The OYE PAPE story......!!!!!!!!!

The fire was on, it was teasing him. He was ready to live the luxuries to become an entrepreneur. Every night his mind fought the battle with heart and mind won. But there came a day when he left everything and started scripting his own journey. And we call it OYE PAPE.

Manmeet Singh Bhatia- owner of this new Punjabi Food startup showcase a different excitement while talking about the venture, is extremely humble and stay firm on maintaining cordial relations with people. As a part of my Entrepreneurial Sabbatical, I talked to him about his new journey, how difficult times were and how he enjoys cooking food.

Here are the edited excerpts taken at his new venture “ Jee Aayanu”……..

Visit here to gulp delicious Punjabi Flavor to everything they cook.....

Firstly, talk something about your background before starting this venture?

Before this venture came into existence, I was into a job since year 2003. There was no element of seriousness in me to do a job but landed up doing that when I was selected in Airtel through an interview. I had no expertise in talking and dealing with people but as the time progressed, my skills and personality groomed. 

I switched companies to work with telecom giants like Reliance, Idea, and Vodafone etc. In between, I married and my package kept on increasing with the position. In a career spanning nearby a decade, I worked hard to have a better corporate position and did reasonably well.

Then, when the idea of setting up OYE PAPE struck your mind?

Frankly speaking, by the end of year 2010, I started realizing that the path on which I am walking on, I don’t belong to this. I felt of doing something of my own rather than getting satisfied by the corporate job that I had. My mind used to say “ Bossss, this is the wrong place you are into”, while my mind used to counter the voice saying “ Jo hai sab achaa hai.”

The internal fire of doing something of my own was on and it sparked a lot of times. My mind and my heart were battling internally but my mind used to win the battle every time. I was a Zonal Manager in Reliance, had a handsome take home salary, life was moving at a steady pace but internally, something was teasing me constantly.

It was very tough to listen to my heart, but one day, my heart won the battle and I decided to resign from the job. Initially, I had no exact idea about what I want to do but I knew whatever I will do, it would be something of my own.

How tough was the decision to leave the job and what were the challenges you faced?

The toughest challenge I feel is to listen to the voice of the heart. It is very easy to suppress that but to listen to that and follow suit is very tough because it tells you something which actually tends to be true. You always have multi-faceted personality these days, one which you show to the world unwillingly and another of your own self.

 To find the latter one and incarnate that is one of the difficult things to do. That I identified and I thank Wahe Guru to give me the grit and energy to do that. Once I did that, the same needs to be conveyed to my in-laws and family members. The difficulty was that my passion was dominating my mind and the same needs to be communicated to people around me.

Leaving out a job which was giving me a good pay cheque and to follow my instincts was a gamble that I wanted to play. The challenge that lied in that was the fear of failure and difficulty in convincing my near ones. At times, I was scared about the decision but the zeal that resided in my mind thrashed away every obstacle and challenge.

How did everything transpired in the days that followed?

After leaving my job one thing was clear to my mind that I have an interest in cooking. I used to cook well and gained a lot of appreciation from my bosses, colleagues and relatives. That was when turning out my interest into profession clicked to my mind and I decided to enter into food industry.

Initially, there was a bit of dilemma about whether to go with veg food or non-veg food but after thorough brainstorming, I decided to go with veg dishes. I visited a lot of places in Indore, tasted their cuisines and realized that a whole lot of Indoreans’ were deprived of Veg Punjabi food as the quality deteriorated.

“Jinka naam chal rha tha wo sirf goodwill k dum pe chal rha tha, quality nai thi and the food was very expensive too.”  I thought of cooking something good for students and residents of Indore at an affordable cost. I chose the concept of street food and that’s where started the journey of establishing OYE PAPE.

How you planned out everything to turn your hobby into profession?

See, there was no dream of becoming an owner of a hotel where you sit and watch the proceedings. I wanted to serve people by cooking something delicious and to serve them with utmost honesty. About planning, I think that my passion was so firm that day and night I used to think about my venture.

I became an insomniac and cut out myself from everybody. Every thought was channelized into my dream and it paved the way for efficient planning. I honestly confess that there was no specific planning and everything happened by god’s grace.

Wo kehte h naa ki kisi chij ko dil se chaho to puri kaynaat use milane k lie kaam pe lag jati hai……… That was happening with me and everything was at a proper place in terms of planning. I decided to open a street shop, planned to take the help of family members and began the journey. 

