{"id":15543,"date":"2025-09-04T06:58:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.restroworks.com\/blog\/?p=15543"},"modified":"2025-09-04T06:58:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:58:51","slug":"amit-bagga-on-the-birth-of-daryaganj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/amit-bagga-on-the-birth-of-daryaganj\/","title":{"rendered":"Amit Bagga on Recreating 1947, Competing in Delhi, and and the Birth of Daryaganj\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>From collecting restaurant clippings at 16 to co-founding one of Delhi\u2019s most loved North Indian brands, Amit Bagga\u2019s journey is about resilience, reinvention, and staying true to authentic flavours. He shares how early plans failed, lessons from setbacks, and the origin of Daryaganj, the brand bringing back butter chicken and dal makhani in their purest form along with practical insights on running a successful restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Amit Bagga Reveals the Untold Story Behind Daryaganj\u2019s Butter Chicken Legacy\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pd7C5Un8Noo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We heard that at just 16, you began making a scrapbook of restaurant industry articles from the Economic Times. What inspired that, and how did it shape your journey?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga:<\/strong> I\u2019ve always been a foodie, and at 16, I started subscribing to the Economic Times, cutting out every restaurant or hotel article I found. Over time, I built a scrapbook with hundreds of clippings, which gave me early insight into the industry and made me determined to open a restaurant. After school, I convinced my family to back a South Delhi location, but in 2001, property sealing and soaring rents killed the plan, and I was heartbroken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I shifted to launching salons instead, until a chance meeting with a restaurateur friend in Khan Market pulled me back in. Initially, I refused, determined never to enter the restaurant business. But soon realized I loved building restaurants from scratch and that\u2019s how my first venture, Boombox Cafe, was born. Followed by OTB in Hauz Khas Village. Both did really well. The numbers were crazy back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>That must have felt like a great start. What came next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga: <\/strong>It did, and I decided to scale with food-based concepts, believing they were more sustainable than bar-focused businesses. I launched three new brands: Farsi (Middle Eastern shawarma), Desia (Indian street food), and Makina (Mexican); all in Hauz Khas Village. That was my biggest mistake. I put all my eggs in one basket, in a market that was unregulated and facing infrastructure issues. Then, Farsi\u2019s license got rejected due to \u201ctraffic congestion.\u201d Slowly, the market declined, and all three shut within months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So it wasn\u2019t just the new ventures, even OTB suffered?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga: <\/strong>Exactly. With Hauz Khas dying, OTB also had to close. I sold other restaurants to cover debts. By 2015\u201316, from having six to seven restaurants, I had none. People, including relatives, wrote me off, saying my career was finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Looking back, what were your key learnings from that phase?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga:<\/strong> Three main ones:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Don\u2019t open all your brands in one market, it\u2019s too risky.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pick the right first location, even a great concept will fail if the location is wrong.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Focus on food-based concepts for longevity, bars and caf\u00e9s have low loyalty; food brands can last decades.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, I realised a brand should have a strong story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What inspired Daryaganj, and how did you turn that legacy into a brand?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga: <\/strong>The idea came when my childhood friend Raghav Jaggi shared how his grandfather, Mr. Kundan Lal Jaggi, co-invented butter chicken and dal makhani in 1947 at his restaurant in Daryaganj after migrating from Peshawar. These dishes define Indian cuisine globally, but little-known origin.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2017, I met Mr. Jaggi, recorded his stories, and learned about the original techniques and ingredients. Demand was so high back then they even owned a poultry farm, with inflation-adjusted revenues of \u20b97\u20138 crores a month. Sadly, he passed away before we opened, but with his blessings, we launched the first Daryaganj in April 2019 to honour that legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When you launched Daryaganj in 2019, how was the response to the first restaurant?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga: <\/strong>Six months before opening, I began food trials using inputs from Mr. Kundan Lal Jaggi on how dishes were made in 1947. With no written recipes, I reconstructed them from family memories, removed modern gadgets like mixer grinders, and even hand-churned butter. I wanted the team to imagine cooking in 1947, using only the equipment and ingredients of that time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During chef hiring, I\u2019d ask how they made butter chicken or dal makhani. They\u2019d list 18 ingredients. I\u2019d tell them to remove 10. They\u2019d be shocked, but my point was simple; over decades, chefs have overcomplicated Indian food. The best results come from fewer, high-quality ingredients and authentic techniques.