Munaf Kapadia

Meet Munaf Kapadia an extraordinary man with extraordinary journey from Google to Bohra food .

Munaf Kapadia’s ‘The Bohri Kitchen’ is a well-known name for its authentic and traditional food from the Dawoodi Bohra culture.

But it’s not just the food, the story of this kitchen’s inception also makes it quite unique. It was established by Kapadia, an ex-Google employee, who quit his plush job in 2015 to dig his feet into the food and dining business.

Celebrity chef and TV personality Sanjeev Kapoor said that the author’s “madness, combined with his mother’s love for home-style Bohra food, are the perfect recipe for a journey worth taking.”.

The author’s former boss at Google, now operating partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, Vikas Agnihotri, said that the book depicts love for your values, respect for your culture and entrepreneurial spirit to give it lifeChef Ranveer Brar called Kapadia’s food journey inspiring, while film critic and author Anupama Chopra said that she was an admirer of his audacity and ambition and as a fellow ‘solopreneur’, could relate to his bumpy but always joyous journey.

Kapadia details this extraordinary journey from a fast-growing career to beginning a food concept, in his memoir titled ‘How I Quit Google to Sell Samosas’. 

The book, published by Harper Collins, will be released on 10 April on ‘SoftCover’ — ThePrint’s e-venue to launch select non-fiction books.

In his book, Kapadia talks about how his experience at home with traditional Bohra food, inspired him to brand and market ‘The Bohri Kitchen’.

Kapadia completed his MBA from Mumbai’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and worked for four years as an Account Strategist at Google India before establishing ‘The Bohri Kitchen’ in 2014.

As CEO, he executed a cohesive branding and marketing strategy, which led to an annual outlook of Rs 4.5 crore in 2019. Kapadia was also featured on the cover of the Forbes India 30 Under 30 Edition in 2017.

In another world, Munaf Kapadia’s entrepreneurial story would be a coming of age film — a boy quits a high-flying job to start a homegrown business. The duress of convincing his parents would constitute the emotional core and approval from strangers, the clinching parting shot. But life begins where films end.

Growing up, Munaf’s religious identity was rooted in eating Bohra thaal at home. Food was the access and vestige of his community. While still at Google, he worked on expanding his roots, acquainting people with Bohri food. The business began at home. He sent a WhatsApp invitation to everyone he knew. Most responded asking not to spam. But come Sunday, and the first batch of strangers arrived at his Colaba house. They sat together and ate Bohri food out of a thaal. Believing they had guests, Munaf’s parents were thrilled. His mother Nafisa was the star. The subterfuge business worked and word of mouth travelled.

 Kapadia's mother still leads the cooking, while he takes care of branding, marketing and social media