The journey started from Paan Ki Gumti: A secret recipe of his wife changed his destiny, created a biryani empire worth Rs 475 crore; Know Mani’s inspiring story

G, who once earned his family’s living by running a small kiosk selling paan and cigarettes amidst the bustling streets of Bengaluru. The story of Narayanaswamy, fondly called ‘Mani’, is a living example for millions of youth and entrepreneurs who want to achieve great heights by fighting hardships and difficulties.

Hailing from a very ordinary family in Karnataka, Mani’s early days were full of struggles. To overcome the financial crisis of the family, he sometimes worked as a tailor, sometimes as a laborer and later opened a small betel shop in Bengaluru. However, the income from the paan shop was not enough to meet the household expenses easily. To fulfill his children’s education and basic needs, Mani was searching day and night for some work that could change his life.

When it became difficult to support the family even from the paan shop, his life partner i.e. his wife made a suggestion which changed the fate of the entire family. Mani’s wife used to prepare delicious Dum Biryani at home with a combination of traditional South Indian and Mughlai flavours. Relatives and acquaintances often praised his handmade food.

Mani decided that he could not take the big risk of opening a hotel or restaurant, but he could set up a small cart or stall and sell biryani made by his wife. He started selling biryani around the year 2000 in the Ulsoor area of ​​Bengaluru with just a few utensils and a few kilos of rice and spices. From the very first day when people tasted that biryani, the news of its aroma and wonderful taste spread like wildfire in the entire area.

The biggest feature of Mani’s Biryani was that it used freshly ground spices, pure ghee, high quality rice and traditional Dum Pukht technique. Since there were no artificial colors or preservatives, its taste was completely different from other commercial biryani and was homemade.

Initially, the demand for biryani which used to be finished in just 1 or 2 hours in the afternoon, increased so fast that long queues of customers started forming even before the shop opened. Software professionals, college students and local residents were drawn to Mani’s stall during the afternoon hours. This overwhelming response encouraged Mani and he converted the small stall into a permanent outlet and named the brand—‘Mani’s Dum Biryani’.

This journey that started with a stall gradually transformed into a well-organized food chain:

• Cloud Kitchen and Restaurant Model: As the era of technology and online food delivery (Swiggy, Zomato) came, Mani Dum Biryani linked itself with the modern supply chain. They launched one after another outlets and cloud kitchens in major IT hubs like Koramangala, Indiranagar, Whitefield, Jayanagar and Electronic City in Bengaluru.

• Never compromise on quality: Despite having hundreds of outlets and consuming thousands of plates daily, he never compromised with the taste and recipe. A central kitchen model was created, where the blending of spices and basic marination took place following the same original secret recipe that Mani’s wife had once prepared at home.

• Huge Turnover: Today the total brand valuation and turnover of this food chain has crossed the figure of ₹ 475 crore. Thousands of kilos of biryani is sold daily and this brand is providing direct and indirect employment to hundreds of people.

Mani’s success journey is not just a story of selling a biryani, but teaches many important lessons of business and life:

The man who dreamed while standing on an ordinary paan kiosk proved that if you have the right taste, unwavering hard work and strong faith in your skills, then you can create an empire worth crores even from a small corner of the kitchen.