After being a cloud kitchen Samosa Singh, the street food king, has opened its first outlet in Thane, Mumbai. Co-founder Nidhi Singh speaks about how she and her husband SV Singh quit their thriving careers as scientists to pursue their dream of creating an Indian street snack brand. Times were tough, especially during the pandemic but their hard work and perseverance paid off. Today, Samosa Singh is a brand that is synonymous with yummy, mouthwatering, hygienic street food.
Here, Nidhi Singh talks to Sumita Chakraborty, Editor-in-chief, TheGlitz, about their brand Samosa Singh, its unique name, the transition from being scientists to being entrepreneurs and how despite problems and woes, they managed to thrive and create a brand that’s causing quite a stir in the street food segment. Over to Nidhi!
The Journey
Could you tell us about your Samosa Singh journey?
Samosa Singh was started to address the highly unmet need in the market—to bridge the existing gap in the Indian Samosa market by providing a hygienic, fresh, and thrilling convergence of types with regional tastes in one location, resulting in a large popular appeal. Well, we quit our thriving careers to pursue our dream of creating an Indian snack brand and what better than our very own Samosas and street foods? We were so sure of our dream coming to realization and had no qualms of putting in all our savings, newly built home into the business. Through Samosa Singh, we’ve found a way to strengthen this bond, and by positioning ourselves as leaders in the underpenetrated and fragmented gourmet snack market, Samosa Singh is poised for immense growth.
What’s In A Name
What is the story behind the name?
Samosa Singh. The word itself throws up so many images. Colourful and Eclectic. Just like our country. Singh is the surname shared by 36 million Indians. The commoners surname. The symbol of their roots so when we decided to adopt the one snack that bound this country’s cultures, we went a step ahead and decided to surprise ourselves–We didn’t just give it a new look. We didn’t just give it a new taste. We didn’t just give it a new feel…..We gave it a surname – Samosa Singh. And we made it a part of our family.
Samosa Singh started out as a cloud kitchen, right?
India has a huge demand for our street foods and there is a big unmet need in the market. During Covid when movement was restricted the best option was to reach out to the consumers with our street food through online deliveries and cloud kitchens. The response was overwhelming and consumers loved our freshly done samosas and chaats.
As a couple involved in the same business, what are the challenges you faced in this journey?
It has been a long and eventful journey of being a scientist and then giving it all up to actually build a high-growth successful business. As first-time entrepreneurs who quit our jobs to pursue our dream – we put everything we made into the business so, truthfully—we have seen it all!
There were tough days—including Covid-19 which changed the entire dynamics and overnight the revenue stumped to almost zero! But we never gave up and worked the hardest during these years and as of today, we have managed to tread on the path of building a multi-million dollar business with our passion. As rightly said, if you want the rainbow, you have to deal with the rain.
What are the milestones in your journey you are especially proud of?
From a working couple to entrepreneurs, from a single outlet to a multi-city status, from selling a single samosa sold to over 80 million pieces and from a two-member team to a fired-up team of almost 180 youngsters, SV and I have crossed our first frontiers as we look at the future with bright eyes.
What’s next for Samosa Singh?
Samosa Singh is on the journey to reinvent and lead the Indian snack market. It has made strides in the last few quarters and is one of the fastest growing for fresh Indian street foods and samosas. The brand is aiming to cater Pan India within next 20 months. Growth and expansion is on the cards and Samosa Singh now is foraying into the physical outlets opening across the cities along with International expansion. Our Thane outlet is the first.
