For Vishnu Das Kumaran, his business is not just about serving delectable food. It is about serving food that is also healthy and of the highest quality – the kind of food he likes to have himself. From a humble beginning to setting up one of the most-loved bakeries in the city – Vishnu has had a rocky-yet-eventful journey. We talk to him and trace out the road he has walked so far, how his years of working abroad have shaped him, and what inspired him to start Chef Bakers.
How did you get interested in the food and hospitality industry?
My father used to run a small paan shop. But even in that humble shop, he hosted people like the erstwhile governor of Chennai and the principal of my college (IIHM). So, maybe, hospitality was always there in my blood. Even today, my instinct is to serve the best food to our guests, the kind of food that I and my business partners want to have ourselves.
Tell us a bit about how you began your career in this field.
I started my career with the Sheraton Group Of Hotels in India. After that, I moved to Dubai to work at the iconic luxury hotel Burj-Al-Arab and then at the famous cruise liner Queen Elizabeth 2 until I met my college mate, Mr. Gnanasekar. We wanted to start a food joint in Chennai around 2006. But that did not work out. We came to Bengaluru in 2006, wanting to build something around bakery and confectionery
products. Two years later, we opened an outlet for Chef Bakers in Marathahalli. By 2011, we had
three to four outlets.
You moved to Dubai to work at places like Burj-Al–Arab and QE2. How did that period of life impact you?
What impacted me the most was the multicultural environment of Dubai – I was working with people from more than 40 different countries in Burj-Al-Arab! These experiences shape you in small but important ways. For instance, I think that it has exposed me to diverse food palates. That has helped me curate a diverse range of products at Chef Bakers.