By Shayan Italia,
Founder, Biryani360
A Parsi at heart, I’ve always been fascinated by food, and was introduced to ‘world cuisine’ at a very young age. I was born and brought up in Hyderabad, the food capital of India, famous for the Holy Grail of Mughlai food, biryani.
Every region in India claims to offer the perfect biryani. Hyderabadi biryani fights for the higher ranks with Lucknowi, and so on. There is one thing in common with everyone – the local chefs’ love for gallons of oil, colouring and preservatives while preparing the biryani. Their focus is on cooking the biryani the night before in bulk quantities, rather than serving it fresh.
Therefore, I set out on a mission to identify the best biryanis in India and tried over 200 varieties across the country. I was not impressed with most. Overall, the biryanis served at 5-star hotels were of a slightly higher grade because they used fresher and better ingredients and the oil content was less than the natives’ rendition. So I tried to create something in the biryani world that was perfect and accessible to Mumbai.
Biryani360 is an original and secret recipe developed by a team of foodies/consultants through my vision of biryani, and is made from scratch in 45 minutes flat. It features high quality Michelin-grade ingredients combining the latest global technologies and methodologies in food. These include using three unique rice grains together to lower carbohydrates, calories and increase digestibility; combining imported saffron strands, increasing anti-oxidants in the process and cooking meat on a high degree blue flame yielding the same if not better results as marinating over 72 hours.
Biryani360 is the only made-to-order 100% fresh biryani service. It’s 100% online and app-driven. A sustainable business, we do not have the risk of cancelled orders while on delivery. The order system is a simple 90-second checkout, and features just two products to choose from, Veg and UnVeg Biryani360, for simplicity and speed.
Our entire marketing ethos has been simple: We don’t pay for reviews and Facebook likes. We want the product to speak for itself. We organized #MeetBiryani360, which is an initiative to have 12 people come and sample both versions of Biryani360, and spread the word to their friends and families. Our social media company and PR team made sure that every tasting session was regulated and no one knew who the founder was, so that the experience and feedback was 100% unbiased.
From a mere 700 likes on Facebook, we’ve managed to engage over 1,40,000 people. The #MeetBiryani360 campaign has been featured in leading dailies. Recently, we opened it to the public, allowing people to register on our website and secure a slot to come and try Biryani360.
Briyani360 is all about fun, laughter and bringing the joy back in food. Promoting togetherness and love is at its heart. Its adorably cute characters only personify the venture!
Feedback: shayan.italia@gmail.com
