STARTUP SPECIAL .........................COMEBACK KID Failure as a Stepping Stone to Success

STARTUP SPECIAL

COMEBACK KID

Failure as a Stepping Stone to  Success





Jaydeep Barman was quick to change course and make Faasos an online-first

restaurant ...

...and the (ET) award goes to

Jaydeep Barman FAASOS

In his 41 years, Jaydeep Barman has packed in an engineering degree from

Jadavpur University , an MBA from IIMLucknow, a second management degree

from INSEAD, France and a five-year stint with McKinsey .

Typical for an over-achieving, academically strong, engineer-MBA, but all that

is topped by the fact that Barman, along with Kallol Banerjee, is building one of

the country's fastest-growing food technology brands, Faasos.

Barman and Banerjee had founded their company , originally known as Faaso's,

as a quick service restaurant in 2003. But soon after they went to INSEAD and in

2005 joined McKinsey and Bosch, respectively . Barman went on to complete a

fiveyear stint at the world's largest consultancy, a period that saw him rise to the

position of associate partner, based in London.

Meanwhile, Faasos was facing stiff competition from newer, agile competitors

that began delivering food on demand, casting a doubt over its QSR model.

Finally in 2010, driven by a combination of a stubborn entrepreneurial itch and

the Bengali's love for good, wholesome food, Barman decided to take up a

full-time role in the company he had founded seven years earlier. He was quick

to spot the threat from new rivals and changed course to make Faasos an

online-first restaurant.

By then, India was firmly entrenched on the radar of global private equity and

venture capital investors that were eager to pump in money in an economy with

an emerging and increasingly rich middle class.

All this helped Barman raise Rs 120 crore in funding led by Lightbox Ventures

in February .

“It's a huge honour that we were considered worthy enough (for the Comeback

Kid award), and it's a big validation of our efforts, as we tried to stay ahead of

the curve when a lot of others couldn't,“ Barman said.

At the moment, Barman is in the process of expanding what started as a single

store in Pune, selling its own version of Kolkata's ubiquitous kathi rolls, albeit

under a more hipster moniker of “wraps,“ to 10 cities across the country .

Its menu, too, has expanded beyond wraps to include rice, parathas, sides, deserts,

beverages and meal combos and breakfast options.

Barman expects that by the end of this fiscal year Faasos will have expanded to

20 cities.

The company receives 10,000 orders a day and is eyeing gross merchandise sales

of about $40 million by the end of 2015-16.

Buoyed by the growing use of smartphones and increasing internet penetration,

Faasos has evolved from being a mere chain of restaurants competing against the

likes of Domino's, McDonald's and KFC to a technology-led model that is focused

on providing fresh food, employing a wide distribution network.

Barman wants to use the money from the February funding round to fuel his

ambitious expansion plans.

His aim, ultimately , is to change the notoriously fickle and price-conscious

Indian consumer's mindset when it comes to ordering food.

“My job has evolved into being that of a friction remover,“ Barman said.

“I am in the process of removing myself from day-to-day operations and instead

looking at opportunities five years down the line.“

In an increasingly crowded and competitive food and beverages segment,

Kolkataborn Barman has emerged to be on the towatch list of leading risk capital

investors.As they say , the flavour's in the filling, something that Barman knows

well.

ET14AUG15