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Basu Ratnam on Expanding the Reach of Indian Cuisine through INDAY

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About this episode

#79. In this episode of The meez Podcast, host Josh Sharkey sits down with Basu Ratnam, founder of karma-infused restaurant group, INDAY. INDAY came to life while Basu was working in finance in New York City. As his career progressed, he felt increasingly disconnected from what he truly cared about. With lifelong memories of being around food and a mother who instilled the belief that food can nourish the mind, body, spirit, and community, he saw the potential of pursuing that idea through INDAY.

This conversation offers an insightful look into the challenges and rewards of scaling restaurants. Basu discusses his role as a founder, emphasizing the importance of supporting and nurturing the chefs he works with, ensuring their success and happiness.


Where to find Basu Ratnam:

Where to find INDAY

Where to find host Josh Sharkey:

What We Cover

(01:17): Basu's background at Brown and favorite Providence restaurants

(07:29): Basu's familial background and what his mom used to cook

(10:53): Why Basu decided to open a fast-casual Indian space

(16:04): The impetus for store number two

(21:55): Opening restaurants and stress management

(24:21): The why behind INDAY existing

(32:22): Infusing mindfulness into INDAY's culture

(34:57): Acquiring Beatnic

(43:10): What keeps Basu up at night

(47:34): What makes Basu angry

Transcript

[00:00:00] Basu Ratnam:

I read something, someone said, if you don't have 10 minutes for yourself every day, you really need to take two months off and reevaluate.

[00:00:09] Josh Sharkey:

You're listening to season two of The meez Podcast. I'm your host, Josh Sharkey, the founder and CEO of meez, a culinary operating system for food professionals. On the show, we're going to talk to high performers in the food business, everything from chefs to CEOs, technologists, writers, investors, and more about how they innovate and operate and how they consistently execute at a high level day after day.

[00:00:33]

And I would really love it if you could drop us a five star review anywhere that you listen to your podcast. That could be Apple, that could be Spotify, could be Google. I'm not picky anywhere works, but I really appreciate the support. And as always, I hope you enjoy the show.

[00:00:50] Josh Sharkey:

I was doing a little digging.

[00:00:50] Basu Ratnam:

Mmhmm.

[00:00:51] Josh Sharkey:

Couldn't find much other than I think you went to Brown.

[00:00:53] Basu Ratnam:

Yeah.

[00:00:53] Josh Sharkey:

When did you go to Brown?

[00:00:54] Basu Ratnam:

Uh, I graduated 2009.

[00:00:56] Josh Sharkey:

Ah, jeez, man. I'm old. I went to Johnson Wales. Oh, really? I graduated in like 2000 99. 99 or 2000.

[00:01:05] Basu Ratnam:

You were a chef. Yeah. I didn't realize that.

[00:01:07] Josh Sharkey:

I spent most of my career cooking. Oh, cool. Like fine dining New York City kind of thing.

[00:01:10]

But, uh, we did a bunch of partying on Thayer Street. Yeah? Where? Do you remember? I mean, no.

[00:01:17] Basu Ratnam:

What was your favorite restaurant in Providence?

[00:01:19] Josh Sharkey:

So for me, the pizza shop, the, the wood, the wood fire pizza, pizza place. Oh my god, now I'm spacing on the name. It's near Brown.

[00:01:26] Basu Ratnam:

On, uh

[00:01:27] Josh Sharkey:

Oh my god. Now

[00:01:28] Basu Ratnam:

Was it on Thayer or no?

[00:01:29] Josh Sharkey:

Wiley. I'm sorry. Cause Wiley actually worked, worked there. And, um, I'll remember No, no. I'll remember it. And then I'll Yeah, yeah. I'll make a note about this. But there's a really awesome, like They're still around. Actually, I don't have my phone or I would Google it. But there's a pizza joint there that I really love.

[00:01:45]

Otherwise, the past, man, I was like 17. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I went to culinary school. Working every day. Yeah. So, I didn't really, like You know, and I actually didn't even get into cooking fully until after that.

[00:01:57] Basu Ratnam:

What did you do after college?

[00:01:58] Josh Sharkey:

Well, I kept cooking but I like went to, uh, I entered this contest when I was in culinary school and I ended up like somehow making it to the finals and then winning and so I, they flew me to New York and the judges were these chefs that now I know very well.

[00:02:12]

Luckily, I didn't know them back then. Eric Ripert and Marcus Hambleson. Oh, Jesus. Rick Moonen and um, Rocco Dispirito.

