Architect to Foodpreneur: The Secret Sauce to Achieving Your Dreams

Join us on the first episode of the Dream Catchers Show, where dreams come to life! I’m Shalima Motial, your host, and today we dive deep into the inspiring journey of Amit Bhatnagar, an architect turned food entrepreneur.

From the hustle of setting up his own practice to the unexpected move to Singapore, Amit shares the highs, lows, and the unwavering belief that fueled his dream. Tune in for tales of resilience, reinvention, and the flavorful success story behind Vatan Se. Get ready to be inspired, Dreamcatchers, as we explore the extraordinary dreams of ordinary people!

Discussion Topics: Architect to Foodpreneur

• Amit’s Journey and Background: Amit Bhatnagar talks about his journey from being an architect to a food entrepreneur, highlighting key points from his early life and career.
• Discovering Dreams and Switching Careers: Shalima asks about Amit’s dreams, how he turned them to reality, and the transition from being an architect to a food entrepreneur.
• Initial Challenges and Moving to Singapore: Amit shares challenges faced during the initial phase of his food business and the decision to relocate to Singapore.
• Family Support and Entrepreneurial Challenges: The importance of family support during Amit’s entrepreneurial journey and the challenges faced, including financial struggles.
• Out-of-the-Box Ideas for Vatanse: Amit talks about the “no phone” concept at Vatanse and how it enhances the dining experience.
• Expanding Product Line and Amazon Fresh: Amit discusses expanding from an eatery to product business, introducing various products, and collaboration with platforms like Amazon Fresh.
• Lessons Learned During Highs and Lows: Shalima asks about lessons learned during tough times and successful periods in Amit’s entrepreneurial journey.
• Rapid Fire Questions: Quick-fire questions covering topics like favorite dish, importance of chef or manager, best drink, and more.
• Expansion Plans and Message to Dreamers: Amit shares expansion plans and offers advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, emphasizing patience and self-belief.
• Closing Thoughts

Transcript: Architect to Foodpreneur

Shalima: Hello and welcome to the first season of the Dream Catchers Shows brought to you by Vatanse, where we’ll capture inspiring stories, one dream at a time. Associate sponsors, SingAdvisor, Satvic Certification Singapore, fashion partners, Kosha Sarees, media partners, CrazyTok. I’m so excited to share inspiring stories of inspiring people amongst us.

And our first guest today is Amit Bhatnagar. From Vatanse, an architect turned food entrepreneur sounds unique, right? So let’s dig deep and figure out what were his dreams. What was his passion? How did he catch them? And I’m with you your host Shalima Motyal. Welcoming Amit Bhatnagar. Hi and

Amit: Welcome to the show. Thank you. Namaste.

Shalima: So tell me Amit, What is this journey? How did you catch your dreams? We are so excited to hear all about it.

Amit: Thanks for inviting me on this and it’s really a privilege. For me, dreams are creating opportunities, creating possibilities, working energetically, planning mindfully, and most importantly, believing in yourself. And if you fail, repeat the above till you get it right. And if you succeed, still keep dreaming, still keep reinventing, still keep re in, re replanning whatever you’ve planned and make sure that the business or whatever dreams that you have pursuing, be it sports, be it culture, be it your profession, you keep working hard at it.

Shalima: Beautiful. So nicely summarized. So was your dream always to be an architect and that changed over time?

The beginning of Amit’s journey

Amit: To bee honest, I don’t know even today what I’m up to. I be doing next. But that’s what keeps driving me. I grew up in India and the usual, Board exams, and I didn’t know what I would pursue. I was a science student and I got into one of the best architecture institutes, the School of Planning and Architecture Delhi and so I graduated from there. And yeah initially never thought that this is where I will be today.

Worked for about five years. And then in 99 I set up my own practice out of Gogo. Been there, done that was leading a comfortable life, in, in India. And 2008, I relocated to Singapore.

Shalima: Still being an architect.

Amit: Being an architect and many people asked me why. I think one of the dreams or desires at that time was to work internationally and we’d been on a few holidays in Singapore and we thought it’s also a great place to stay bring a family. And so from an entrepreneur, I from a business which was doing I was into design project management and construction and no reason to move normally people move for jobs and for the longest time I was making less money in Singapore than I was in India.

Yes, it was more to pursue a career internationally and explore opportunities. And I got back into a job. A business role in an architecture firm is very challenging, but I think once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. And I soon realized that no, this is not my sweet spot and that’s what discovering your sweet spot is in life. Each of us is doing that. Some discover it late, some never.

