For Venkatesh Iyer of Goli Vada Pav, a Mumbai-based fast food chain, this ubiquitous desi snack is the Amitabh Bachchan of fast food. Iyer, who has a sacrosanct pecking order of passions—vada pav, Goli Vada Pav and unravelling consumer psychology—is convinced that the young, urban Indian might be brand-conscious, but they would prefer pav over an Indianised burger version any day. The 75,000 vada pavs flying off the shelves of his Goli outlets daily prove his point. His big business bites aren't without stresses though. But this foodie confesses he can't do without his fix of both stress and street food. Mention a new street snack kiosk and Iyer is there, as much to taste the food as to understand the business of tickling palates. With a single-minded passion, Iyer has translated this passion into a mouth-watering business: Goli Vada Pav or GVP now has a presence in 30 cities with 125 outlets. His appetite is growing rapidly. Iyer wants to add 100 stores every year, for the next five years.

I wake up around 5.30am and the first thing I do is prep myself for an hour-long yoga session. If it’s not yoga, he's off to swimming or a brisk walk, at least three times a week. I’ve been working to bring out a new, better me in the past couple of years. Street food and stress are a deadly combination. But I am afraid I can’t do without either. So I have to take care of the body especially since I batter it with wilful eating. When I was young, I was bit of a fitness fanatic. Well, may be not a fanatic but I did jog and hit the gym pretty regularly. However, discipline went off on a long vacation as office life, and later, Goli Vada Pav (GVP) took over. I’m determined to stick to my regime now. I’m done with my exercise by around 8:30am. It’s then time for a light breakfast—mostly fruits. That’s how it's been over the last decade or so. As I grow older, I’m more and more particular about eating my daily quota of fruits. In fact, now I can’t do without them.

Fortunately, my mornings are peaceful because the way I’ve structured my business is as hatke (unique) as the product that I sell. I don’t switch on my mobile phone before 9.15am when I am ready to head to office. I follow something I call “hollow management”. In principle it means that I have little role to play in the logistics of my business. As I let my vendors know, “Hamare haath main kuch bhi nahin hain.” (There’s nothing I can do about this.) Our vendors run the show—the pav is made by one of the vendors, the vada is made by an entirely different team independent of the “pav makers”, and the chutney is manufactured by a third vendor. The logistics and co-ordination is done by an externally outsourced team. In truth, I run a small organisation and a big business brand. GVP runs 125 stores in four states of India. However, not everyone has to come to me to keep things running. I believe in putting capable people everywhere and in putting matters in the hands of master franchisees, while I innovate and ideate.

This outsourced model is one I picked up during my critical investment banker-cum-broker days when I used to liaison between banks and corporates arranging for their funds. Even today, I am the liaison officer between my franchisees, vendors and Vista Food, the frozen processed food manufacturer, who works exclusively for McDonalds (India) and us.

I believe there are two pillars in business: “operation” and “exploration”. I am more of an explorer. When I began I knew that I loved the innovation bit of a start-up. If I had a vision, it was to be as hands-free as I am. Managing only the operations doesn’t really suit my personality. I am always worried about what’s going on in the “Goli world”. Every day, I utilise the 45-minute drive to office to Google store reviews and scope out what’s new in the street food scene. Thankfully, I am driven to office and I can use that time well. In those minutes, I also devour business magazines or read books by Paulo Coelho. Or, on certain days, I completely switch off and listen to spiritual, soulful music by artistes like M.S. Subbulakshmi.

Once in office, I have a set order of priority: finance, franchising, projects and finally the store front. I talk to every team turn by turn, before finally turning towards the operations and number crunching bit of the business. All through these conversations, I’m constantly chatting with my co-founder, Shivadas Menon. Though I’d like to keep a distance from daily metrics, there’s no escaping the numbers now, is there? Meetings are usually about growth and restoration stage talks.

I love to destroy because I love to create. There's no thrill otherwise.”—Venkatesh Iyer, Goli Vada Pav

As a team leader, I confess, I focus on different people at different times. When I’m in my exploratory phase, I’m mostly out on the streets meeting new vendors, trying to develop the brand and product further.

