The Neon Show A recipe for success with Chef and Entrepreneur, Sanjeev Kapoor
In this episode, we chat with Sanjeev Kapoor, the famous Indian celebrity chef, Padma Shri-awardee, entrepreneur and television personality.
He rose to fame after hosting Khana Khazana (an Indian cookery show) in the early 90s. It was the longest-running show of its kind in Asia with over 649 episodes over 19 years.
He also holds a Guinness World Record for cooking 918 kg khichdi live at World Food India 2017. In 2017 he was the only chef in Forbes ‘top 100 Indian celebrities’.
Sanjeev’s business ventures range from premium cookware and appliances brand Wonderchef to TV channel FoodFood and 65 chain restaurants under different brands in nine countries.
During the podcast, Sanjeev talks about creating the content that he personally enjoys and running multiple ventures with partners he trusts and is comfortable with.
This conversation is pure gold for someone who’s either currently in or planning to enter the food industry to get a top-level perspective of how things work and what all should you consider and various stages in your journey.
Notes -
02:30 - Getting nostalgic with the Khana Khazana show
04:54 - Being a content person at heart via books, website, social media, & TV channel
07:48 - Working with Pharma companies to bring nutritional foods of medicinal value
08:21 - KitFresh via Amazon: Ready to cook fresh meal kit
09:19 - 4000+ employees under Sanjeev Kapoor’s Brand
11:12 - Family background & early career
16:38 - Being comfortable with discomfort
18:57 - Drive to start working on something new
23:45 - “If you continue to do things that give you pleasure, satisfaction, & purpose then it's not work, it's something that you’re enjoying all the time.”
26:34 - Deciding ownership of actionable in a partnership
33:43 - Understanding numbers and building scalable businesses
36:55 - Building comfort & trust prior to entering into a partnership