Amit: And if you pursue your sweet spot and that becomes a business and a passion, then it’s not work, it’s fun.

Shalima: I totally believe in that and the best part is there is no age to dream it’s not oh, if you catch your dreams by say 2025 and Go in that direction. Only then it’s possible. You changed at a later stage right?

Amit: Not at all. My father learned classical singing at the age of 82 and he is still learning. So there’s never an age to learn anything. And it is never too late if you want to pursue it. As a business and your livelihood and that’s why dreams are exciting. That’s why dreams are fun.

Shalima: So what brought that switch about from architect background to then suddenly opening a cafe, restaurant, eatery, whatever you want to call it.

Amit: I call it an eatery. The word restaurant gives it gives me an impersonal feeling, although technically we are a restaurant. Having said that a couple of years into my work at in Singapore, I realized that I need to pursue something on my own and so I took a sabbatical in 2010 & 2011, I had enrolled myself for a master’s in project management. A two year part time course at the ripe age of 40.

Shalima: Wow. And you’re married and you have kids.

Amit: And I have kids and I have a household to run. So yeah, in hindsight it sounds very crazy, But at that moment I was fearless. So 2011, I took a sabbatical, 2012 is when Vatanse was launched. July 2012 to be precise. It’s been 11 years and it’s been a rollercoaster ride but worth every minute of it.

Shalima: Fantastic. So very exciting switch and you didn’t have a hotel management background or any such experience or expertise in the field. So how was that journey? What were the lows, the highs, the learning curve and was the family supportive?

Amit: You tend to remember the lows. There was a time and we we launched Vatan Save from a small condo called Costa Rue.

Shalima: small though, I must say.

Amit: And with a princely sum of 10, 000. And 18 months down the line, I didn’t have enough money to take a bus back home. You’re serious? No one knows that but that’s the way sometimes business, businesses turn out to be. But I never lost faith in myself and belief in the idea that is Vatanse. The idea being to bring to the table traditional North Indian cuisine with a bit of twist here and there as authentic as possible.

And so far, so good. Talking about support from family Excellent support from everyone, whether they said it or not, in as many words, I’m not sure. But yes there were times when you know we are all humans and uncertainty creates insecurity absolutely and hats off to my wife to support me all the way through.

Although there were times when she would say, Hey, are you sure you’re not wasting your time? Why don’t you get back to your profession and so on and so forth. And I understood where it was coming from. Especially those who are pursuing their dreams. Sometimes it gets difficult to convey what you’re dreaming of you can’t put it on a PowerPoint presentation. Yeah, so there were times,

Shalima: When you felt lonely in the journey, being an entrepreneur.

Amit: Yes, for example when I was telling you about this not having enough money to take a bus ride, I didn’t go and tell anyone. I wish I had in hindsight, but I didn’t,

Shalima: never,

Amit: I think quitting also was not a choice. I had invested a lot of time and effort. And you quit if you feel that you are maybe on a wrong path or you’ve taken a wrong decision. I always knew I’d taken a right decision and I knew with time things will improve. And that stands even today. I wish things can improve further. That’s the ongoing journey we all entrepreneurs go through. It’s not a destination. It’s a journey.

Shalima: Beautiful. Amit, tell me about that low point wherein, you were financially struggling, you didn’t doubt your business ever. How long were you in that phase and how long did it take you to come out of that and bounce back?

Amit: It took me about two to three years. And I was deep in debt. I was borrowing money to pay salaries. There were times when I even swiped my own credit card at Vatan Se because next day I needed cash. And the good thing is I never defaulted on any payments. And so it was very tough. But we I stuck on to to, to the values based on which we had built Vatanse and there are times people try to take shortcuts, compromise on quality, use cheaper ingredients, do away with the staff and so on and so forth.

We didn’t. And I think in hindsight, all that held us in good stead. And as they say good karma comes back. And once it came back and once business started getting cash positive, started paying off loans and so on and so forth. Thankfully today the company is debt free.

Shalima: Very nicely put. It’s interesting to note that despite the lows, despite not having enough money to go on the bus, you believed in your dream and you carried on with it. And not only just carried on with Vatanse, which is, I guess the lines behind that are Dil se, Pyaar se and Vatanse, that’s how it

Amit: It’s so interesting you mention that. Dill say for those who don’t understand Hindi is from the heart. P is with love. And Waan say the word waan means from my country. And and this not only was our mission tagline, whatever word you want to give this continues to be what I keep telling my staff.

