Shah Rukh Khan’s co-star quit Bollywood, started his business from a stall, bagged Rs 2.5 crore funding from Shark Tank India 5

Following the Shark Tank India 5 pitch, one of the founders of The Croffle Guys, Rahul Vohra, spoke to SCREEN about their experience on the show, how he had earlier worked with Shah Rukh Khan but later quit the film industry to start a business with friends. Sharing whose idea it was to make the pitch so filmy and dramatic, Rahul explained, “It was a collaborative effort from Sony’s writing team and us. We founders are very closely involved in the creative process and the social media marketing on our page. Veer and I come from the film industry, so making the pitch filmy was an input from our side. A lot of thanks to Sony’s writing team as well because they gave us a basic structure, and from there we started building.”

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The Croffle Guys journey

During their pitch, The Croffle Guys founders revealed how they decided to start the brand while they were on a boys’ trip to Thailand. But the discussions just didn’t end there. While they aspired to start the venture, Rahul, Veer, Amay, and Annanya did face some scepticism from their parents. Talking about it, Rahul said, “Our parents were very supportive. They were just like we don’t have any knowledge about this. We are not from the Food and Benerage industry. In Mumbai, every second street has a food place, so it’s a very saturated industry, so they were curious to know what we were thinking. They liked the idea, but they thought everyone had a great idea; their concern was how we execute it. Ananya gave us that confidence since he had a previous experience of running startups, and he has been an entrepreneur. He was there to guide us, just wanted us to put in our creative energy.”

Talking about their journey, Rahul also shared, “We started very small. We put up stalls at events where we tried to sell, trying to get a nice product-market fit. We would try to get feedback from people. After every event, we would feel that we had something nice. However, on the first day, the stall used to be empty because no one knew what a croffle was. We used to put up very beautiful stalls, and people would just walk by, wondering what this was. Many were like we don’t know what this means. Croffle was an alien word to them. It took us a lot of effort to go out and explain to them what a Croffle was. We would make them try a free sample, and then what started giving us confidence was the number of people returning to have it.”

 

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“Once someone would have it at an event, they would come back with their four friends and the next day come back with their family. This kept on happening, the word of mouth was so strong that the customers kept multiplying,” Rahul shared.

The Shark Tank India after-effect

While they already established a name in the market, and also got three stores before appearing on Shark Tank India, they have clearly upped their game after appearing on the show. “You feel grateful in moments like these because you get the validation from such respected investors in the country. As an entrepreneur and a first-time founder, you feel like you are on the right path. After Shark Tank India, our journey has just begun. We can do what we set out to do and make Croffle a bread category in this country,” Rahul said.

He also added, “The business has increased, footfalls have gone up, follower count on social media has gone upwards. Shark Tank India always gives a boost in visibility; we were prepared for it, and we had set up our system in such a manner that we would be able to service that. We launched a new fourth shop in Matunga. With the episode’s release, we have seen a rise in numbers. We haven’t tracked the growth yet, but when we first started, we went viral multiple times, because we had only one shop then in Santacruz, and people used to line up outside. We saw the euphoria of that time again; there has been a 30 percent revenue increase in our daily store numbers, and time will tell how it converts into something bigger.”

 

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While on the show, The Croffle Guys received two offers, one from Namita Thapar and Aman Gupta, and one from Kunal Bahl and Mohit Yadav. Explaining why they chose Kunal and Mohit, Rahul explained, “We loved all the Sharks, had a personal vibe with them. But the main reason to choose Kunal and Mohit over Namita and Aman was that Kunal has a similar experience of scaling a QSR business, so we thought his expertise would really help us. Mohit gave great input on how to make this a national brand by going into different territories with a cloud-first approach, so we really liked the expertise they provide, hence we chose them.”

“We have already met with Kunal and Mohit. We met in Delhi, it was a great meeting, and the process is moving along. In the meeting, we discussed how to take the vision forward. They suggested their strategies, as young people trying to scale this to the next level, we require guidance. The helping hand is always great for us,” Rahul stated.

On working with Shah Rukh Khan, Kabir Khan, and quitting the film industry

On the show, Rahul and Veer revealed being connected to the film industry. While Veer closely works with Karan Johar at Dharma Productions, Rahul has also shared screen space with Shah Rukh Khan in an ad. Other than this, he even worked with Kabir Khan for nine years before quitting the film industry. Talking about shooting for an ad with SRK, Rahul said, “Doing an ad with SRK was like a dream come true. I had come from New York, and I always wanted to be an actor. I was lucky to get my first break with Kabir Khan. I was interning for him, and there was this opportunity… I had always told Kabir that I wanted to act and asked him to help. Mukesh Chhabra suggested casting me in the ad, which was a very big one for Dubai tourism featuring SRK. I was one of the storylines in that ad. It was a proud moment for me to just be in the presence of Shah Rukh.”

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He further shared, ” I have worked with Kabir for 9 years, he is like a father figure to me, he has been a mentor since I was 21. My first ever job was with him, and I grew with him. I went from being an intern to his VFX producer, to his director’s assistant, to an associate director. I finally also co-directed a film with him, it was called My Melbourne, and it premiered exclusively at film festivals. My time with him was the most rewarding journey of my life, because he shaped me into the person I am today. I will be eternally grateful to the mentorship he provided me.”

Rahul also shared what it was like to quit the industry. “Leaving the industry was not an easy decision to make. You spent nine years here, from an intern to co-directing a film. I was so attached to that feeling, but after I got married, it was the right step for me, and this opportunity presented itself; it felt like God-given. The Thailand trip happened around the time I was questioning my place in the industry. This whole journey has been serendipitous in a way.”

 

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The Croffle Guys roadmap ahead

With a great headstart into the venture, Rahul shares how the gang has plans to only make the brand bigger. Discussing what the future looks like for The Croffle Guys, Rahul shared, “Everyone is putting in their time and effort; it’s not like if someone is part-time or full-time, they work accordingly. Everyone plays their role, that’s what makes it special. We take each day as it comes. We are hiring higher-level management, people who are senior in the industry. We are setting structures and systems in place, because at the end of the day, we want to be involved in the larger aspect of the brand.”

Before signing off, the founder added, “Everyone works hard, and we have been lucky with the acceptance we got. We always keep that in mind.”