A PROFESSOR'S MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR BREAD ENTERPRISE

Shashikant S Kulkarni

Prof. M Mahadevan

Age 54 From a Place called Udumalpet,65

kilometers from Coimbatore Post Graduate in Commerce Parents were Doctors Inspired by the book “Hotel” by Arthur

Hailey Came to Chennai in 1979 as an Assistant

Professor at Madras University

'Hot Breads Mahadevan'.

Taught Marketing to management and accounts students, during daytime.

Started working for four hours at Hotel Ambassador Pallava at night

Was a trainee, a bell boy, a receptionist.. was a professor during day time and a bell boy in the evening.

Are you Mad?

Mother asked Mahadevan “'Are you mad? You are a teacher, and then you are going and cleaning tables? I can't understand this. I will not be able to find a girl to marry you!‘

Mahadevan answered “One day, I will become the owner of a hotel and give employment to many people.

First enterprise, a take-out with Rs 60,000

Along with a partner started first take out (Chinese take-away)-- at the Tic-Tac unit in Chennai.

Kitchen functioned between 5pm and closed at 11.30pm

Next was a restaurant by name ‘Cascade’, Chinese, Thai, Malay and Japanese cuisine were served there

The interior was all white and blue And that was in 1986

From hotel to bakery

Inspired by the little bakeries in Singapore Started Hot Breads with Rs 11 lakh (Rs 1.1

million) in 1989. Was not looking at selling just bread alone

but curry buns, pastries, pizzas, burgers, etc Took a bun, filled it with curry and made it a

curry bun. Today curry buns are a big hit even in Paris

Achieved the break-even in the first year itself

First overseas Hot Breads unit in Dubai In the third month itself, people from

Kochi and Bangalore came to Mahadevan to start Hot Breads units there.

By 1994 Hot Breads had 12 units in India. Started a unit in Dubai and in the last 14 years there are many units in Dubai of Hotbread

With the help of Lebanese guy started preparing Arabic Bread

Becoming a Non-Resident Indian After opening first unit in Dubai, Mahadevan

decided to become an NRI Stringent rules forced Prof. Mahadevan to be a

Non-Resident Indian. The second stop was Paris In the last 20 years, Hotbreads opened -- with

help from others -- 130 bakeries in 16 countries: the United States (New York and San Francisco), Ghana, France (Paris), UAE (Dubai), Botswana, Kuwait, Muscat, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Kingdom (London), etc. Now they are going to Australia.

Doing your homework is important Presently Prof. Mahadevan’s Hotbread

has around 68 units in India Started with Rs 60,000 Make 100 crores in India annually 120 croes Internationally Mahadevan’s philosophy “You have to be

at the right place at the right time” Doing your homework is very important

which is studying and understanding the market.

Advice of Professor

Prof. Mahadevan’s advice to the budding entrepreneurs is, innovate and think different. Don't follow anyone's footsteps; leave your own footprints for others to follow. Try to be lean and mean. Don't take your customers for granted.

There are 3000 people working for Mahadevan in India and more than 1000 people abroad

India needs not one but 10,000 Mahadevans to give employment to thousands of people