IIT-Roorkee alumni seek to spread the Vedic way of eating with their restaurant Sattviko

Prasoon Gupta and Ankush Sharma have known each other for the past one decade since their student days in IIT Roorkee. The duo incepted the very first startup TechBuddy from IIT Roorkee campus. It used to provide consultancy to young graduates to develop and scale a gamut of innovative products in the IT space.

After a successful innings as an entrepreneur, the duo later ventured into food business with Sattviko. Sattviko is a fast casual pure vegetarian restaurant that celebrates healthy eating to beat the fast food diet regime in India. It offers a world class cuisine seeped in ancient Vedic methods of food preparation (without the use of onions and garlic) known as ‘sattvic’.

The restaurant serves Continental, Indian and Mexican specialties through its extensive menu of meals, salads, munchies, desserts and beverages. “We wish to redefine healthy dining in India with our tagline of ‘Sabse Healthy, Sabse Tasty’. The underlying motive is to encourage people to embrace a healthy diet with food prepared in the ‘sattvic’ style,” says Prasoon.

The duo dived into the food business as a hobby, but later went on to expand it. “There was no initial struggle as such as we were always capital intensive. We got people on board in just three months and were able to go ahead with the launch,” adds Ankush.

Pure Vedic method while preparing food

Sattviko adheres to ‘sattvic’ food which means preparation of food without onion and garlic as prescribed in the Vedas. This food is light on the palate without inducing lethargy after a meal. When it comes to footfalls, the startup is doing pretty well. “The food too has been appreciated and we plan to expand our services further in the next 6-7 months,” reveals Prasoon.

BesidesTechBuddy and Sattviko, Prasoon founded Swarajneeti, an NGO dedicated to democratic reforms in India through technological innovations.

The startup is expanding in Delhi/ NCR and targets corporate consumers to spread awareness about healthy food habits. “We would also like to expand in New York and London and popularise our restaurant to be on par with a McDonald's and Subway,” says Prasoon.

The two aspire to expand the business to over a 100 outlets in the country, including overseas. “Our goal is to make Sattviko a universally relevant lifestyle, synonymous with eating healthy and nutritious food,” adds Ankush.

Size of opportunity

India has the largest vegetarian population in the world with close to 400 million vegetarians. According to current F&B trends, the market size of vegetarian restaurants is increasing every day to cater to this customer base. Global F&B giant KFC is targeting vegetarians and has come up with a vegetarian menu.

“In India, a majority of people are not pure non-vegetarians and prefer to add something vegetarian to their daily diet,” states Ankush. According to a report, it is estimated that 30% of the world’s population will turn vegetarian in 2020 so this segment is set to grow.

Getting passionate on board is challenging

In the F&B industry, finding the right kind of skilled manpower is always a tall order as the people you hire need to be well-trained, people-friendly, passionate and dedicated. Educating people about healthy and ‘sattvic’ food is a bit of a challenge.

Website : Sattviko