Hyderabad Edition Our Speakers
Teja Chekuri
Global Entrepreneur And Managing Partner, Ironhill India
Teja Chekuri
Global Entrepreneur And Managing Partner, Ironhill India
Teja Chekuri is a global entrepreneur who has set up unique restaurant chains across
the world. He is currently the Managing Partner at Ironhill India and holds several
board level positions in different companies. He co-founded the Godavari Group of
Restaurants in the US and under this group he launched Madras Dosa Co (Boston ) , 1947
-Truly Indian (Boston) , Vaanga (Boston) and an Indian Gastrobar “Don’t Tell Aunty” in
Boston along with establishing the flagship brand Godavari in 21 locations (Delaware,
Toronto, Tampa , Jersey City, Minneapolis, Orange Country, Atlanta, Columbus, Woburn,
Philadelphia, Naperville, Houston, Schaumburg, Kansas, Charlotte, Cincinnati , Edison,
Hartford, Herndon, Morrisville and Rhode Island). After having established a robust
empire on international.
shores, he turned his attention to India. He pioneered the
concept of craftbeer in India with the launch of Prost in 2012. While it is still
charting its own success story, Teja wanted to look at experimenting more with local
favours and create unique mixes with Indian spices that can be added to the brews to
bring about an interesting experience for beer connoisseurs. That’s how Ironhill India
came about. Since its launch, the brand has established multiple footprints at a rapid
pace under his leadership and is still on an expansion mode. This is today the largest
and fastest growing chain in India. He continues to add more restaurants with unique
flavours to his list with a South Indian specialty restaurant - United Telugu Kitchens
( Vijayawada & Hyderabad ) along with “ishtaa” – a pure vegetarian fine dining
restaurant in Hyderabad (2022) that is wowing foodies with its unique menu. Launching a
retail brand is on the cards in the near future.
Chef Amey Marathe
VP, Telangana Chefs Association
Chef Amey Marathe
VP, Telangana Chefs AssociationThe legendary James Beard once said, “being a chef isn’t just the ability to make a fantastic bacon fried chicken, it is about being a leader and a symbol of culinary pride.” It is the moto that multi award winning Chef Amey Marathe has lived by. In his elusive career spanning over two decades’ Chef Marathe has been involved in every facet of bringing together and running successful F&B establishments pan India, and has been associated with some of the top brands across the country like Sun-n-Sand Hotels, St Laurn Hotels, Hard Rock International, Inn Venue Hospitality and Ohri’s. However, the one thing that this seasoned consultant and F&B specialist is known for is his current project on deriving a sustainable cure to food wastage. As the CEO and founder of JSAMEY BIOTECH, he is India’s first Chefpreneur to advocate the virtues of eco-waste disposal. In fact, his future plan includes bringing down wastage in the F&B segment by 45% with a Pan-India presence. A voracious traveller and archiver of traditional cuisine and a regarded teacher, Chef Marathe has been an influential presence when it comes to promoting hospitality as a career among the youth. A mentor to many a chef, he is the vice president of the Telangana Chefs Association, which was curated, structured and implemented by him. And is also a known consultant who has helped shaped many a dining spaces across India. He specialises in reviving ailing restaurants and organizations.
