From Google Ads to Bohri Biryanis: How Munaf Kapadia Transformed Family Recipes into a Mumbai Food Empire
In a city where street eats and fine dining collide, Munaf Kapadia has quietly built a culinary bridge between tradition and modern hustle. What began as a lighthearted ploy to reclaim the TV remote from his mother has evolved into The Bohri Kitchen, a beloved Mumbai brand that serves up Dawoodi Bohra feasts through intimate home dining and reliable home deliveries. This story of family, flavor, and fearless reinvention underscores the rising power of homegrown food ventures in India’s evolving culinary scene.
The spark ignited in December 2014, when Kapadia, then a 26-year-old account strategist at Google India, grew tired of his mother Nafisa’s soap opera marathons hogging the living room screen. In a moment of whimsy, he fired off an email to a handful of friends, inviting them to their Colaba home for a paid “supper club” featuring his mom’s home-cooked Bohri meals.
“I was frustrated with being denied TV time by my mom who was hooked onto watching saas-bahu shows,” Kapadia later recounted in his 2021 book, How I Quit Google to Sell Samosas, published by HarperCollins India. The response was immediate: reservations poured in, and the first event on November 20, 2014, sold out, marking the unofficial launch of The Bohri Kitchen.
From those humble beginnings, Kapadia saw an opportunity to spotlight the rich, under-the-radar traditions of Dawoodi Bohra cuisine – a Muslim community known for its flavorful, spice-laden dishes rooted in Gujarati, Hyderabadi, and Yemeni influences. Bohri meals, often shared communally from large silver platters called thaals, emphasize slow-cooked meats, aromatic rice, and sweet-savory balances that reflect the community’s history of trade and migration. Kapadia’s venture quickly gained traction among Mumbai’s food enthusiasts, drawing celebrities like actress Shilpa Shetty and filmmaker Farah Khan, who praised the authenticity in social media shoutouts.
By July 2015, convinced of its potential, Kapadia left his high-paying Google role to become full-time CEO of the operation. “It was difficult to leave a highly paid job in Google and start my own business,” he told The Weekend Leader in a 2019 interview. “My sales and marketing skills helped me to plan out the business.” Under his leadership, The Bohri Kitchen expanded beyond weekend pop-ups at the family home. In 2016, they opened a cloud kitchen in Worli for home deliveries, followed by additional outlets across Mumbai.
All chefs underwent personal training from Nafisa, ensuring the food retained its homemade soul – think melt-in-your-mouth raan (mutton leg marinated for 48 hours and slow-cooked), layered Bohri dum biryani with signature potatoes, and crispy keema samosas.
The business’s growth didn’t go unnoticed. In 2017, Kapadia was named a Forbes India 30 Under 30 honoree in the food and hospitality category, with the magazine highlighting how he had “turned his mum’s cooking into a brand.” That same year, he won the reality TV show Grilled on Fox Life, further amplifying the venture’s profile. By the first half of fiscal year 2019-20, The Bohri Kitchen had generated revenue of over Rs 4 crore, according to reports in The Weekend Leader, employing more than 40 people and serving thousands through deliveries and events.
Yet, Kapadia’s path wasn’t without hurdles. Early on, his family viewed the project as a side gig, and scaling a home-based concept in a competitive market tested their resolve. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 brought fresh challenges, forcing a pivot to delivery-only models amid lockdowns. “We are looking at biryani, samosas, haleem, nalli nihari, raan in red masala, and traditional sweet dishes,” Kapadia shared with Moneycontrol in 2021, noting a surge in orders from professionals working remotely. He also navigated trademark battles; after five years of appeals, India’s Patent and Trademark Office registered “The Bohri Kitchen” as his brand in 2020, a victory he celebrated on his website as proof of the venture’s distinct identity separate from community descriptors.
Nafisa Kapadia emerged as the quiet force behind it all, transforming from a dedicated homemaker into a culinary icon. “We never acknowledged my mother’s cooking skills. So, when I saw strangers appreciating her food preparations, we were surprised,” Kapadia reflected in The Weekend Leader. Her specialties not only fueled the menu but also inspired a broader conversation about recognizing women’s roles in preserving cultural recipes. As Kapadia wrote in his book, dedicating it to Indian housewives as “great custodians of cuisine and culture,” the venture tapped into a growing appetite for culinary tourism that honors everyday guardians of heritage.
Today, The Bohri Kitchen stands as a testament to how personal passion can fuel sustainable success in India’s food industry, where home chefs are increasingly challenging restaurant giants. By blending Nafisa’s time-tested techniques with Munaf’s digital savvy – from Instagram reels showcasing thaal feasts to targeted email campaigns – the brand has popularized Bohri flavors beyond niche circles, making them a staple at corporate events, Iftar gatherings, and family celebrations. This matters in a nation where regional cuisines risk fading amid globalization; ventures like this preserve stories on every plate, fostering pride in diverse identities while creating jobs and economic ripples in local communities.
Looking ahead, Kapadia has stepped back from day-to-day operations since 2020 to focus on storytelling and mentorship, but The Bohri Kitchen continues to thrive, with its website emphasizing “delicious meals and happy tummies” through curated experiences and deliveries across Mumbai. As he told Global Indian in a 2024 interview, “The Bohri Kitchen was never meant to be scaled… I learned this! When I started TBK as a home dining experience, I was thinking of what was good for TBK.” This measured approach offers a blueprint for aspiring entrepreneurs: prioritize authenticity over unchecked expansion.
In an era of fast food and fleeting trends, stories like the Kapadias’ remind us that the most enduring businesses often start with a shared meal – and a mother’s unwavering touch.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, October 14, 2025 10:51 am by Startup Newswire Team
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