Posts
i've been aching to get going and get stuck in........to fine tune all of our recipes, read every single piece of literature there is about the business, find that perfect location, create the unique Mooli's identity, to knock on every bank manager's door, to work in the cinnamon club kitchens, to get a job at subway.....i'm Mooli, Madly, Deeply but i'm still trying to save the (banking) world from ruin.
my employers are sticking firm with my leaving date of 10 April, and I have had a few choice words to say about that. in fact they're probably reading this blog entry.
these words belted out at the killers concert i went to a couple of days ago had a special poignancy for me...
And so long to devotion
You taught me everything I know (!!&%*!!)
Wave goodbye
Wish me well..
You've gotta let me go
26 February 2009
23 February 2009
indian going on japanese
since tariq has been complaining that we don't write enough, here is an impromptu post in small case (mooli's way of writing emails and sometimes posts).
today at a lunch meeting with Aamir (founder and CEO of Dwell), we were talking about what kind of person mooli's would be and mathew came up with the line 'indian going on japanese' - it made both aamir and me crack up.
later in the evening, i stopped for a cream puff at Beard Papa's on oxford street - very very nice puffs - crisp on the outside with fresh custard inserted just before being served. that's pretty much what they serve though they have a few variations on the standard puff, tiramisu and some hot drinks. beard papa's still amazes me - they are a Japanese company started in Osaka in 1999 and now have over 300 stores around the world. and they sell cream puffs.
which brings me to the point of this post. focus. when i was in japan last year, i was amazed that a LOT of restaurants would only serve one thing (for example, katsu or ramen). if you want sushi, you go to a sushi restaurant. i loved this juice bar which served only 5 types of juice (so that they didn't have to wash the electric mixies, just like our mosambi juice wallahs in india)
all the fast food joints i love/respect in the world are all about focus. that's what makes them taste so good. take IN-N-OUT BURGER, all they do is a burger, a cheese burger and a double cheese burger (and fries). that's it. all with the same meat. and they are MILES better than McDonalds (and some of you will know i like a Big MAC). their line is Quality you can taste - boring but true.
next up is Maoz. they look awful, almost like a kebab shop and they ONLY serve falafel pita and salad (and fries). But Maoz is a hugely successful company and it is solely because their falafel pita and salad is amazingly good and fresh. (mathew and i are going there tomorrow after our meeting with Jonny, Chief Executive of dimt)
of course, lets not forget our delhi special - khan chachas. just 4 rolls, thanks.
tunde's kebab is another one in lucknow. one kebab. that's it. lol.
even Chipotle, the hugely successful mexican chain in the US keeps it pretty simple.
people have told us that our menu is too small but we're convinced its not. if anything we could even cut it down. which reminds me, we've decided our 5 wraps, more or less. i'm going to let mathew write about them - last night when i read his descriptions i wanted to eat them so much, i almost couldn't work. its tempting to add more options but we will keep it simple - only 5 at any give time. if you want to introduce a new one, then an old one must give way. thats the way it works. if we ever have 6, complain and you'll get 100 moolis free.
in the spirit of this free flowing email, here are some completely random pictures of japan i took last april/may.
today at a lunch meeting with Aamir (founder and CEO of Dwell), we were talking about what kind of person mooli's would be and mathew came up with the line 'indian going on japanese' - it made both aamir and me crack up.
later in the evening, i stopped for a cream puff at Beard Papa's on oxford street - very very nice puffs - crisp on the outside with fresh custard inserted just before being served. that's pretty much what they serve though they have a few variations on the standard puff, tiramisu and some hot drinks. beard papa's still amazes me - they are a Japanese company started in Osaka in 1999 and now have over 300 stores around the world. and they sell cream puffs.
which brings me to the point of this post. focus. when i was in japan last year, i was amazed that a LOT of restaurants would only serve one thing (for example, katsu or ramen). if you want sushi, you go to a sushi restaurant. i loved this juice bar which served only 5 types of juice (so that they didn't have to wash the electric mixies, just like our mosambi juice wallahs in india)
all the fast food joints i love/respect in the world are all about focus. that's what makes them taste so good. take IN-N-OUT BURGER, all they do is a burger, a cheese burger and a double cheese burger (and fries). that's it. all with the same meat. and they are MILES better than McDonalds (and some of you will know i like a Big MAC). their line is Quality you can taste - boring but true.
next up is Maoz. they look awful, almost like a kebab shop and they ONLY serve falafel pita and salad (and fries). But Maoz is a hugely successful company and it is solely because their falafel pita and salad is amazingly good and fresh. (mathew and i are going there tomorrow after our meeting with Jonny, Chief Executive of dimt)
of course, lets not forget our delhi special - khan chachas. just 4 rolls, thanks.