Ten days every month, I am out of office promoting brand Goli. Then there are talks that I give at management institutions that have devoted case studies to Goli. It’s always a pleasure to interact with students and institution heads. Sometimes I am gone over the weekend much to the chagrin of my daughter. Admittedly, she and my wife have been living with an absentee father and husband for the past two years. Even when I am physically at home, my mind is elsewhere, thinking of new ideas and taking inspiration from other models.

On most days, my mind is mostly occupied by the question of “location.” Location scouting gives me the chance to look at my main consumer—the youth. When I hit a new city, I try to gauge where the youth are going, which new spots they’re hanging out at, which are the new pizza chains or 'McDonald-ish' outlets that have become their hotspots. I sample entire menus at these places to figure out what’s bringing them the footfall. Of course, this is work. But I love trying out new street food eateries. It gets me closer to the pulse of the youth.

I’m very hands on with every aspect when it comes to mapping new cities we’re entering—the what, why and who keep me on my toes. What should be the location, the store design and the wall colours? Should the restaurant have seating or not? Who’s my target? Will they prefer to stand or sit while eating?

It’s imperative to know one’s customer inside out. I believe Indians may love wearing a Nike on their feet, buy an iPad, use a Sony headphone or sport a Ray Ban, but when it comes to food, they will eat desi, especially something as fuss-free, hygienic and quick as vada pavs. I don’t call the vada pav the Amitabh Bachchan of street snacks for nothing. I sincerely believe that I have a 100-crore customer base comprising Indians of all ages who adore it. They will pay to get it, especially if I guarantee quality. And we have managed to earn the customers’ trust: there must be a reason as to why around 75,000 vada pavs fly off our shelves in a day. Why I believe that Indians love to eat desi is because some NRIs based in the USA approached me with an offer to take Goli overseas recently. I was also offered financial help. They knew about us through word-of-mouth and because of our online presence.

I’m a big advocate of viral advertising. Some 70 per cent of our customer base is the youth, so for us online is the place to be. Goli has a Facebook page. It also has a YouTube presence. When I’m not travelling, and in office, then after the meetings are over, I spend a solid two hours, from 7:30pm to 9:30pm, to marketing activities. Even when I travel, I make sure to check the net at least thrice or four times every day. It’s like an itch. Online reactions are important to me—they are prompt and honest feedback. I depend on them to gauge what’s hot and what’s not about what we’re offering. I don’t think of any feedback as negative. I look at it as constructive criticism. It helps me destroy an old system which might not be working, and bring about a new way of doing something. I love to destroy because it lets me create.

I constantly obsess about creating a new system. Otherwise, there’s no thrill in the journey. And entrepreneurship is all about a journey. At night, my mind is rife with ideas on how I can break the system and then rebuild it. Weekends are also devoted to it, when I sit down with Menon for brainstorming sessions.

Our plan is to help Goli manage a 10-fold jump in its turnover, to Rs180 crore over the next five years, and for that we will add 100 more stores every year. This is an interesting time for us: we recently received offers from venture capitalists and Indian corporate houses to buy our stake. But we are looking for the right opportunity and timing.

The way I work has a lot of madness. Perhaps the only time when I am not thinking of a vada pav is when I am actually eating one! I love it so much that I have to have it often either in some Goli shop or on the street-side. In fact, I’d rather pack no lunch and do an impromptu snack-cum-lunch when I’m in office. I have to intentionally switch off to stop thinking about Goli.

At times, I chant the Gayatri Mantra in the late evenings. It helps me calm down, and concentrate on something else: say, books, which are a passion. I love reading books on sociology. Actually, there’s a business benefit to that too. I’ve to confess I probably like reading about subjects like sociology because it gives me clues about customer behaviour. I also like reading historical books. That’s perhaps one of the few interests I have that does not directly benefit my Goli interests. I also try and squeeze in cricket and swimming over the weekend if I am not travelling. Where I live, I have a team of several company CIOs, CEOs and CFOs who gather every Sunday for a willow war. Again, try as hard as we might, we end up talking shop often.

I’d love to say that I go off to sleep with a calm and content mind but honestly, it’s still abuzz with business strategies and Goli when I hit the bed. As I said before, stress and street food don’t ever leave me alone.