How was the initial response of people for OYE PAPE?

Initial response was magnificent and something which we had not thought off. Within a week or so, I realized that the shop was small according to the people that poured in from every corner of the city. Whoever tasted our dishes, their response gave me an idea that my job was good. I got love, affection and money from everybody who ate what I cooked.

Earning money was not my aim from beginning because I knew that when I will serve people with tasty food, money has no limit for me. Also, I was not a professional cook and never took the training of the same. Operating a live counter where bunch of people see you cooking something is lot different from what I used to do in my heydays, that is, to cook for my friends and relatives. The feeling was very nice and it was great to make people happy by cooking something essential and meaningful for them.

What about the marketing strategy that you applied for your start up?

It was a zero marketing cost setup and we focused heavily on customer service and satisfaction. Mouth publicity became our main weapon once our taste was appreciated by people. I still feel that rather than investing in these tantrums, one should invest the same money in maintaining the standard and quality of whatever you offer. That speaks much louder than any kind of marketing. My way of talking is very sweet and good and I know 80% of my customer by their name which keeps me ahead of others’.

Manmeet Singh Bhatia- a fire that he followed.......

What is the current challenge that lies in front of you?

No major challenges apart from the competition which we conquer by our service and affordability. Since, for this kind of business, we bank a lot of efficient supply chain it also becomes a bit challenging at time due to timely unavailability of the ingredients.

What is experienced and admit as a challenge is the expectations of people or our customers. They want bouquet of dishes at one point. They had a habit of going to big hotels where product range is wide; they expect that from us also.

 It is very difficult because our core competency is Punjabi Food and whatever we do, we innovate something by adding that Punjabi flavor into that. Hence diversifying is pretty challenging because our items are unique and needs a thorough preparation before it reaches to anybody.

What about the initial capital invested in the business?

It is yet another example of low cost setup. I had invested my money somewhere else which I lost completely and was totally bare handed in terms of capital. I thought of operating a lorry to start with but fortunately got this small shop on rent.

The total corpus invested was Rs.45000 which includes Rs.30000 as rent. Remaining 15000 were invested in buying all the essentials. I collected all the useless and wasted utensils from my house, brought them at the shop and started without investing huge capital.

What are the innovations that you have come up with and how do you innovate?

I used to give innovations to every dish at home which everybody used to like and that’s how we entered with unique dishes such as Punjaabi Pasta, Chatni Idli, Tandoori Paneer Tikka, Tadka Idli, Cream Cheese Pasta etc. I am the only sardaar serving Idli which has become a backbone of OYE PAPE. Currently, we are coming up with two dishes every week which has uniqueness in taste and flavor. This is our new venture which has started a month ago which has another variety of Punjabi Dishes such as Chole Bhature, Chole Kulche, Paneer Sabji etc.

How the name came to your mind which is a well-known Punjabi slang?

Since our start-up was basically aimed at Punjabi Food, I thought of giving it a Punjabi name and suddenly OYE PAPE struck my mind. The tagline for the same was decided as Khalis Punjabi Hath ka swaad because I am Punjabi and was cooking the dishes.

What is one unique thing about OYE PAPE?

Our unique thing is the Punjabi touch we give to every dish which gives a new dimension to them. With that, all my family members work as a team here and there is no outside workers. Also, we still have 5-6 own handmade ingredients which we use in cooking.

Personally speaking, I don’t allow my passion to decrease and try to spark it time and again so that our uniqueness remains forever.  

Give a message to budding entrepreneurs?

Listen to the voice of your heart. Wo ek moment ki baat hoti hai…….ek chote se second ki…….When you determine yourself to do something big. There resides an internal power which says leave everything and that moment you start following your instincts. Don’t think about what others’ will say, just become extraordinarily passionate about that and don’t fear of struggle and challenges.

Give some time to everything you do and don’t expect quick results. When you perform Pooja, it seems boring to you initially but as you devote much more time you enjoy the same. Don’t underestimate any type of work. 

Bhale hi cycle ke puncture banao……par dil se banao. I am assuring you, you will be famous in that too. Stay grounded; don’t overrate yourself at any point of time in life. If you think yourself of a big man, you won’t be able to do small works and when you don’t do small works, you can’t be a successful person.

 " Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't , so that you can spend the rest of life like most people can't......."