[00:02:18] Basu Ratnam:

Oh wow.

[00:02:19] Josh Sharkey:

But um, I ended up winning so they flew me to Norway for like, we all went to Norway This was after college or before college? Yeah, after. Oh wow. So like I cooked, you know, I cooked in Norway.

[00:02:26]

Yeah. And so there's a bunch of restaurants and. I mean, that's what I was like, Holy shit, I'm going to do that for the rest of my life. But anyways,

[00:02:31] Basu Ratnam:

What was the competition?

[00:02:33] Josh Sharkey:

It was for the, um, the Norwegian Seafood Export Council hosted this, uh, like contest. I think they were just trying to promote, you know, Norwegian salmon.

[00:02:41]

Yeah. So it was just like a competition with salmon and with like people from around the world and, you know,

[00:02:46] Basu Ratnam:

That's incredible.

[00:02:47] Josh Sharkey:

That's what, that's kind of what kickstarted, you know, like my actual career in cooking. When I lived in Providence, Yeah. You know, first of all, it was like, Yeah. What's the mayor's name that was there?

[00:02:57]

Uh, Cianci. Buddy Cianci. Yeah, it was still like that kind of time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he had just sort of like been indicted or something. Yeah. Or stepped down. So it was um, it was a different city back then. But I didn't eat out that much. What about you? Did you?

[00:03:10] Basu Ratnam:

Yeah, I mean, maybe that's where I knew my background in food came from. I used to, when I was in Providence, and I bet it's still true to some extent, they used to say the best food in Boston was in Providence, or the best restaurant in Boston. I never heard that. Yeah, I mean, it was just, we used to eat out on Federal Hill all the time. I would go downtown to Al Forno.

[00:03:29] Josh Sharkey:

Al Forno, that's the place.

[00:03:30] Basu Ratnam:

Is that the place? That's what I was thinking about, Al Forno.

[00:03:32]

That's grilled pizza though, it's not wood fired. Yeah,

[00:03:33] Josh Sharkey:

Oh yeah, that's right, it's grilled. Al Forno, that was the one that I grilled up. Oh, incredible.

[00:03:38] Basu Ratnam:

So we used to go and I realized, you know, like, I did the math that a meal, like, in the food hall was roughly broke out to like 18 bucks a meal until I convinced my parents to get off the meal plan.

[00:03:49]

That's smart. Yeah, and I would go down there and split like a pizza and a pasta and it was like 21 bucks. We'd eat it in our car, in like the parking lot. Yeah. So I guess I, I, I've always been obsessed with food.

[00:04:00] Josh Sharkey:

That's awesome. Yeah. You do four years at Brown?

[00:04:02] Basu Ratnam:

Yeah, four years.

[00:04:02] Josh Sharkey:

Yeah, that was like, is that your only college? Mm hmm. Mm hmm. It's uh, it's awesome. I always remember being at, you know, in culinary school and, you know, running into the Brown kids. Yeah. Or the, or the, uh, or the RISD kids and being like, oh, yeah, that's actual college students.

[00:04:19] Basu Ratnam:

Barely.

[00:04:19] Josh Sharkey:

Why'd you go to Brown? You're not from that area, right?

[00:04:21] Basu Ratnam:

No, I'm from Long Island. Yeah. Um, I went to Brown kind of I played tennis, so it was a great tennis program. My parents wanted me to go to a good school and it was like the right mix of academics, athletics. And I wanted, you know, I didn't spend a lot of time studying in high school. And so I wanted a place that allowed me to kind of figure out.

[00:04:44]

You know, broadly what I wanted to do and I sort of attracted to the, to the nature of the school.

[00:04:50] Josh Sharkey:

What did your parents do?

[00:04:51] Basu Ratnam:

So my mom is a, she's a PhD in psychology, she's a professor, she's head of a department at SUNY Old Westbury, and my dad is a engineer by trade, so. Software, electrical, mechanical? Uh, mechanical engineer. You know.

[00:05:04] Josh Sharkey:

Nice. I don't know if your parents, so my dad wanted me to go to Wharton.

[00:05:08] Basu Ratnam:

He wanted you

[00:05:08] Josh Sharkey:

Went to culinary school instead. How are your parents? I mean, obviously you're doing really well now, but you went to Brown and now you have restaurants.

[00:05:14] Basu Ratnam:

Oh no, it's a huge, I mean, my dad wanted me to go to Wharton, my mom wanted me to go to Harvard, so I managed to disappoint them both.

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