Think Raksha Bandhan or the festival more popularly known as Rakhi and your mind will immediately jump to thoughts of the eternal bonds shared between brothers and sisters. From being kids together to growing up to be responsible adults with their own careers and individual lifestyles, siblings across India come together on Raksha Bandhan to celebrate their bond of love, care and protection through the simple act of tying a Rakhi and then feasting on delicacies.
But while it is quite common for brothers and sisters to grow apart during adulthood and only grow nostalgic about the good old days on festive occasions like Raksha Bandhan, there are many siblings who manage to not only stay close but also start off a new chapter based on their existing relationship of trust and love. This is true for all those brothers and sisters who build on this trust and their mutual strengths to pave their way into the world of business and entrepreneurship.
Doing this with aplomb in the food industry are many brother-sister duos who have not only started their own food businesses but also tasted success thanks to a partnership that their sibling bonds since childhood helped them forge further. Slurrp caught up with four such brother-sister duos who have started food ventures together to understand how their sibling bonds helped them garner more success in business—and how food unites them forever. Here’s what they had to say.
Meherwan & Mehma Bawa, Artisan Meats and Llardo Foods
Meherwan and Mehma Bawa are the brother-sister duo behind Artisan Meat, a homegrown charcuterie brand started with the love of quality meat, started in 2016—and now they also run a catering venture called Llardo foods now. In a chat with Slurrp, Meherwan revealed how Mehma’s commerce background and his culinary background meshed together to create the perfect food storm. “After my stint abroad, when I came back to India in 2015, I was on a sabbatical and Mehma had moved away from her Deloitte job,” he says. “I asked her if she wanted to join me in this venture and she agreed, and here we are with a huge factory setup in Sonepat and multi-crore sales today.”
Meherwan explains how their bond as siblings was forged over shared food experiences, especially eating Kebabs at Karim’s and ordering Dominos pizzas. “We’ve been partners in crime since we were kids,” he says. “We used to fight a lot, especially over food, but we never snitched on each other to our parents. Going into business has definitely strengthened our bonds. We understand each other’s pressure points, strengths and weaknesses—and that I think is very important in any sort of relationship and partnership. The biggest thing is the undying trust that exists between us both.”
Their partnership goals in the Indian food scene have everything to do with sustainability and good health. “The food industry in India is a rapidly growing sphere and there is a gradual awareness about quality food,” Meherwan explains. “For me and Mehma, slow food will be the focus, which means growing our own vegetables—which we now do for our catering business—being more into sustainable meats and importing as little food as we can.”
Ankita & Adith Fernandes, Fresh Catch by Francis and Frys With Fries
Mumbai-based Ankita and Adith Fernandes are well known in the food world as the brother-sister duo behind Fresh Catch by Francis and Frys With Fries. “Our father, Francis, founded Fresh Catch, and right since we were kids, without saying it out loud, we knew deep down that we were going to be a part of the business,” Adith explains. “It was a no-brainer as kids all we spoke about was about our love for food. Even though we were kids, our father would call us together and teach us about accounting, food hacks, food etiquette for service, and many more things as if we were already working in the restaurant. It was later that we realized we were getting a priceless crash course in running a business. It helps us to date in efficiently running and scaling the business.”
With trust at the core of their partnership, Ankita and Adith have taken their own course into approaching different aspects of a food business. "Ankita followed my father's footsteps and honed her culinary skills for over a decade while I followed my mother, Mili's footsteps, and learned the art of selling and creating brands in the advertising world,” Adith says. “When we two are together, we literally don't have to look out or seek help or guidance outside, because we always have answers for each other's questions. And we are so grateful for that.”
But does that mean they never fought over food as kids? Of course not, says Ankita. “While growing up, Adith would always be the one to finish up his share of goodies the minute they were brought home; while I would store them for a midnight snack,” she says. “And as usual, Adith would land up eating my hidden share and I would be furious and we would fight like crazy. Luckily now we're on different diets so the arguments have reduced if not stopped.”
Niketa Sharma & Dilip Rawat, Keish Hospitality and Blah! Brunch Cafe & Bar
For this Mumbai-based brother-sister duo, their food business dreams started off during the pandemic. “While planning for future goals, our ambition to make a mark separate from the family business, and common passion for food helped Dilip and I establish our company, Keish Hospitality,” Niketa says. Now, the duo also run Bandra-Kurla Complex’s hot and happening spot, Blah! Brunch Café & Bar. From having common goals to easy communication, Niketa says that her sibling bond with Dilip has worked to their advantage in the business. But of course, trust is the key.
“With our departments divided, trust on each other for making the right decisions without questioning them is unmatchable,” she says. "Dilip’s strength lies on being a good lawyer, handling hassles and licensing as well as negotiations. My strengths lie in creativity, operations and marketing the brand. But it is certainly food, the common denominator that has brought us together to make this hospitality firm. From food trials at the restaurant or even having home cooked meal together, we are typical North Indians who communicate through eating.”
So, what are the foods they love to share? “We rarely fight over food as I’m usually the one responsible of feeding Dilip every time he’s late from work at night,” she explains. “From deciding the menu while eating in or ordering the food when we eat out, I’m the one in charge. Dilip loves Indian food and mithais, whereas I love continental food and desserts. But yes, we do fight over a scoop of ice cream or delicious cake at times.”
Abhimanyu & Banalata Sen, Breaking Basmati
Coming from a family of major food enthusiasts, opening a boutique cloud kitchen called Breaking Basmati to serve “culinary classics from Calcutta with a contemporary twist” in Pune came quite naturally to Abhimanyu and Banalata Sen. “Abhimanyu very early on in life knew he wanted to be a chef and went on to gain 15 years of experience of working with the biggest brands across the globe,” Banalata says. “And I knew while pursuing LLB, I had to create something of my own. So, for siblings who are fuelled by food and caught the entrepreneurial bug pretty early on, starting a food venture came very naturally to us.”
Banalata says that the biggest benefit of having your sibling as your business partner is knowing the wavelength you operate in and understanding where the other person is coming from. “Abhimanyu's biggest strength is he's extremely passionate, driven and ambitious about his work,” Banalata says. “The one thing that inspires me the most about him, is that he holds really big ideas to take Bengali cuisine to the next level and challenge the idea of authenticity in the culinary world.” Abhimanyu doesn’t mince his words about his sister either. “Banalata's biggest strength is her creative mind, sense of aesthetics and larger-than-life entrepreneurial visions. She has a very acute sense of taste that helps to have the best in-house food taster,” he says.
Together, this brother-sister duo has big plans for the future. “Abhimanyu and I are optimistic dreamers - we want to take the panoramic Kolkata food experience to a global platform,” Banalata says. “Having our own chain of fine dining restaurants is THE dream for us. The Bengali culture we grew up in and the food from our childhood that inspired us to start our own venture, we want to present that to the world and tell stories through food.”