Forbes · Nov 10, 2026 · 46m · 38m saved
With Roni Mazumdar, Founder and CEO of Unapologetic Foods
Roni Mazumdar, founder and CEO of Unapologetic Foods, the group behind Adda, Dhamaka, Semma and Rowdy Rooster, raised roughly $2 million from one investor to open his first restaurant, and it failed. He told Forbes that the investor answered by becoming his mentor and never once asked when he would be paid back.
Most restaurant groups scale a concept that works as fast as capital allows. Roni chose not to open more copies of Adda when it succeeded, and he chooses investors by their conviction rather than their net worth.
"Money is a byproduct of a vision that we create as human beings... when you put that Excel sheet first, you never actually build the vision." — Roni Mazumdar
Roni's group now carries a James Beard Award and a Michelin star at Semma, built on regional Indian cooking that he says has long been held to lower prices than European cuisines.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 46 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 11 lessons that matter.
Key Takeaways
India has many distinct regional cuisines, not one "Indian food"
Roni's investor put in about $2M for his first restaurant, which failed, and became his mentor instead of pulling back
Unapologetic Foods picks investors on conviction and shared values, not wealth
Roni calls each investor on signing day to ask if they are sure
Bias still limits Indian restaurants: a landlord refused a lease less than 18 months ago over the smell
After a Michelin star and a James Beard Award, Roni told his team to make more mistakes
Private equity has "destroyed many great concepts" by building around a fast exit
1. India Has Many Cuisines
Unapologetic Foods exists to break the idea of a single, homogenized Indian food sold under the catch-all label of "ethnic food."
Roni Mazumdar says Indian food is many cuisines, not one
"There's no such thing as Indian food. India is a collaboration of many different cuisines, cultures, languages, people, religions." — Roni Mazumdar
Meghalaya in the northeast and Kerala in the south are "completely different experiences," in Roni's words. He ties the mission to moving to the US as a child and wanting his lunch not to smell different from everyone else's. The group is only at the early stage of that cultural shift, by his account, nowhere near finishing it.
