“Growing up in Hyderabad, Sundays meant biryani at home and Eid meant sheer khurma for every friend who walked in. I didn’t know how to cook then. I just knew I wanted to build something of my own.

I studied aeronautical engineering in Hyderabad, then moved to the UK for a master’s in Air Transportation Management. For almost four years, I worked as a planning engineer with British Airways, travelling to around 15 countries, including Italy, Spain, Greece and Iceland. I never booked package tours. I stayed in Airbnbs, tried to live like a local and ate what people around me ate. That’s when food stopped being just something I enjoyed and became something I wanted to understand.

The funny part is, I was never serious about cooking. When COVID hit and restaurants shut, I’d come home craving something specific — pasta, a tagine, even a Mediterranean dish and realise no one was going to make it for me. So I started trying recipes myself. I burned a few, nailed a few, and slowly began enjoying the process, experimenting with cuisines from pasta and Mediterranean dishes to Moroccan tagine.

When I returned to Hyderabad, I told my family I wanted to start a food business. They expected me to continue in aviation. A food business sounded strange to them. But I wanted to build something around food that I genuinely enjoyed.

That’s how Chippa Bowl Bar came about. We serve wholesome bowls inspired by the cuisines I discovered while travelling. We also wanted something beyond the usual brownies and cupcakes, so we started with signature chia pudding bowls and Tunisian Medjool dates stuffed with peanut butter or kunafa and dipped in dark chocolate.

Our cloud kitchen is in Bowenpally, and every weekend we take the food to a pop-up in Sainikpuri. I wasn’t sure how people would respond, but customers surprised us. Many thanked us for giving them an option they’d been looking for.

If there’s one thing I’d tell anyone thinking of starting something, it’s this: just go for it. You’ll have a hundred questions. You’ll only find the real answers once you begin.”

— Shahrukh Mohammed