tunde's kebab is another one in lucknow. one kebab. that's it. lol.
even Chipotle, the hugely successful mexican chain in the US keeps it pretty simple.
people have told us that our menu is too small but we're convinced its not. if anything we could even cut it down. which reminds me, we've decided our 5 wraps, more or less. i'm going to let mathew write about them - last night when i read his descriptions i wanted to eat them so much, i almost couldn't work. its tempting to add more options but we will keep it simple - only 5 at any give time. if you want to introduce a new one, then an old one must give way. thats the way it works. if we ever have 6, complain and you'll get 100 moolis free.
in the spirit of this free flowing email, here are some completely random pictures of japan i took last april/may.
30 January 2009
Introducing..... Mathew 'Foodie' Chandy
Mooli's has a co-founder!
Mathew has decided that making a Keralan beef roll (with avocado?) is much more exciting than structuring deals (or credit default swaps?) at UBS. After months of helping me out with Mooli's (from scoping locations for hours to making mango lassi), I'm ecstatic that he's properly on-board.
Besides being a great guy and all, he's also a huge foodie (and a great DJ to boot so watch out for the music at Mooli's). I really did not think I would ever have a business partner who was as passionate as me about the food we're going to serve at Mooli's. I'm sure we'll have a few arguments along the way (it has to be with avocado!) but you can bet your bottom dollar that the food will be incredibly tasty. So get ready to bite into your first mooli and go wow.
Mathew has decided that making a Keralan beef roll (with avocado?) is much more exciting than structuring deals (or credit default swaps?) at UBS. After months of helping me out with Mooli's (from scoping locations for hours to making mango lassi), I'm ecstatic that he's properly on-board.
Besides being a great guy and all, he's also a huge foodie (and a great DJ to boot so watch out for the music at Mooli's). I really did not think I would ever have a business partner who was as passionate as me about the food we're going to serve at Mooli's. I'm sure we'll have a few arguments along the way (it has to be with avocado!) but you can bet your bottom dollar that the food will be incredibly tasty. So get ready to bite into your first mooli and go wow.
27 January 2009
Play it again Sam
"It's hard work. Gambling. Playing poker. Don't let anyone tell you different. Think about what it's like sitting at a poker table with people whose only goal is to cut your throat, take your money, and leave you out back talking to yourself about what went wrong inside."
- Stu Unger, Three-time WSOP Champion
"Guys around here'll tell ya... you play for a living. It's like any other job. You don't gamble. You grind it out. Get your money in when you have the best of it, and protect it when you don't. Don't give anything away. That's how I've paid my way through half of law school. A true grinder."
- Matt Damon's character in Rounders, 1998
Poker has in many ways made Mooli's possible. I couldn't have made all this progress with Mooli's if I had continued working for BCG or any such organization. This month Mooli's is really picking up some momentum (I have some really exciting news but that will have to wait a few days) so the poker has stopped. I won't need the money anymore and there is so much to do.
It is easy to look back on 2008 because I meticulously maintained an excel spreadsheet recording every single game I played. The 2008 P&L ended at £16,120. That's an OK number considering I quit BCG in April but it isn't by any means remarkable (I know guys who make much much more playing poker). But what is remarkable is that every single month ended positive and that I remained a true grinder playing lots of Heads Up and playing well within my skill/stake level. I didn't ever lose my nerve when luck/variance went against me. Sure, occasionally I went on tilt (I wouldn't be a poker player if that didn't happen) but I always bounced back with some more discipline. Sometimes, you have perfect nights, like tonight when you are clinical and probability works the way it is supposed to (for example, I win when I'm 82% ahead). But other nights, everything goes against you. There is a poker saying: "In the long run there's no luck in poker, but the short run is longer than most people know." Suddenly after few such nights, you're down for the month. You have bills to pay and you can't touch your Mooli money because well that belongs to Mooli's. A few months, I thought maybe I need to stop for a bit. But Kartik would say, "you've got to get back on the horse, play lower stakes if you have to but it's obvious you're way better than your average player, it's just variance".
There were some exciting times too in 2008. I reached three final table qualifiers and came within one card to going to Vegas to play the World Series of Poker. Ouch. I had to eat nine spicy chicken wings at KFC to overcome that heads up loss in the Bet365 Last Man Standing final. One day, I will play in the WSOP and we'll find out if it has my name on it.
But for now, its all about Mooli's baby.
- Stu Unger, Three-time WSOP Champion
"Guys around here'll tell ya... you play for a living. It's like any other job. You don't gamble. You grind it out. Get your money in when you have the best of it, and protect it when you don't. Don't give anything away. That's how I've paid my way through half of law school. A true grinder."