Food is about being as close to the heart as you can, I always tell people if you want to have the best food, have it at home. We are the second best why? Because not of the recipe, not of the dish, but because whatever she does is from the heart. And we’ve just taken that. And converted that at a slightly bigger scale into VatanSe. So when you walk into VatanSe you are not a table number. We still do not have QR code on our table which is the norm in Singapore.

Shalima: Is a bit annoying. No, it’s annoying. Seriously to have to

Amit: Until you’ve not told, The server, that naan thodi karari kar dena, thodi si hari mircha la dena that’s what our culture is, that’s what our food is, and it’s these little instructions which make you feel at home. Of course, the food has to be good, the food has to be, as I said cooked with heart, and I keep reminding that to my chefs.

Shalima: You have a chef who’s been with you for 10 years now, right?

Amit: Yes, I’ve been pretty fortunate with having had a very good team of people. Of course, there are a few who came, a few who left for various reasons. You know what when you are pursuing a dream for yourself and building a business. Also important that you are helping your staff pursue their own individual dreams. My recent staff who’s who’s an assistant manager, is the son of an auto rickshaw driver in Delhi. And he’s here in Singapore pursuing his dream.

Shalima: Very nice. I’ve also seen that you keep introducing out of the box ideas for your Cafe, eatery so tell me about this phone, no phone concept that you have.

Amit: When you walk into Vatan Se and we do dine-in. But in addition to do dine-in we are big on takeaway delivery. , we started doing delivery through our own drivers way back in 2012. When there was no Grab, there was no delivery. Delivery was a very new concept at that time. And that’s been a forte for the longest time. But when someone comes over to Vatanse the whole idea is that make him or her feel at home.

One of the biggest challenges these days is when you’re eating food and multitasking, be it on your mobile or gadget or television we don’t have. Any television. We don’t offer free Wi Fi so that you can connect to your gadgets. And as part of the out of the box idea, this is, by the way, about six years back. Now many people are doing that. Many E3s are doing that. But at that time it was a pretty novel idea where when you come in, you are encouraged to put your mobile on silent mode. Put it in a box, which is there on every table at VatanSe and enjoy your meal, eat consciously, interact, and as a token gesture, at the end of the meal, you get a 10 percent discount.

Shalima: Oh, that’s nice. And do a lot of people do that?

Amit: Initially when we started it, it needed a bit of prodding. And believe you me people after the meal, apart from the fact they enjoyed the meal, was, they said, Humne apne bachon se itti kabhi baati nahi gari biggest compliment we could get, we’ve never spoken to our children as much as we did today.

And yeah, we try and do that. Just to add on to that, we do food with it, which is without any additional artificial colors. Even the ingredients we use, we ensure there are no preservatives and no additives.

Shalima: So the food is as I say, as you would cook it at home, except that we provide greater variety and a healthy homecooked fresh food without having to cook it.

Amit: Hot, healthy, homely.

Shalima: That’s the best, especially for ladies, right? You don’t have to cook and still it tastes fresh and just the way you would have it at home and you can sit and bond with the whole family, right? So for the viewers watching, share two lessons that you learned when you were like, absolutely down with no money, and two lessons when you were doing really well.

Amit: When you’re down and out I know it’s, it can be very challenging. It can be very uninspiring. You’ve got to, get out of bed and get to work and so on and so forth. But in hindsight, that’s the time when you learn the most and but unfortunately you cannot plan that. You cannot. device, a mechanism that you fail and hence you learn that’s not possible.

So for me, I won’t use the word fail, but when I was down it was a big learning experience. It was also an experience an opportunity, which I at that time looked within that, listen, you’re doing all things right. You’re checking all the tick boxes and then what’s not working. And so it, it helped me look within rather than keep blaming others the world or my luck. And so it was a very beautiful experience.

Shalima: Did you re strategize? Did you plan things differently to come out of that?

Amit: course, you’ve got to be nimble. You’ve got to, surely there’s something that was not working or just bad decisions. Within the first one and a half years, we actually expanded to three outlets and one of them bombed. And here I was stuck in a contract, paying rent and zero, zero, almost zero negligible revenue. So yeah, but then that’s how you learn and you get wiser. And yeah, for me the downtime was a learning opportunity. High time I’ve not had a high time because every day it’s a different, benchmark.

Shalima: The goalpost keeps Of course.

Amit: We moved as I said, we started on a very small scale from a condo. And then once we moved to Tanjong Katong road where we are now that’s when business improved, visibility improved. Our ability to deliver food Island wide improved. Our logistics became easier. We had moved to a bigger space. And yeah, that’s when the business started looking up. And I don’t think we have looked back since.

Shalima: Congratulations on that. So you have a lot of other items and products like Vatanse Paneer, and there’s Rabri and there’s butter and all of that. And it’s on Amazon Fresh. It’s on Red Mart, even in our mini mart in Costa Roo, it’s there, right?

Amit: While initially Vatanse was started as a eatery and as I said, we do dine in, food delivery, catering we, we added one more service, which is marinated barbecue kebabs. So you could do a barbecue at home with our marinated kebabs. Or request us to send a barbecue assistant. And then 2016, we set up WAAN, say Trading Private Limited. Which is a pure product business un under our brand. We started with. Paneer, as you mentioned, and from that one product now we have 30 products.

Wow. And all under brand Vatanse. Imported from India, and a lot of them are short shell fly products, so they are air flown. Talking about paneer we are importing about 1, 000 kg per week by air. And we are the biggest paneer brand in Singapore. I try and do things differently. While paneer is a pretty stapled vegetarian diet in India and within Indian cuisine. Have you heard of paneer slices? Because I’ve heard of cheese slices.

Shalima: Cheese slices,

Amit: Yes and I wondered, Hey, why can’t I put a paneer slice in between two? Slices of bread, put some lettuce and here’s a sandwich ready. And so we were the first, if I’m not wrong, even my manufacturer in India said we are the first to bring out paneer slices, which we sell here in Singapore. We are the only ones doing low fat paneer, which is getting more and more popular. It has a low fat and high protein content.

We are doing fresh paneer cubes, which normally only come in frozen form. And we are doing flavored paneer again, the only paneer brand doing flavored paneer. So this is within the paneer range. And as I said, we try and keep reinventing and bringing new products. Our latest product is cold pressed oils.

Shalima: them. I know about it. It’s really good.

Amit: Thank you. We are doing Rabri. I challenge you if you find anyone else selling Rabri in Singapore, this is traditional Rabri, the way we’ve grown up having it.

Shalima: So that’s so inspiring that, you’ve expanded to so many products. Now, someone sitting there in a job that was maybe sometime a dream job, but not anymore. What message would you like to give them?

Amit: It’s a difficult question because dreams are very personal right? And each one onto themselves. Each one’s ability to take risk. Each one’s ability to to finance that dream. Your ideas. As I mentioned right in the beginning you got to plan consciously. There are a lot of people who pursue dreams.

And food is an interesting dream to pursue because the entry level is very simple. You hire a couple of chefs, you come up with a menu, you come up with a small space. Today you don’t even need a space. You can just work out of a cloud kitchen and so on and so forth. But then at the end of the day, what’s your key differentiator?

So the usual dynamics of any business come in, whether it’s a dream or just a venture that you want to pursue. That’s subjective. So anyone who’s in a job, surely I will never say, Hey, quit the job and do. And jump into the entrepreneurial world especially if you’ve not had any experience of being an entrepreneur.

Shalima: Absolutely. Couldn’t agree more. So this one question great that, you had a dream, you caught it, switched from being an architect, got into food business, food entrepreneur. Why food?

Amit: Why food? I think all of us are foodies. We, we all love food. Some may like only eating. Some like both. eating and cooking. For me food has been part of the family.

My father cooks, my mother cooks, my extended family of foodies. And so it runs in my blood or in my DNA, and I’ve been cooking at home since childhood, more as a passion, as a hobby. And subsequently, cooking, cooking at home regularly. So I enjoy cooking. And as I mentioned earlier, finding your sweet spot or discovering your sweet spot somewhere down the line, I discovered that’s my sweet spot.

And yes, I pursued that and the dream became a reality.

Shalima: Lovely. And we are enjoying that dream that’s turned into reality by having the Vatanse food. Okay. You know what? We have this interesting segment called the rapid fire questions. Let’s see how quickly you can answer each question. So the first question is, Which is your favorite dish on your menu?

Amit: Oh dear, that’s a very unfair question. All the dishes are favorite know, just one, but I love Mutton Rogan Josh. Because we mastered that. I know this is a dish which is available at many places. The key differentiator is we use goat meat and we don’t use lamb. And so it tastes

Shalima: Phenomenal. So people, try that. Next one. What is more important in your opinion? Chef or manager?

Amit: Surely chef. In the food business, Chef is the king.

Shalima: And which is the best drink according to you?

