Chef Vicky Ratnani wants to disrupt burger segment with his gourmet cloud-kitchen brand

Vicky Ratnani is one of the most celebrated chefs in the country. Having been worked with top brands in many countries, he has got the best hands on ingredients, flavours and trends. He recently joined hands with his old-time friend and car guru Alberto Bestonso and model-actress Kashishh Rajput to open Speak Burgers that is a take on gourmet and fine-line of burgers. As we see burgers have become one of the top food product when eating at a restaurant or getting it delivered at home. As per research, it has become one of the top food items ordered online and that’s pushing the growth of the segment inviting new players, chefs to capture the larger share of the market. At Speak Burgers Chef Vicky Ratnani uses only the freshest ingredients possible which includes 100% hormone and antibiotic free meats, fish, shellfish and vegetables. Excerpts from the interview:

How it all began

The whole idea to launch Speak Burgers was obviously it has a large space in the market, people are looking to eat good, gourmet foods and I have always done good burgers at restaurants and why don’t I create something new, affordable and unique. I also wanted to create burgers that is more on the creative side as more and more people have starting loving burger. Speak Burger is a global kind of influences on my burgers.

What’s pushing the growth?

It’s the people who are willing to see different things than the ordinary also it’s the gut feeling of the chef/restaurant owners who want to create a benchmark, wantto do something different, disruption in the whole trend. It’s a mix of both- people as well as the providers. All thanks to more travel happening, social media, youtube that is keeping people informed about the trend.

Playing with flavours

At Speak Burgers I have designed menu- there is green revolutions that is the line of my vegetarian burgers each one has the character of the burger. My burgers are based on my global travel and each burger has a story. We make everything in-house- our pickles, sauces, ketchup, kettle chips etc.

From where do you source the ingredients?

Ingredients are locally sourced. We make everything in the house. We buy vegetables from local vendors and try that it is as fresh as possible, meat is halal from very reliable sources. Few sauces, Korean pastes etc. are imported.

Any competition?

Competitions are healthy but there is space for any good food in the market and I am very confident about my brand.

High on expansion

We are already on our second location. We are at Bandra West, Andheri West and we plan to take this brand around the country and would like to franchise these brands as well. We are also looking at a small burger cafe kind of model. We are working on different designs, people who will help us scale this brand. And, we want to establish our self in Mumbai before we enter other cities. But I can see Pune, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad happening soon as it is a scalable model and we want to disrupt the market.

Why cloud-kitchen?

The cloud-kitchen has great potential, scope. You save on high flying rents, good stepping point for a brand to test their products, delivery as people like to eat at home. Cloud kitchen are more economical than full blown restaurant and I think it’s a good way to test your product before you take a plunge.