Pawan Raj Kumar is the co-founder of Hoi Foods and a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of solid experience as an entrepreneur. With Pawan at the helm, Hoi Foods is building a strong network of cloud kitchens using a highly scalable and disruptive model of standardized food supply chain
Since its inception in 2017, Hoi Foods has come a long way - with over 150 active cloud-kitchens serving 5,000+ meals in a day across Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.
Here's what you can learn from this episode:
- What industry was Pawan's family business into? Why was it important for Pawan to start as a welder? Does he bring some of that experience when he's looking at hiring management people for his ventures today? When did Pawan know that he wanted to start something of his own?
- How was Active Karma Ventures conceptualized? What was the one learning from his time at Karma that continues to guide him today? What was the trigger that told him that he should shut this business?
- How important was it for Pawan to move out of the business for a couple of years before returning? How does one get business from the likes of McDonald's, Pizzahut, and Dominos, as you did? Why did Pawan decide to leave and start something of his own again?
- What is Supa Star foods known for? What was it like shifting from institutional business to consumer business? As an entrepreneur, how does Pawan balance what the customer wants and what the company needs?
- How was the idea of Hoi conceptualized? Where does the name Hoi come from? What was the original idea behind building Hoi Foods? Where all does hoi pure currently deliver?
- How did Covid affect Hoi Foods? How does his past experience help in situations like Covid? What was his experience like fundraising? What was his goal after raising funds? What are the top 3 qualities he looks for in founders to invest in?
Pawan's book recommendation:
