The entrepreneur duo behind Uncle Peter’s Pancakes spill the secret behind selling 5,000 pancakes every day
Founders of Bengaluru-based Uncle Peter’s Pancakes spill the secret behind its authentic creations, the sheer variety of options on the menu, and expansion plans.
Pancakes—both savoury and sweet variants—have always topped the list of breakfast options in the US and Europe. The joy of biting into freshly baked fluffy pancakes, layered with fruits, maple syrup, or whipped cream is unparalleled. Let’s just say, it offers indulgence like no other.
However, the knowledge of pancakes has been limited in India. This is what struck Akashdeep Dan in 2018, who had moved to Bengaluru after finishing his degree in biotechnology and was looking to start a food business, particularly in the dessert segment.
In his quest to set up a unique proposition, Dan experimented with all kinds of desserts—from waffles to ice-cream sundaes, kunafa to cheesecakes, and pancakes.
At that point, only a few brands, like 99 Pancakes and The Pancake Story, were making pancakes in the mini format. The other option was to head to high-end cafes and restaurants to enjoy pancakes.
“This gave me the confidence to go ahead with pancakes. I started experimenting at home, tried making sauces, took photos, and asked people whether they’d like to have something like this. During this time, I was looking for someone to invest or team up with me,” says Dan, who founded Uncle Peter’s Pancakes in 2019, along with Sundeep Singh.
Sundeep Singh and Akashdeep Dan, Co-founders of Uncle Peter's Pancakes (L-R)
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In early 2019, the duo travelled to Manali where they met Peter, a tourist from the US. “We had a long chat with him and told him of our dream to start a pancake brand. As an ardent food lover, Peter had much insight and shared everything he knew about pancakes,” Dan says.
“On the morning after our chat, Peter surprised us by making pancakes for breakfast. While these were basic and served with maple syrup, his excitement and interest in our venture left an impression on our minds. We wanted a Western name for our brand, and Uncle Peter’s fit right in,” he recalls.
Biscoff pancakes by Uncle Peter's Pancakes
Over the last five years, the brand has built a solid menu offering at least 200 pancake varieties, besides crepes and waffles. It often changes the menu to surprise its clients, including summer and winter special varieties based on seasonality. Such is its popularity that it sells 5,000 pancakes on average per day, with orders increasing on weekends.
From five outlets in 2021, to 40 outlets until April 2023 across 15 cities in India, Uncle Peter’s Pancakes has made a name for itself in the category.
In a conversation with YS Life, Dan and Singh tell us more about what sets their venture apart, their growth and expansion plans, and more.
The USP
While there is no dearth of pancakes available today, the secret lies in how authentic the recipe is.
An authentic offering must be fluffy, soft, and have a golden brown colour. Here’s the caveat—these attributes are visible only if eggs are added to the batter.
But, in India, which has a large vegetarian population, this could be a dampener. Thus, Uncle Peter’s Pancakes came up with an eggless option. During the initial experiments, the absence of eggs made the pancakes appear dry, flat, and more like chapatis, Dan recalls.
“After six to eight months of extensive research and development, we finally developed eggless pancakes that are not only fluffy like the egg counterparts but also equally tasty,” mentions Dan.
The sheer variety
The world of pancakes is endless when it comes to toppings and flavours. Plus, the category is not limited to dessert varieties; there’s a lot to experiment with savoury offerings.
Pesto chicken crepe by Uncle Peter's Pancakes
That’s exactly what Uncle Peter’s Pancakes has tapped into with its extensive menu. The savoury options include corn and cheese, bacon and cheese, ham and cheese, and spinach mushroom and cream cheese crepes, among others.
That’s not all. The pancake brand is also cognisant of keeping up with trends and constantly innovating to serve its customers better. Also, several items on its menu aren’t available elsewhere, including the lava pancake—a variety with a filling of either red velvet or Oreo and chocolate stuffed inside the pancake.
“We also came up with the viral TikTok pancake cereal bowl that had cereal pancakes served with fresh fruits and whipped cream. In the savoury options, we also have crepes like pesto chicken and herb bechamel that are scantily available elsewhere,” adds Dan.
The menu also offers healthy gluten-free pancakes made with oats to appease fitness-conscious consumers.
Interestingly, while the look and feel of the product is premium, the price point at Uncle Peter’s Pancakes starts at Rs 149, making it accessible to the masses.
Expansion journey
Uncle Peter’s Pancakes may now be a leading player in the category but the journey has had its share of challenges. While Dan was a new entrant in the food space, Singh was already running the Bengaluru-based Bogmalo Foods and Hospitality, after selling off his corporate catering business called Swaad Foods.
But his interest lay in the retail food space.
In the summer of 2019, the duo set up a small cloud kitchen in Bengaluru’s Indiranagar for Uncle Peter’s Pancakes. “The first few months were hard with barely any orders coming in. But it soon picked up, and everyone loved the offerings. Our consumers wanted to come and dine in, but we didn’t have the space. In early 2020, a cafe near our cloud kitchen was vacated, and that's where we opened our first physical dine-in space in Indiranagar,” says Singh.
Soon after COVID-19 hit and the sales turned to almost zero, the entrepreneurs worked on improving their cloud kitchen, unit economics, and menu dynamics.
Pancake cereal bowl by Uncle Peter's Pancakes
Within three months, their fortunes turned around, and they also established a new cloud kitchen in Whitefield, Bengaluru.
In 2021, the duo began exploring franchise opportunities for the brand and started a cloud kitchen in Kolkata. After receiving a positive response, they began to look for new investors and opened up in Pondicherry, Lucknow, and Indore.
“Bengaluru itself has 13 outlets right now. From two of us in 2019, there are more than 150 employees that work with Uncle Peter’s Pancakes across all its locations. We want to establish the brand at 100-plus locations by the end of 2023 and at 350-plus locations by 2025,” Singh says as he shares the future plans.
Uncle Peter’s Pancakes’ new outlets will open in Auroville, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR, among others. Its first international venture would be a 10-outlet initiative in Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh, which should be operational between January and February 2024.
Edited by Suman Singh