- Matt Damon's character in Rounders, 1998
Poker has in many ways made Mooli's possible. I couldn't have made all this progress with Mooli's if I had continued working for BCG or any such organization. This month Mooli's is really picking up some momentum (I have some really exciting news but that will have to wait a few days) so the poker has stopped. I won't need the money anymore and there is so much to do.
It is easy to look back on 2008 because I meticulously maintained an excel spreadsheet recording every single game I played. The 2008 P&L ended at £16,120. That's an OK number considering I quit BCG in April but it isn't by any means remarkable (I know guys who make much much more playing poker). But what is remarkable is that every single month ended positive and that I remained a true grinder playing lots of Heads Up and playing well within my skill/stake level. I didn't ever lose my nerve when luck/variance went against me. Sure, occasionally I went on tilt (I wouldn't be a poker player if that didn't happen) but I always bounced back with some more discipline. Sometimes, you have perfect nights, like tonight when you are clinical and probability works the way it is supposed to (for example, I win when I'm 82% ahead). But other nights, everything goes against you. There is a poker saying: "In the long run there's no luck in poker, but the short run is longer than most people know." Suddenly after few such nights, you're down for the month. You have bills to pay and you can't touch your Mooli money because well that belongs to Mooli's. A few months, I thought maybe I need to stop for a bit. But Kartik would say, "you've got to get back on the horse, play lower stakes if you have to but it's obvious you're way better than your average player, it's just variance".
There were some exciting times too in 2008. I reached three final table qualifiers and came within one card to going to Vegas to play the World Series of Poker. Ouch. I had to eat nine spicy chicken wings at KFC to overcome that heads up loss in the Bet365 Last Man Standing final. One day, I will play in the WSOP and we'll find out if it has my name on it.
But for now, its all about Mooli's baby.
01 January 2009
2009 - the year of the mooli
Happy New Year!
Both the word and the resolution are part of a greater plan to make sure that 2009 will be remembered as the year of the mooli. I have joined a gym and start tomorrow (they were shut today). I'm also looking for a job at Nando's or McDonald's. Let's go.
This coming year, I have a resolution and a word for 2009. The inspiration for the word comes from my uncle Bholu chacha who started keeping a word instead of a resolution a few years ago (his word for 2009 is patience).
Word: Action!
Resolution: Get really fit.Word: Action!
Both the word and the resolution are part of a greater plan to make sure that 2009 will be remembered as the year of the mooli. I have joined a gym and start tomorrow (they were shut today). I'm also looking for a job at Nando's or McDonald's. Let's go.
26 December 2008
bangalore kaati zone bombay hanglas wraps&rolls frankie barbecue nation delhi khan chachas aap ki khatir
A long overdue post on my India trip. I fell sick as soon as I landed in Delhi. Wheezing, sinus, the works. But after some anti-biotics, rest and mooli parathas, I was on the plane to Bangalore. Kartik and I checked out Kaati Zone. Looks like they are doing pretty well in Bangalore with about 7 branches. Everything is cooked in the central kitchen and then heated in ovens in store. There are 3 varieties of parathas- original, lite and diet. The rolls were pretty average. Not that fresh and not that tasty. Too much masala I thought. The packaging was great though. Really easy to tear cardboard. Some pictures from Kaati Zone: Kartik looks pretty happy with that diet roll!
From Bangalore I took the flight to Bombay. Spent many fun hours with Arati and Neilesh checking out roll places and talking about Mooli's. It boils down to process. And some more process. I am hoping we can do a 2 week test kitchen in Bombay or Delhi soon. I dragged Vivek to many places and he was only too happy to check out the veg rolls for me. On my last night in Bombay, we ended up having coffee at 12.30am in Bandra with Sevantika and Ashish. After coffee, we walked along the sea talking about chicken, rotis, phones, life, and future tasting sessions. I took an auto home at 2.30am and was amazed that the auto driver didn't haggle. I can stil hear the auto driver in Bangalore say 'double meter'. This is Bombay for you.
Tried to make it to Lucknow on the way to Delhi but there wasn't enough time. Jimmy uncle (one of the Nawabs of Lucknow) said I can learn his family's Kakori kebab recipe so I'm looking forward to making a trip in the new year to do that.
One last day in Delhi, one last mooli paratha and I was on flight VS3001 back to London.
