A Rs 40-lakh investment and Starbucks as first client: How this interior design company clocked a turnover of Rs 9 Cr
Corporate veteran Rahul Kapuria turned his digital ad agency into the interior design solutions firm Brandmakerr in 2015. It is now working with Reliance Retail, among other clients.
A conversation with a close friend and architect seeking to connect with global coffeehouse chain Starbucks for its project in Mumbai spurred Rahul Kapuria to turn his digital advertising agency into an interior design solutions company.
This was 2015, when Rahul’s Brandmakerr, around two years old then, had been involved in celebrity endorsement projects, including with former cricketer Virendra Sehwag, among other things.
A corporate veteran of nearly 30 years then, Rahul had a wide network of connections, having worked with the likes of , , , Blow Past, and .
Rahul not only connected his friend with Starbucks but also joined him on that project in Mumbai’s Andheri East. This, even though Rahul had no experience in the interior design business.
“My friend wanted to do the interiors of Starbucks,” Rahul tells SMBStory. “While talking to him, I realised we could join hands and fund the project. That is how Brandmakerr Interior Solutions Pvt. Ltd was born.”
Since then, the Mumbai-based company has worked with clients such as food and beverage (F&B) retail chains Domino’s Pizza, KFC, and Pizza Hut, toymaker Hamley’s, apparel retailer Shoppers Stop, hardware and electrical products company Mr DIY, sports brand Decathlon, and consumer electronics and durables chain Croma.
The early days
Rahul and his wife Meenakshi Kapuria invested Rs 40 lakh to start the interior design business. He credits his wife for being the guiding light for the new venture.
“She was the one who funded the business out of her savings initially,” he says.
Post the Starbucks project, Brandmakerr landed its second client, Domino’s.
“I started getting interested in the business although designing was not at all my forte and I had no background in the industry,” says Rahul. “I developed a passion for creating spaces.”
At Brandmakerr, Rahul takes care of project execution, while Meenakshi manages finance and human resources.
The company has delivered turnkey projects in which the thrust is on execution, apart from working on the design in the F&B segment, says the co-founder.
Brandmakerr is now building Reliance Retail’s warehouse in Mumbai.
The company’s execution partners include tile brands Kajaria Tiles, Asian Granito India, Johnson Tiles, and Bharat Floorings and Tiles; plywood and laminate makers Archid, Greenply, Kitply, and CenturyPly; ceiling and wall solutions company Armstrong; and marble manufacturers Jaya Marbles, Heritage Marble, and Classic Marble Company.
With a focus on start-to-finish turnkey projects, Brandmakerr clocked a turnover of Rs 9 crore in fiscal year 2019-20.
New lessons
Six years into the business, Rahul says each project has taught him new lessons.
He recalls a “complex” project for an international restaurant chain in Bengaluru that had been designed by a London-based architecture firm. It had several intricacies: 12 types of tiles, epoxy flooring, the use of tuk-tuk, facade, loose furniture, and wall graphics.
The firm left the project in the initial stages, however, the client decided to retain the layout design.
Rahul’s company, thus, not only had to meet the client’s expectations, but also match the design standards of the architecture firm.
“It was challenging for us,” says Rahul. “It was even too late to alter the design because the construction had started and any modification could have led to failure.”
Rahul and his team’s efforts paid off, culminating in the Mango Chili Thai Cafe at Shantiniketan Mall, Whitefield.
Challenging times
The nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 last year did hamper business for a few months, says Rahul, but “robust business development and lateral thinking” helped in pick-up later, with Brandmakerr now in the process of closing deals for turnkey interior projects with Suburban Diagnostics and Asian Paints. Rahul says it takes at least six months to close a deal with large enterprises.
The company is also expecting orders from older clients such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Croma in April this year.
“Our business was shut for four months; we did temporary layoffs but rehired in January this year,” says Rahul. “Though our deals with Reliance Retail and Decathlon helped us weather the COVID-19 times, there will be a turnover dip of 10-12 percent this fiscal year. However, January-December 2021 will be good, as we have cracked new deals and forayed into civil construction with Cube Stop Highways.”
Decathlon turnkey project completion in Mumbai by Brandmakerr
According to a 2020 report by global commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, the office fit-out market in the Asia-Pacific region that includes India is forecast to emerge from the downturn of the pandemic earlier than other markets. Mumbai and Delhi are the most expensive locations in India’s office fit-out market, says the report.
In this market, Rahul says his company is carving out a place for itself among competitors such as Padam Interiors, ANJ Group, and Vadan Interiors.
Irrespective of market conditions, client management is a constant challenge in the interior design business, says Rahul.
“Clients will ask you to achieve two contradictory ends or have unreasonable expectations about timelines,” he says. “Managing your clients’ expectations is a huge part of interior design and it’s always challenging, no matter how large or small your business is.”
Finding the right partners; managing costs pertaining to labour, materials, and marketing; and maintaining cash flows are other challenges, he says.
Labour costs, he says, can spiral out of control if a project takes longer than anticipated or if a client changes its mind midway through the project.
Project pipeline
is currently working on projects with Reliance Retail in Mumbai and Cube Stop Highways in Bengaluru. It is also in talks with IBIS Hotels, , and Croma for new projects.
Rahul says he is also in talks with ecommerce companies Flipkart and Amazon for their warehouse projects.
Edited by Lena Saha