Amit: I love my nebu pani.

Shalima: Do you use Soine?

Amit: We have that option.

Shalima: You have that option? Okay. What kind of music is liked by your customers here in the Eat Tree?

Amit: So we we’ve had this compliment from customers in the past who have come and said we love the music. We have a playlist which is largely Sufi and music which connects. Again it’s not just loud noise.

Shalima: It builds the ambience. This is what it is. Which is the best-selling dish?

Amit: Best selling dish Vegetarian, I would say, paneer makhani. Non vegetarian I think there’s a tie between Chicken Tikka Masala and Butter Chicken. Over here I want to add something. We believe in fresh, honest, and traditional fresh, obviously.

Shalima: A unique word you’ve used, tradition.

Amit: Yes, of course, you understand. But honest is a word which I borrowed from a review which a customer gave us once. And she said she wrote that your food is very honest. And that got me thinking. And hence I said, yes, that’s probably one of the best compliments we got about our food and not only food, the food products we do it’s clean, none of our food products or the food that we serve at Vatanse have any preservatives or additives or artificial color, which unfortunately is so prevalent today It’s not a joke too. We use ingredients which are healthy.

Shalima: Expansion plans to learn more.

Amit: Unlearn to innovate, as well as be more experiential in what we offer and in terms of brick and mortar expand beyond Singapore.

Shalima: Brilliant, any last thoughts, any message you want to give out to the viewers there on catching dreams, on realizing them, following your passion, works out, doesn’t work out, takes long, whatever to the dreamers or to those who want to pursue their dreams.

Amit:, If you are into it, be patient. If something is not working try to join back the dots. It’s not necessarily that you’ve got it wrong and it’s surely not because someone else is doing a better job. I assume that you are doing your best. But most importantly, believe in yourself. That takes care of, or should I say the universe takes care of the rest.

Shalima: Lovely. And you believe in the power of manifestation?

Amit: Absolutely. Without that, nothing is possible. You’ve got to, thoughts create reality totally believe in that. So the idea or the thought is where the germ lies and you got to then convert it into reality and you put it out there in the universe and then it gets taken care of.

Shalima: One last question. How easy is the Singapore market to be an entrepreneur in from a regulatory point of view?

Amit: Probably the best markets to be in, be it registering a business, be it your approvals, be it the regulatory framework and so forth. Absolutely straightforward, free of any corruption and so forth. And the government helps in expanding beyond Singapore as well. There are a lot of grants available. The one key area where it’s challenging and getting more challenging by the day is manpower.

It’s something which you know is something that keeps me occupied. A lot because we are a manpower driven business and wherever possible, we try and stay away from automation, especially where customer interaction is involved at a face to face level. I know of restaurants where they have robo waiters and QR codes to order food. We don’t believe in that. Hopefully we can continue with that. Where in the human interaction. Is of prime import, importance and as, as you said, dil se, pyar se, vatan se.

Shalima: So people, if you want to eat. Home cooked food but don’t want to cook at home. Come to Vatanse because they serve with a lot of heart, with a lot of love. Amazing fresh food at Vatanse. Thank you so much for giving us so much time. And I’m sure our viewers have learned so much from your journey and will inculcate whatever they found the best for their own dream from this interview.

Signing off, Shalima Motyal, until next episode when we get to you another inspiring story of another entrepreneur. Thank you so much and please write in the comments, what did you like about the interview? What did you pick up which you can follow in your own life? Keep dreaming, keep catching your dreams. Signing off as the host of the Dreamcatchers show. Thank you. Is there a coffee hamper at the end of it?

Amit: Okay, that’s a good idea.

Shalima: It’ll have all the paneers and with

Amit: I got a business idea. We should build our hampers

Shalima: Yes, there. And you could give me a little royalty for giving you this idea, right? Okay

Our Guest: Amit Bhatnagar

Amit Bhatnagar, a Gold Medalist from the School of Planning & Architecture, Delhi, established Vatan Se in 2012, an entrepreneurial venture driven by his passion for cooking & eating. Currently based in Singapore, he serves as Director at Vatan Se Pte, leveraging his diverse experience from roles at Broadway Malyan, Space Matrix Design Consultants, Lines Architects & Project Management Consultants, and Stein Mani Chowfla. With a 2010 – 2011 Masters in Project Management from the National University of Singapore, Amit possesses a robust skill set encompassing Architecture, Interior Design, Construction, Business Strategy, and Construction Management, contributing valuable insights to the industry.