<strong><br><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You decided to launch a classic North Indian brand in Delhi, the most competitive butter chicken and dal makhani market in the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga: <\/strong>Exactly. Many people told me it was a mistake, that the future was in fusion or modern Indian concepts. But I felt classic North Indian cuisine was no longer being served properly. Delhi has North Indian restaurants on every corner, but only about 1% serve the kind of quality I envisioned. I took it as a challenge, if we can prove ourselves in Delhi, we can succeed anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>That\u2019s counterintuitive, entering the most competitive space. But according to you, how is Daryaganj positioned, and what makes the experience unique?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga: <\/strong>We position Daryaganj as serving comfort North Indian food at reasonable prices, with great value and a contemporary yet nostalgic setting. But it\u2019s more than food, we design the experience around all five senses.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sight: <\/strong>relaxed premium interiors with brick walls, retro accents, and warm lighting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Touch: <\/strong>comfortable seating, earthy table surfaces, brass bowls for butter chicken, bone china plates for mains.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Smell: <\/strong>a signature fragrance blending a contemporary note with an Indian flower, refined over 100 iterations.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sound: <\/strong>300\u2013400 soulful, unplugged classics by new-age artists to connect with all generations.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Taste: <\/strong>light yet flavourful food by returning to authentic techniques and simplifying recipes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Let\u2019s break down the unit economics of a Daryaganj store.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga: <\/strong>For most restaurants, there are three big costs: COGS (food &amp; beverage cost), manpower, and rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>COGS<\/strong> \u2013 We\u2019ve brought this down to <strong>28%<\/strong> through menu engineering.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Manpower<\/strong> \u2013 Salaries plus statutory compliances and service charge cost us about <strong>15\u201317%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rent<\/strong> \u2013 Capped at <strong>15%<\/strong> of sales.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Utilities<\/strong> \u2013 2\u20133%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Aggregator &amp; booking commissions<\/strong> \u2013 4\u20135% (Zomato, Swiggy, Easy Diner, Dineout)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Marketing<\/strong> \u2013 Only 1\u20131.5%, max 2% including digital spends.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We focus heavily on word-of-mouth marketing, channelling resources into customer experience instead of ad spend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So you spend far less on marketing than most brands?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga: <\/strong>Yes. We believe the best marketing is a happy customer. We are extremely customer-obsessed, every review from every platform is pulled into one dashboard daily. We run sentiment analysis to identify trends, and our customer experience head personally monitors them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If a negative review comes in, it triggers an immediate ticket to the outlet manager. The manager must answer three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Why did it happen?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How will you prevent it in the future?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What\u2019s the resolution for the guest?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If a young aspiring restaurateur walked in today with \u20b92 crore and said, \u201cI want to open a restaurant,\u201d what would you tell them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amit Bagga: <\/strong>First, <strong>don\u2019t enter this industry if you think it\u2019s glamorous<\/strong>, it\u2019s one of the toughest businesses. You work when everyone else is celebrating: New Year\u2019s Eve, festivals, family occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, <strong>don\u2019t get in just for money<\/strong>. As Steve Jobs said, only passion will make you persevere through challenges. In restaurants, you need 99.99% things to go right every single day. Without passion, you won\u2019t survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Third, <strong>gain hands-on experience<\/strong>. Work for a restaurateur, or at least spend time in a live restaurant environment. I even offer, if you want to enter this business, come spend a week with me at Daryaganj and see what it\u2019s really like. You\u2019ll quickly realise it\u2019s not as easy as it looks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amit Bagga\u2019s journey shows that great brands need more than good food, they thrive on passion, precision, and a focus on customer experience. By reviving 1947 recipes and creating a five-senses dining experience, Daryaganj honours culinary heritage while building a sustainable growth model. His story reminds aspiring restaurateurs that with vision, discipline, and heart, challenges can become a lasting legacy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From collecting restaurant clippings at 16 to co-founding one of Delhi\u2019s most loved North Indian brands, Amit Bagga\u2019s journey is about resilience, reinvention, and staying true to authentic flavours. He shares how early plans failed, lessons from setbacks, and the origin of Daryaganj, the brand bringing back butter chicken and dal makhani in their purest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-restrocast-podcast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.restroworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}