Enterprise: Foghorn Foods Pvt Ltd

Founders: Pankaj Ambardar, Pragyan Patnaik

Mentored by: Satyajit Patnaik

Industry:  Food & Beverage/Restaurants & Caterers

Year it was founded: 2014

Based out of: Gurgaon, Haryana

Food has always been a binding force, be it at home, dining out or even in a business setting. Gurgaon has steadily emerged as the definitive business hub of the capital and many corporates have realised that food is great way to cultivate camaraderie and informal opportunities for networking. Several business houses like to organise special lunches within the office premises, to mark occasions or host important clients, and this has created a demand for corporate catering services.

Sensing a big business opportunity in this sector, the founders of Foghorn Foods Pvt Ltd - Pankaj Ambardar, Pragyan Patnaik and mentor Satyajit Patnaik decided to join forces in 2014 and established an institutional catering service in Gurgaon. Pankaj, a former chef, lent his artistic flair to create a nutritious multi-cuisine menu. He spent more than a decade in Japan mastering Japanese cuisine and after moving back to India, he re-worked the menu at Enoki, the Japanese restaurant at The Grand, New Delhi and also worked at the Olive Bar & Kitchen. As the operational head, Pragyan manages the smooth running of the business, staff training, quality control and delivery. Business mentor Satyajit, with his experience in the hospitality sector is the binding force of the enterprise.

Starting with 75 meals a day and moving to 4,000 meals within a span of nine months and currently with a capacity to cater 15,000 meals per day, Foghorn has steadily grown in the past five years.

A niche business model, creative team and successful scaling makes Foghorn Foods an ‘SME Inspiration’.

In conversation with GlobalLinker (GL), the promoter and mentor of Foghorn Foods Pvt Ltd, Satyajit Patnaik (SP) shares their business journey.

GL: Tell us about your business and how it came into being.

SP: Foghorn Foods Pvt Ltd is an outcome of our research and passion for providing satiable meals to corporates and institutions. Post-market research we realised that there is a huge gap in the market for a good corporate food service provider. The market is mostly flooded with unskilled workforce and unorganized players. Our main aim was to fill up these loopholes and deliver a smooth food catering service.

Founded by Pragyan Patnaik and Pankaj Ambardar and mentored by me, we targeted this growing hunger for quality food and started our corporate food service business in the year 2014. We brought together highly trained professionals and their cumulative experience of nearly 80 years to the platform to create healthy, hygienic and tasty food for people.

GL: What is the USP of your business?

SP: We have designed our production facility in a way that the health of our clients and the safety of our workers is given the topmost priority. We also have an in-house nutritionist and our very own research and development (R&D) laboratory to quality check each morsel before it reaches the plates of our clients. We also understand that people look forward to eating different food every day and hence we have come up with a fully customised menu. We also provide dietary meals on request. These I believe, is our USP. We strive to provide hygienic and nutritiously enriching food every day.

GL: What are the challenges you have faced in establishing your business?

SP: The market is full of amateurs who lack the proper training and skill to execute an end-to-end service. Attracting talent was the major challenge we faced. But eventually we overcame this roadblock by providing thorough training to our workers.

GL: What has been your greatest learning as an entrepreneur?

SP: During these years in mentoring and promoting a fairly new and competitive business, I have learnt that you need to keep the fund flow under control and have an undivided focus and motivation to make your idea work.

GL: How do you believe GlobalLinker benefits business owners? 

SP: GlobalLinker is a great platform for SMEs and startups and I expect it would help us greatly in networking and improving our visibility.

GL: What is your big business dream?

SP: Our vision of delivering great quality food doesn’t end here. In the long run, we want to operate across the country and the globe.

GL: What is your message to aspiring entrepreneurs?

SP: You need to be passionate and self-motivated to fulfil your dreams. You must evaluate and analyse each decision of yours before you execute them. The path towards success is full of twists and turns and mostly lonely. Try looking for motivation even in the smallest of things around you. The journey will surely become a memorable one!

Network with SMEs mentioned in this article by clicking on the 'Invite' button on their profile. Pankaj Ambardar, Pragyan Patnaik, Satyajit Patnaik

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