When FCSI Senior Associate Rahool Talwar, founder and executive director of Rethink Hospitality, first met the founders of Beyond Loaf – husband and wife duo Ritesh and Shika Parakh and Shika’s sister Ridhi Kankaria – in 2023, they had been operating their bakery from their home kitchen in Chennai for three years.
The business started as a home baking project in 2020 – during Covid restrictions – in Shika and Ridhi’s mother’s kitchen. Their sweet and savory breads were such a success among family and friends, that the trio had to move into a separate kitchen.
“They built repeat clients over time with premium products – pure butter, no eggs and no preservatives or additives – that spoke more than marketing,” explains Talwar.
But even with a dedicated kitchen, capacity was still small. They would receive orders over phone calls or WhatsApp, procure ingredients and bake to order.
This way, they reduced wastage of fresh ingredients but required at least 24 hours from order to delivery. To scale their business, in 2023 Beyond Loaf’s founders reached out to Talwar and his team, who helped them transform a family-owned bungalow elsewhere in Chennai into a 2,500 square foot commercial kitchen and storefront, with the car park converted into a receiving area.
“The building had sat vacant for over a decade,” Talwar explains. “We worked with a structural consultant to preserve its integrity while making changes. We ensured HACCP compliance and that the process flow – from raw material holding to dispatch – worked in harmony.”
From bakers to business owners
The project also involved mentoring the founders from home bakers to business owners. “They were used to doing everything together hands-on and were clear in terms of their roles individually,” says Talwar. “We had given them strategic operational inputs along with business inputs for them to efficiently and effectively take care of their individual roles and responsibilities and know how to manage their respective teams better with a F&B business acumen.”
As Ritesh Parakh explains, “this meant significant changes in workflow, upskilling and compliance. Our capacity was going to increase by five so we had to rethink training and managing people, and learn how different kitchens and roles function.”
The owners’ willingness to learn made the difference. “They were keen to get industry best practices right,” Talwar says. “They always valued our advice. At every stage they would go back, discuss among themselves, then ask us: ‘what can we do better?’”
Ritesh Parakh credits Rethink Hospitality for making the transition manageable. “They worked with absolute ownership. They eased us into the technicalities without making us feel overwhelmed.”
Built for expansion
Operative since July 2024, the kitchen was designed for a planned five-year expansion: “The capacity is for four more outlets plus online orders. After opening the storefront in July 2025, the owners began scouting for a second outlet in the city,” says Talwar. “Eventually, the business will operate as a hub. It is equipped to expand the menu, with burgers, sandwiches, pizzas and pastas.”
As they complete the first phase of expansion, the owners are watching Beyond Loaf’s reputation grow in other cities – business travelers from Mumbai and
Delhi regularly pick up products to take home. Plans to expand beyond Chennai are already underway.
Helen Roxburgh