Chef Chalapathi Rao
Entrepreneur, Simply South
Chef Chalapathi Rao
Entrepreneur, Simply SouthChef Chalapathi Rao is an entrepreneur. His entrepreneurial venture is named “Simply South by Chef Chalapathi Rao”. The restaurant has redefined the popular South Indian cuisines and has preserved its rich cultural and culinary heritage. The venture, as well as Chef Chalapati Rao has won numerous accolades from highly esteemed organizations. A highly self-motivated and resourceful Chef, Chef Chalapathi Rao is constantly reinventing his age-old recipes to provide evolved culinary experience to the restaurant's patrons. He is presently in the quest for expanding his venture to global destinations. In addition, Chef Challu - as he is fondly known - by the hospitality and culinary industries - is a high-class content writer. He has authored several concept notes, stories and articles on cuisine for diverse print media. Chef Challu's professional career has spanned over 25 years. Earlier in his career, Chef Challu was the highly acclaimed and successful brand custodian as well as Master Chef of the Dakshin brand - while employed with ITC Hotels. In between his ITC Hotels career of almost two decades and his entrepreneurial journey, Chef Challu was the Corporate Chef with a major hotel group based at Hyderabad
Ramit Goyal
National Sales Head Hyperpure by Zomato
Ramit Goyal
National Sales Head Hyperpure by ZomatoAs Hyperpure by Zomato's Sales Head, Ramit Goyal navigates and transforms food
distribution with strategic expertise to make it easier for restaurants to scale their
business. Formerly leading the product function, he fuelled innovation. Ramit's
distinction lies in crafting visionary solutions, building consensus, and instilling a
culture of data-driven decision-making. His multifaceted approach and commitment make
him invaluable in shaping Hyperpure's future in food distribution
Previously Ramit led the product function at Hyperpure. He made major transformative
contributions to internet products, leading to innovation and growth.
What distinguishes Ramit is his fervor for crafting visionary product solutions to
intricate challenges, building consensus among stakeholders, and implementing scalable
solutions. His passion extends to cultivating high-performing teams and instilling a
culture of data-driven decision-making and experimentation.
Ramit's multifaceted approach and commitment to excellence make him an invaluable
leader in shaping the future of food distribution at Hyperpure by Zomato.
Previously Ramit led the product function at Hyperpure. He made major transformative
contributions to internet products, fuelling innovation and growth.
What distinguishes Ramit is his fervor for crafting visionary product solutions to
intricate challenges, building consensus among stakeholders, and implementing scalable
solutions. His passion extends to cultivating high-performing teams and instilling a
culture of data-driven decision-making and experimentation.
Ramit's multifaceted approach and commitment to excellence make him an invaluable
leader in shaping the future of food distribution at Hyperpure by Zomato.
Abhishek Bahl
Associate Director – Sales & Head- F&B, Gupshup
Abhishek Bahl
Associate Director – Sales & Head- F&B, GupshupAbhishek Bahl pioneered the concept of online table reservations in India with Bitequest on 2008. He has 15 years of work experience in the FNB domain. An, Ex VP at EazyDiner and head- FNB for Bookmyshow. He started his career with his entrepreneurial venture i.e Bitequest after finishing his Masters in management accounting from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is currently AD sales and head of FNB at Gupshup
Shashank Anumula
Managing Director, Café Niloufer
Shashank Anumula
Managing Director, Café NilouferShashank Anumula an MBA graduate who joined his father Mr. A Babu Rao in 2011in his
journey succeeding in making Cafe Niloufer an integral part of modern Hyderabad. His
single vision was evolving the brand with times, and expanding the brand name with top
most priority to quality and consistency.
His vision was to scale up the business, however he first focused on standardizing
processes before expanding. After 5 years of thorough research on baking cookies,
breads, and cakes, with unwavering focus on product consistency, he opened the first
Cafe Niloufer outlet at Lakdikapul. This outlet presented to the city a unique tea cafe
experience by serving perfect hand-crafted blends in an air-conditioning setting. A
first for Hyderabad. Since then he explored the concept of a premium tea cafe and today
opened up 5 Cafe Niloufer Outlets in the city, serving upto 1L customers every single
day.
During the pandemic, he initiated the company into the FMCG segment with the launch of
3 Cafe Niloufer Tea Powder Blends. The strength of the company today is that it is a
place for everyone, ensuring every single person who comes to have chai also has a
variety of options that can go along with it.
Dharmender Lamba
Hotel Manager and Associate Vice President, Trident Hyderabad...
