From Rupees 30,000 To 100Cr,The Journey Of Food Startup WOW!Momo

“When You Make Well You will Share well this is success secret for any business say’s Sagar Daryani co-founder Kolkata Based food startup Wow!Momo.

Wow!Momo is a chain of fast food restaurants headquartered in Kolkata, specializing in Momos, started by Binod Homagai, and Sagar Daryani in 2008.

I always passionate by brands and I would like to keep in textbooks with logos of top brands like Nike Adidas and my friend’s textbooks full of with notes but my textbook was full of with logos and brands. Say’s Sagar.

Sagar Daryani Say’s I was dirty with maths and numbers so and I knew I never clear CAT. So, the question was what next after college. I always wanted to build a brand and there is no better option than entering food business to develop a brand. In the food business, everything works through the word of mouth. Before momos, we thought of various concepts.

How The Idea came In?

When I was in school there is one aunt who sells momos and we called her as momo aunty I buy one plate and eat one piece and momos are brilliant That gives me the confidence the good quality momos will sell. When Binod started making it I was like yaar people play with burgers and pizzas why can’t we play with momos Say’s Sagar. That’s the how Wow!Momo came in.

Sagar and Binod started Wow!Momo with steamed momos, and soon came up with different varieties, Like chicken, chicken and cheese, schezwan, and prawn. For vegetarians, the offerings include corn, and corn and cheese, among others.

The vision from day 1 branded KFC and dominos came from abroad let’s create the Indian brand that goes abroad and that’s how Wow!momo created with very small humble begin.

How Did They start?

To start their first outlet, Sagar and Binod approached the supermarket chain Spencers to set up a stall. In the earlier days, Sagar would wear a Wow!Momo T-shirt and approach every person entering the store, and ask them to sample the momos.

When we started we don’t have money to give one momo to everyone so we make one momo into 3 pieces and gave it to the people we were believed in our taste if they taste once they will come for another say’s Sagar.

At the start, they don’t have money and began with borrowing Rs 30,000 from their parents as initial capital. Sagar also managed to rope in part-time chef Ramji KC who was working at a small restaurant in the city.

“Paying him a part-time salary of Rs 3000, we would get him to come to my father’s garage, which worked as a makeshift kitchen to make the momos for Wow!Momo,” adds Sagar.

On the first day, the team’s sales were Rs 2200, and by the end of the month, had touched Rs 53,000. Today, Chef Ramji works full-time for Wow!Momo, and is the head chef with a salary of Rs 1.5 lakh a month.

The growing food business.

The food business is slowly picking up in India, and while investors believe the business is operationally intensive, some tested and proven models continue to thrive and grow.

Wow!Momo has also raised Series B funding of Rs 44 crore led by Lighthouse Funds and IAN at a valuation of Rs 230 crore. The company is also looking at an IPO in the next six to seven years. Currently, it aims to open over 1,000  stores across the country.