Copyright gqindia
On a recent night in Mumbai, as a collaboration between critically acclaimed restaurant Masque and Michelin-starred Japanese chef Hiroyasu Kawate played out, Aditi Dugar sat at the next table juggling between staying on top of an Ambani family gig she was jetting off to the next morning; listening to and asking questions as the chefs presented each course; and ensuring two of her three sons, who were at the table, were eating well. Husband and business partner, Aditya, kept up the banter, even as he played consummate host to every table of the packed restaurant. The scene, in a way, encapsulates Dugar’s life. As co-founder of Urban Gourmet India, with four food businesses in Mumbai—Sage and Saffron, a catering business that’s her oldest venture; TwentySeven Bakehouse, a mass premium dining concept; its newest baby, Bar Paradox, a “paradox to Masque”, as she calls it; and, of course, Masque, a pioneer in Indian fine dining—Dugar has her fingers in more pies than some of us will bake in a lifetime. Perhaps it helps that she’s a trained baker with professional experience under her belt from stints at institutions such as the two Michelin-starred Le Gavroche. “That was long before I ever knew I wanted to be in the food industry,” she says. Then there were stints at Zuma, Eleven Madison Park and—wait for it—a vegetarian street food vendor, May Kaidee, in Bangkok. The Michelin venues taught her “the quiet repetition and rigour required” to excel. “It was almost like a symphony and I was in awe of it; I knew if I ever opened a fine-dining restaurant, it would be like that.” Zuma taught her to perform under pressure: “I never get down by last-minute requests. I know how to pivot and make it happen.” And then there was May Kaidee, the Thai chef who has now established a restaurant in New York. “I had already started working on my mother’s catering business when I apprenticed with May Kaidee; it was inspiring to see how she took her business from a home-style venture to grow it to become a professional enterprise,” Dugar says. All that groundwork certainly explains her ability to think big, pay attention to detail, multitask, and get it all done to perfection. “I think my smile goes a long way in being able to work through things,” she says, half-jokingly, as we chatted at the GQ Heroes summit in Bengaluru. A joyful disposition alone does not help build an empire. “When I go to forums and they realise that I’m not the chef, they’ll ask, ‘What do you actually do in these businesses?’ A lot of women in the food business get asked these ridiculous questions because the food industry has always been a boys’ club. But it’s changing; India’s top two restaurants are run by women. I love building brands, and that’s what I have focused on.” What perhaps makes Dugar even more unique in her field is that she appears to have that left-brain-right-brain synergy, thanks to an earlier avatar as a financial analyst working with firms such as the UK-based wealth management company Collins Stewart. “It taught me to be analytical, but in a very emotional way,” she explains. “Food is such a creative space that you can stray off. But we have to keep our eyes on profits and losses, especially when you have 280 employees and you’re seeking to grow not just yourself, but the company. Aditya keeps us in check.” The most useful advice she’s received on her journey—“never be in a rush”—she says, is from the three men in her life she leans on for financial advice: her maternal uncle, her father and her brother. “If you’re building a legacy brand, it takes time, and I think that’s why, even after 12 years, we think twice about raising money. There are many avenues that this business has created for us and there’s a temptation to grow very quickly all the time.” By that she means pivoting to the direct-to-consumer FMCG business and figuring out how to scale businesses like TwentySeven Bakehouse, which “has become a beast of its own”. Raising capital to make it all happen is certainly on the horizon. “We have to figure out which knock on the door to answer,” she offers, alluding to investor interest in her businesses. Given that both she and Aditya are avid players of card games—teen patti and poker—they’re in it for the long game. There’s also another dream to fulfil: “I want to have a boutique hotel of my own,” says Dugar. We will be waiting to check in. Head of Editorial Content: Che Kurrien Hair & Make-up: Anuradha Raman Set Designer: Purnima Nath Art Director: Mihir Shah Entertainment Director: Megha Mehta Senior Entertainment Editor: Rebecca Gonsalves Visuals Editor: Shubhra Shukla Production: Nafromax Productions Fashion Assistants: Mahek Gada, Saiee Nalawade Hair & Make-up Assistants: Madhura Deokute, Suraj Tiwari