From Bangalore I took the flight to Bombay. Spent many fun hours with Arati and Neilesh checking out roll places and talking about Mooli's. It boils down to process. And some more process. I am hoping we can do a 2 week test kitchen in Bombay or Delhi soon. I dragged Vivek to many places and he was only too happy to check out the veg rolls for me. On my last night in Bombay, we ended up having coffee at 12.30am in Bandra with Sevantika and Ashish. After coffee, we walked along the sea talking about chicken, rotis, phones, life, and future tasting sessions. I took an auto home at 2.30am and was amazed that the auto driver didn't haggle. I can stil hear the auto driver in Bangalore say 'double meter'. This is Bombay for you.
Tried to make it to Lucknow on the way to Delhi but there wasn't enough time. Jimmy uncle (one of the Nawabs of Lucknow) said I can learn his family's Kakori kebab recipe so I'm looking forward to making a trip in the new year to do that.
One last day in Delhi, one last mooli paratha and I was on flight VS3001 back to London.
27 November 2008
What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
27 November, Thursday, 12-2pm, Liverpool Street.
I was at Wrap It Up! which does world wraps and Veronica, who helped out today was counting at Tiffin Bites.
The process at Wrap It Up! was fantastic - they had 7 people working in the shop at lunch and they managed to keep the queue moving really quickly. Interestingly, the customer mix was about 80% male! Maybe because their wraps are messy?
Let's keep that queue moving:
I had company in the form of Andrew and Mathew, and bets were placed for the final count at Wrap It Up! Not surprisingly, star UBS trader Andrew Kim cleans up by buying at 345. Final count is a massive 388. There is some demand for hot wraps eh? Tiffin Bites finished at 144 but with a much higher average ticket (tiffin boxes going for 9 quid!). Thanks to Veronica who counted and had to put up with really bad customer service (some things never change).
Andrew and Mathew, happy to be out of the office:
Andrew likes it:
I was at Wrap It Up! which does world wraps and Veronica, who helped out today was counting at Tiffin Bites.
The process at Wrap It Up! was fantastic - they had 7 people working in the shop at lunch and they managed to keep the queue moving really quickly. Interestingly, the customer mix was about 80% male! Maybe because their wraps are messy?
Let's keep that queue moving:
I had company in the form of Andrew and Mathew, and bets were placed for the final count at Wrap It Up! Not surprisingly, star UBS trader Andrew Kim cleans up by buying at 345. Final count is a massive 388. There is some demand for hot wraps eh? Tiffin Bites finished at 144 but with a much higher average ticket (tiffin boxes going for 9 quid!). Thanks to Veronica who counted and had to put up with really bad customer service (some things never change).
Andrew and Mathew, happy to be out of the office:
Andrew likes it:
26 November 2008
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
I got to the Souk (Arabian wraps on-the-go) off The Strand at 12.15 and a homeless person (the founder?) was sitting outside a shut shop. So this is what can happen. :o
But I really believe that this is strangely a very good time to be starting. Rents are falling, landlords will get desperate and if you're under 5 quid, you're ok.
So I went to Embankment instead and ate at ... wait for it ... Subway. Ouch. As Kartik says, a mooli's gotta do what a mooli's gotta do. Process wise, they are closer to us than say Wasabi (each sub is made right then) and I wanted to observe them at lunch. It was good to see that they could serve a lot of customers quickly with just 4 people in the shop. The manager, a nice guy, said they do about 200-220 subs in 2 hours. Which seemed right in the 30 min I was there. Wasabi on Oxford Street managed to do a whopping 379 between 12-2pm and Maoz on Old Compton Street did only 58 in the same time on a cold, cold Monday afternoon.
A well deserved coffee at Cafe Vergano.
Tomorrow, I'll be at Wrap It Up! Liverpool Street and at Tortilla Angel on Friday. Lunch anyone?
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
I got to the Souk (Arabian wraps on-the-go) off The Strand at 12.15 and a homeless person (the founder?) was sitting outside a shut shop. So this is what can happen. :o
But I really believe that this is strangely a very good time to be starting. Rents are falling, landlords will get desperate and if you're under 5 quid, you're ok.
So I went to Embankment instead and ate at ... wait for it ... Subway. Ouch. As Kartik says, a mooli's gotta do what a mooli's gotta do. Process wise, they are closer to us than say Wasabi (each sub is made right then) and I wanted to observe them at lunch. It was good to see that they could serve a lot of customers quickly with just 4 people in the shop. The manager, a nice guy, said they do about 200-220 subs in 2 hours. Which seemed right in the 30 min I was there. Wasabi on Oxford Street managed to do a whopping 379 between 12-2pm and Maoz on Old Compton Street did only 58 in the same time on a cold, cold Monday afternoon.
A well deserved coffee at Cafe Vergano.