Dharmender Lamba
Hotel Manager and Associate Vice President, Trident Hyderabad & Founding President, Telangana Chefs AssociationChef Dharmender is founding President of Telangana Chefs Association and is Hotel
Manager & Associate VP, Trident Hyderabad.
He has over 23 years of culinary journey with seven different properties of Oberoi
Hotels both in India and abroad. With extensive gourmet culinary experience, he was
trained among the top Chefs in India and abroad.
At present he is working with The Trident Hyderabad where he has been driving 480
Million Food and beverage revenue, heading 5 of fine dining food and beverage outlets.
Prior to this he was heading the kitchens of The Oberoi Sahl Hasheesh, Egypt; a top end
luxury destination, second to none on the shore of Red Sea.
During his tenure in Hyderabad he has put forward a lot of traditional and modern food
concepts to give a sense of adventure, true food and awareness to the people. Few of
the concepts were: Incredible cuisines of India, which featured dishes from lesser
known culinary regions of India like Madhya Pradesh, Kanyakumari, Bihar, Jammu, and
Orissa. Another was Lazzet-e-Rampur and Awadh, an amalgamation of ingredients
incorporated from Mughlai, Awadh, Kashmiri and Afghani flavours. Classic cheese and
Pasta promotions and Progressive Indian cuisine, all these concepts were studied
thoroughly to offer an authentic and unique experience to the guests.
Siddharth Arora
COO, Paradise Foodcourt Pvt Limited
Siddharth Arora
COO, Paradise Foodcourt Pvt LimitedSiddharth Arora is the COO at Paradise Foodcourt Pvt Limited. He has 22 years of
experience in Food service industry across the country in Domino’s, Chaayos and
Paradise Biryani, have been an operator, strategist and a scaleup lead in these
organizations.
He enjoys driving growth through aggressive goal setting, democratizing data and
empowerment.
Siddharth Singh
AVP Strategy, NuTaste
Siddharth Singh
AVP Strategy, NuTasteA business post-graduate from prestigious IIM-Lucknow and 12+ years experienced Sales &
Marketing Strategist, highly skilled in building entrepreneurial eco-system by
commissioning & mentoring cross-functional teams, raising multiple rounds of funding,
advising on robust processes while designing, developing and implementing various
marketing campaigns to drive bottom line from scratch.
Proficient in formulating and executing critical marketing strategies to boost revenue
generation and profits. Adept at fostering stellar business relationships with
government machinery, funders, academia, cross-functional teams, clients, and vendors
to engage, inspire and provide compelling value to the stakeholders.
Specialties
Cross-functional Team Leadership | Stakeholder Management | Sales & Marketing |
Business Development | Revenue Generation | Product Launch | Business Incubation |
Training & Mentoring | Business Expansion | Strategic Planning & Execution | Product
Roadmap | Project Management | Monitoring & Reporting | Corporate Relationships |
Strategic Relationships | Strategic Alliances | Business Partnerships | Solution
Designing | Business Analysis | Business Intelligence | Business Expansion | Portfolio
Risk Management | Regulatory Compliance | Operational Excellence | Customer Excellence
| Automation
Twinkle Keswani
Founder, Pisco Hospitality
Twinkle Keswani
Founder, Pisco Hospitality30 year old F&B Entrepreneur Twinkle Keswani smoothly pivoted from her career in banking to emerge as a young restaurateur. Formerly, the Executive Vice President of Silver Beach Entertainment & Hospitality, she has conceptualised an array of restaurants across Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Kenya and Dubai and successfully spearheaded some of the most popular brands in the country before venturing out individually. After a six year stint with Silver Beach Hospitality - venturing out as an entrepreneur ultimately led her to Toro Toro in Goa, Pisco By The Beach, Goa - ranked amongst the finest restaurants in the state, Chop in Nairobi, Kenya, Cafe Montagne in the heart of Leh, Ladakh and recently Halo Cocktail Bar & Kitchen in Hyderabad with an upcoming project in Kochi.
