Two years after they successfully launched and established Double Roti in the city, Japtej Ahluwalia and Nikesh Lamba are back with their latest venture: Roll Baby Roll, a kiosk in Alwarpet that serves some authentic Kolkata and Delhi-style kathi rolls, kebabs and curries. Launched on June 18, the kiosk has already roped in a loyal customer base, who drop by to grab a quick bite or a glass of masala cola, and generally have a chat with the men behind the place. “Most people prefer to sit in their car and eat,” says Ahluwalia, who along with Lamba belongs to a food and beverage background with the ITC group of hotels.
And this time around, the duo has been joined by Gandharv Dhingra, also from ITC. “I think I have a terrible reputation with ITC now,” laughs Ahluwalia.
But the entrepreneurial drive, they say, stems from the fact that each of them has a good understanding of both the F&B industry as well as the flavours that work here in Chennai. “I’ve spent over 12 years in the industry and felt it was time to branch out on my own,” says Dhingra. While Ahluwalia adds, “Double Roti did quite well and we wanted to launch an alternative brand. We were looking at various new models and cuisines, and figured that we wanted to do something with a more mass connect. Roll Baby Roll falls under the sub-150 category. As we did our research, we figured that there were just two other incumbents in the kathi roll space, and it was something we could look at, maybe offer a better version of. But then, while the kathi roll is the star here, we did want to offer other food as well, hence the kebabs and curries.”
The idea, he says, was to offer wholesome desi flavours. “So if Double Roti offers continental comfort food, Roll Baby Roll has desi comfort food on the platter,” says Ahluwalia. Lamba adds, “These are flavours we identify with. When we lived in Chennai earlier, this was food we craved for. In fact, we have a lot of North Indians coming by and appreciating the authentic flavours.”
Inspired by the North
Th e kiosk offers some authentic Kolkata-style rolls wrapped in a paratha , as well as the Delhi-style ones with kebabs and roomaliroti . In fact, the chef has been brought down from Kusum (a popular kathi roll joint in Kolkata). “In the evenings, we find that people prefer curries and kebabs though. A lot of people come pick up a curry with say two rotis , that is rather filling for two and costs below ₹300. So we’ve tried to address that segment of the market as well,” says Ahluwalia.
Chennai, 04/07/2017 : Food on display at Japtej Aluwalia's "Roll baby Roll" at TTK Road in Chennai. Photo : S. R. Raghunathan
Some of the quirkiness from Double Roti has been carried forward here as well, with a colourful wooden truck occupying pride of place at the counter. It doubles up both as a napkin holder and kathi roll stand. Then there are quirky slogans as well on the counter and kitchen door such as ‘ Buri nazar wale keep calm and have kathi’.
The fact that this is their second venture in the F&B segment, has helped in terms of understanding business models and taste preferences of the city. Says Lamba, “We realised that people here like their paneer , so we’ve ensured it features prominently in the menu. They like their chicken spicier, so if we have tandoori chicken fries at Double Roti, here it is the tandoori chicken roll. Of course, there was a better understanding from the business point of view as well, in terms of how much to invest and the price point.”
One of the challenges here, however, was keeping the kitchen ergonomic, given the space constraints. “But we were sure we wanted one outlet here. We plan to set up at least 10 more Roll Baby Roll outlets in the city over the next couple of years. It’s an easy scalable model and we’ll look at places where Double Roti already has a presence,” says Dhingra. Given that there are other burger and kathi roll places in the city, what according to them worked in their favour? “I suppose, we’ve stayed in Chennai long enough to position ourselves well. And even if there are other burger places here, not too many offer proper grilled burgers. The ‘pay whatever you want’ offer that we’d had at Double Roti initially, got us great momentum. With Roll Baby Roll, we haven’t really done much in terms of promoting it, except word-of-mouth publicity and social media. All we did initially was hand out Double Roti napkins, so people got the connect,” says Ahluwalia.
