BakeryBiz, May-Jun, 2021
Tracing the journey of a gritty baker, who learnt tricks of the trade moving up the ladder from base level in a bakery, to owning his own bakery chain – currently operating 107 outlets in the Mumbai region. BakeryBiz takes you through the remarkable journey of Vishwa Vijay R Singh, – Creator, Founder and Director, Soufflé Foodworks (I) Pvt Ltd.
The courageous journey of Vishwa Vijay R Singh started way back in July 2004, when he left his home town Kolkata and came to Mumbai at the age of 18. The young boy came to this new city to seek a livelihood for himself when his aspirations to become a medical practitioner failed due to lack of resources to support his dream.
Today, with an 8,000 sq feet central kitchen in Vasai and many mini satellite kitchens across the city, Vishwa Vijay Singh’s Soufflé Foodworks (I) Pvt Ltd has climbed up the ladder of being favoured by the patrons and ranks high on customers’ preference. His innovations allow the patrons to explore an array of lip-smacking cakes, pastries and a wide range of fast food – indulging all the foodies craving whether it is sweet, spicy or tangy, and all of it totally vegetarian.
However, his journey to reach this milestone was not a cakewalk. He got his first job 3 months after being in the maximum city, for a bakery in Andheri (Eden Bakers), as a delivery boy for their Pao. At a salary of Rs 1,000 per month, the job though neither gave him satisfaction, nor added value to him in terms of skills.
His next assignment was at 3 Apples Bakers in Dahisar in the housekeeping department as a cleaner. It was during this engagement that he observed how the bakery products were being made. Inquisitiveness made him come early to work (when no one was around) and try his hand on making layered cakes. Chef Miranda, his mentor, saw his skills and offered him the role of a bakery assistant in the night shift.
This is where he practised and learnt his baking skills. Two years later he joined 210 Degree at Samrat Hotel, Churchgate as an assistant to the chef at a salary of Rs 3,500. Within 3 to 4 months he was capable of handling the entire operations by himself and became an expert in all the products.
This was the place where his skills were noticed and he was identified by hotelier Rohit Shetty. In November 2007, Vishwa Vijay Singh set up a bakery
for Shetty’s restaurant – Srinathji. This was his first experience in setting up a bakery. End of June 2018 they got into a tie-up with HyperCity for supply of bread, cakes, and cookies. For this, a new kitchen of 12,000 sq ft with complete bakery set up and mithai set up too was established. By June 2008, he was instrumental in setting up 30 stores and the daily business grew from Rs 10,000 per day to Rs 10 lakh per day.
Desire to learn more took him to the USA in March 2010 where he worked on Celebrity Millennium Cruise. This was where he learnt more about international cuisine and food. However, his international stint did not last long, as he was called back by Rohit Shetty to handle the bakery business.
Due to some internal issues, he quit his job in 2012.
This was the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey. With financial support of his uncle he set up his first bakery under the brand Le Gateau on 29th November 2012 at Nala Sopar, in suburban Mumbai. He was the one-man army for this store and for six months did everything required all by himself. The first franchise offer came to him nine months later for an outlet in Vasai. The franchisee got 25 per cent of all sales. The third outlet came up in Bhayander, where he would supply bakery products twice daily.
By 2014 they had 5 stores with an average sale of Rs 2 lakh per month per store. His marketing technique was simple yet effective where his offering to his customers was – ‘if you did not like what they ate, then do not pay for it’. “Our store was the first air conditioned bakery in the area so gathered a lot of traction. I am thankful to the ladies of the region, who were our regular customers and became our brand ambassadors, publicising our brand through word of mouth publicity,” said Vishwa Vijay Singh.
“The franchisee explosion in 2015 saw many opportunities for our brand growth and we opened 25 stores in the year, reaching a total of 31. Our franchise arrangement was simple, we charged Rs 50,000 as the brand fee and another Rs 50,000 as deposit. The stores were to be set up by the franchisees based on the design elements that we provided. We offered a 25 per cent margin on our bakery products with a no return policy and worked on a daily payment basis. In 2016, set up a large kitchen measuring 8,000 sq ft in Vasai and by 2018 the brand had more than 100 stores with 30 selfoperated stores,” he informed.
Unfortunately, like all good things, this fantastic journey also came to an end. In August 2018, the uncle, who was his support system, and helped him set up, demanded a share in this business. The offer given by his uncle was that the ownership stores would be managed by the uncle and franchise stores could be taken care of by Vishwa Vijay Singh. The arrangement did not go on for long.
In December 2018, with financial support of an old associate, Vishwa Vijay Singh set up a factory at Vasai and started his new brand Soufflé with 31 outlets. “We started franchising the Soufflé brand after the lockdown opened in June 2020. At a cost of Rs 6 lakh we offer to set up the outlet and give away a commission of 30 per cent. In addition, we bear 50 per cent loss for the unsold products,” informed Vishwa Vijay Singh.
Currently, with 107 stores, including 33 franchised outlets, his new brand Soufflé does a monthly turnover of about Rs 3 crore.
Talking about the future, he said, “I have not kept a target for myself. I just want to do some good work. We currently have 220 employees working with us and we are able to support their families, that is a very satisfying feeling.”
