a piece of advice from someone who's gone for it (your dream) to someone who's still thinking about going for it... (whatever 'it' might be)

NG: I'd love to wax eloquent here and allude to something romantic, but it really is just a battle of attrition. An ultra-marathon of sorts, not a sprint.

HK: Isn't there an entire Internet devoted to entrepreneurial advice? Kidding! Honestly, if you don't like what you're doing every day and you're constantly seeing yourself being pulled in another direction, then you have to trust your gut and at least explore that pull somehow. If you're working at The Corporation but have a dream of starting your own dance studio, then talk to studio owners, take classes in your free time and just dabble in the space. You can easily do that without leaving your job high and dry. What's important is that you at least give yourself a chance.

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