2017 to 2021 · India · 4 outlets

The Funnel Hill Creamery.

Co-Founder · F&B

Core responsibility

Build and run a profitable multi-outlet F&B brand end to end: capital, operations, people, and growth.

P&L OwnershipBusiness StrategyOperations at ScaleTeam LeadershipFundraising

The Funnel Hill Creamery was an American diner brand I co-founded in 2017 with a $70K investment. My first venture had taught me an expensive lesson about where money needs to go, so this one started differently: unit economics first, growth second. Over four years, that discipline turned one restaurant into a brand.

We scaled to four company-owned outlets in Hyderabad, raising $200K to fund the expansion, and grew to roughly $400K in annual retail revenue. Behind the storefronts was the real work: hiring and building a team of 70 across front and back of house, managing an inventory of 250+ SKUs, and standardising operations and supply chain so that quality was identical at every outlet, every day. Opening HORECA sales channels added another 20% to revenue on top of retail.

Then COVID arrived, the hardest stress test a hospitality business can face. An employee incentive programme we designed kept 93% of the team through the crisis, a hygiene-first delivery campaign kept revenue moving when dining rooms closed, and our customer satisfaction index rose from 80% to 92% during the industry's worst period. Four years of product-market fit, unit economics and people leadership, with my own capital on the line.

$70K → $400K/yr

Investment to annual revenue

4

Company-owned outlets

93%

Staff retention through COVID

Measured impact

Growth journey 2017 → 2021
Annual revenue growth toward $400K, with outlet openings marked as milestones.
$0K$100K$200K$300K$400K20172018201920202021
COVID resilience
Kept the team, kept the customers, kept the brand.
Staff retention
93%
0%100%
Customer satisfaction
+12 pts

Notes from journey

01

Unit Economics Before Ambition

Unit EconomicsP&L OwnershipBusiness Strategy
Challenge

An earlier venture had taught me that ambition without unit economics rarely ends well. Starting a new brand meant approaching the numbers very differently this time.

What I did

Every decision began with the numbers: what a plate costs, what a location can yield, and what an outlet should return before opening the next one. Growth followed from the model working, rather than the other way around. That discipline is a big part of why we could raise $200K on the strength of the first outlet and grow to four.

02

Consistency as a System

Operations at ScaleSupply ChainQuality Systems
Challenge

With four outlets, 250+ SKUs and a customer expectation that every visit tastes the same, consistency needed to live in the system, not in any one person.

What I did

We standardised recipes, processes, supply chain and quality routines so that consistency didn't depend on individual heroics. Inventory of 250+ SKUs was managed across outlets with quality holding steady day to day. That system is what made expansion feasible in the first place.

03

Growth Beyond the Storefront

Channel StrategyHORECA SalesBrand Marketing
Challenge

Retail footfall has a natural ceiling, and a brand that lives in only one channel is more exposed than it looks, something 2020 made very clear.

What I did

We opened HORECA channels (hotels, restaurants, catering) that added roughly 20% to revenue on top of retail. When COVID closed dining rooms, a hygiene-first delivery campaign on Instagram lifted engagement by 60% and delivery sales by 30%, enough to keep the brand steady through a very difficult period.

04

People as the Strategy

Team LeadershipPeople OpsCulture Design
Challenge

Hospitality lost staff everywhere during COVID, and losing the team would have meant losing the experience customers came back for.

What I did

We hired and led 70 people across front and back of house. An employee incentive programme helped us retain 93% of the team through the crisis, and customer satisfaction moved from 80% to 92% in the same period. The people who stayed were, in effect, the experience.

Skills applied

P&L OwnershipBusiness StrategyOperations at ScaleTeam LeadershipFundraisingUnit EconomicsSupply ChainBrand & MarketingHORECA SalesCrisis Management

Key learnings

Running a business with my own capital taught me things no course could: that unit economics decide survival before ambition does, that consistency is a system you build and not a standard you announce, and that in a crisis, how you treat your people is the strategy. Everything I now do in product management, from writing business cases to designing processes people actually follow, traces back to these four years.

What this role proves

That I can build, capitalise, scale and lead a business end to end, with my own money on the line, and hold it together through a crisis without losing the team, the customers or the brand.

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