Tomorrow, I'll be at Wrap It Up! Liverpool Street and at Tortilla Angel on Friday. Lunch anyone?
25 November 2008
Down On The Corner, out in the street
25 november tuesday 11.55am
some live blogging for you. i am sitting outside on oxford st. at the pret (like on the street, not inside) with my laptop next to the wasabi so i can count customers and also observe who/how people buy food. it is fucking cold so please pardon the small caps and any spelling errors. very very cold, hard to type. seriously guys. two more. tick tick. the counter moves. lots of women buying food at wasabi, the hot food is doing well (especially their ramen), lots of deciding/looking taking place. one more. i will put up a picture of my counter from rymans tonight.
as you can gather, this is counting week which means:
a) you get bombarded with blog entries.
b) i freeze my butt off.
yesterday i was at maoz at soho which was very intresting. they are a lean operation. average ticket is higher than i thought. about £5.5/6.0.
lots of counting this week: mexican places (tortilla/mucho mas - was with chandy at tortilla last night - they are sort of similar to us), tiffin bites, wrap it up, souk.
ok it really is too cold to type. will post this now and write later.
ps: my trusted counter
some live blogging for you. i am sitting outside on oxford st. at the pret (like on the street, not inside) with my laptop next to the wasabi so i can count customers and also observe who/how people buy food. it is fucking cold so please pardon the small caps and any spelling errors. very very cold, hard to type. seriously guys. two more. tick tick. the counter moves. lots of women buying food at wasabi, the hot food is doing well (especially their ramen), lots of deciding/looking taking place. one more. i will put up a picture of my counter from rymans tonight.
as you can gather, this is counting week which means:
a) you get bombarded with blog entries.
b) i freeze my butt off.
yesterday i was at maoz at soho which was very intresting. they are a lean operation. average ticket is higher than i thought. about £5.5/6.0.
lots of counting this week: mexican places (tortilla/mucho mas - was with chandy at tortilla last night - they are sort of similar to us), tiffin bites, wrap it up, souk.
ok it really is too cold to type. will post this now and write later.
ps: my trusted counter
01 November 2008
26 September 2008
Which Mooli's do you like?
Thanks to Phil, we have a lot of new ones (click on the picture to make it bigger)! You can pick one out by referring to it by row number and column number. For example, main sheet R3, C4.
Or you could just choose one from our short list (which includes the original). Again short list, R1, C2.
Or you could say something like, I like short list R2, C3 but with the M of short list R1, C2.
Or maybe you just like R2D2.
Or you could just choose one from our short list (which includes the original). Again short list, R1, C2.
Or you could say something like, I like short list R2, C3 but with the M of short list R1, C2.
Or maybe you just like R2D2.
24 September 2008
21 September 2008
Swedish Mooli?
It's about 7 in the evening. I've spent the last six hours walking around Stockholm with David. It's a beautiful city with all the water and the sunshine. We started the day with some strong espresso and then walked to Djurgarden, a beautiful park/forest. Autumn is here. The leaves are changing and the air has a nice edge to it. Before you know it, winter will arrive. And then in 2009, Mooli's.
We went into many interior design shops and cafes. There is a lovely simplicity to the design here. Everything seems to fit. They really get their lighting right too. Back to the walk. We're walking and then out of the blue we see:
There were some cool interior design shops. Saw some different coloured chairs around a table which looked quite nice, something we've talked about as a possibility for Mooli's.
More pictures from the design shops.
David needed that coffee - 'Shouldn't have had the last jagermeister!' Starbucks didn't make it in Sweden. They like it real.
Max, Sweden's answer to McDonalds. I'm loving it.
Ah, the sunshine.
We went into many interior design shops and cafes. There is a lovely simplicity to the design here. Everything seems to fit. They really get their lighting right too. Back to the walk. We're walking and then out of the blue we see:
There were some cool interior design shops. Saw some different coloured chairs around a table which looked quite nice, something we've talked about as a possibility for Mooli's.
More pictures from the design shops.
David needed that coffee - 'Shouldn't have had the last jagermeister!' Starbucks didn't make it in Sweden. They like it real.
Max, Sweden's answer to McDonalds. I'm loving it.
Ah, the sunshine.
10 September 2008
grill baby grill
Pictures from our tastings. No republicans showed up but the chicken tikka was to die for. Thanks to Raju.
Here's to Mooli's. And our juice of the day - Watermelon!
That's the way to do it.
Oh yes!
Tariq likes it.
Happy.
Yummy.
Discussing the food?
Here's to Mooli's. And our juice of the day - Watermelon!
That's the way to do it.
Oh yes!
Tariq likes it.
Happy.
Yummy.
Discussing the food?
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