Part 1: Impresario's Riyaaz Amlani on Mocha, "Handmade," four near-deaths and 25 years of building places to be
About this episode
Riyaaz Amlani shares his journey of building a successful restaurant group in Bombay over 25 years, discussing challenges and insights along the way.
Part 1 of Rohin Dharmakumar's conversation with Riyaaz Amlani is the origin story: why a returning UCLA grad decided Bombay was missing "places to be," how Mocha became Social, and what it actually takes to keep a restaurant group alive for 25 years in the highest-mortality business there is. The shisha ban, the private-equity money that never arrived, COVID, the marble hustle at age six, and the real engine underneath it all: people. CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro: 95% fail by year two — and the man who didn't 01:46 Why Mocha in 2001: a city missing "places to be" 03:23 Bombay the "coolest cousin"; South Bombay snobbery moves to Bandra 05:05 The MTV / Gen X generation and a West-facing India 07:47 UCLA, entertainment management, and learning to live culture 11:29 What "Handmade" and "Impresario" mean 14:13 The business today: 80 restaurants, 900 cr, 5,500 people 15:29 Why restaurants die; learning from the community 18:02 People vs processes — and why he keeps returning to people 19:32 Social: the millennial third space and the shisha ban 25:41 The Gen Z puzzle; Saltwater to Bandra Bourn; evolution vs revolution 30:46 Real estate: location vs locality and India's "80 pockets" 32:32 The…
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