STARTUP SPECIAL
COMEBACK KID
Failure as a Stepping Stone to Success
Jaydeep
Barman was quick to change course and make Faasos an online-first
restaurant
...
...and
the (ET) award goes to
Jaydeep
Barman FAASOS
In
his 41 years, Jaydeep Barman has packed in an engineering degree from
Jadavpur
University , an MBA from IIMLucknow, a second management degree
from
INSEAD, France and a five-year stint with McKinsey .
Typical
for an over-achieving, academically strong, engineer-MBA, but all that
is
topped by the fact that Barman, along with Kallol Banerjee, is building one of
the
country's fastest-growing food technology brands, Faasos.
Barman
and Banerjee had founded their company , originally known as Faaso's,
as
a quick service restaurant in 2003. But soon after they went to INSEAD and in
2005
joined McKinsey and Bosch, respectively . Barman went on to complete a
fiveyear
stint at the world's largest consultancy, a period that saw him rise to the
position
of associate partner, based in London.
Meanwhile,
Faasos was facing stiff competition from newer, agile competitors
that
began delivering food on demand, casting a doubt over its QSR model.
Finally
in 2010, driven by a combination of a stubborn entrepreneurial itch and
the
Bengali's love for good, wholesome food, Barman decided to take up a
full-time
role in the company he had founded seven years earlier. He was quick
to
spot the threat from new rivals and changed course to make Faasos an
online-first
restaurant.
By
then, India was firmly entrenched on the radar of global private equity and
venture
capital investors that were eager to pump in money in an economy with
an
emerging and increasingly rich middle class.
All
this helped Barman raise Rs 120 crore in funding led by Lightbox Ventures
in
February .
“It's
a huge honour that we were considered worthy enough (for the Comeback
Kid
award), and it's a big validation of our efforts, as we tried to stay ahead of
the
curve when a lot of others couldn't,“ Barman said.
At
the moment, Barman is in the process of expanding what started as a single
store
in Pune, selling its own version of Kolkata's ubiquitous kathi rolls, albeit
under
a more hipster moniker of “wraps,“ to 10 cities across the country .
Its
menu, too, has expanded beyond wraps to include rice, parathas, sides, deserts,
beverages
and meal combos and breakfast options.
Barman
expects that by the end of this fiscal year Faasos will have expanded to
20
cities.
The
company receives 10,000 orders a day and is eyeing gross merchandise sales
of
about $40 million by the end of 2015-16.
Buoyed
by the growing use of smartphones and increasing internet penetration,
Faasos
has evolved from being a mere chain of restaurants competing against the
likes
of Domino's, McDonald's and KFC to a technology-led model that is focused
on
providing fresh food, employing a wide distribution network.
Barman
wants to use the money from the February funding round to fuel his
ambitious
expansion plans.
His
aim, ultimately , is to change the notoriously fickle and price-conscious
Indian
consumer's mindset when it comes to ordering food.
“My
job has evolved into being that of a friction remover,“ Barman said.
“I
am in the process of removing myself from day-to-day operations and instead
looking
at opportunities five years down the line.“
In
an increasingly crowded and competitive food and beverages segment,
Kolkataborn
Barman has emerged to be on the towatch list of leading risk capital
investors.As
they say , the flavour's in the filling, something that Barman knows
well.
ET14AUG15
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