Introduction :
Sagar Dayani and Binod Kumar Homagai are the founders of Wow Momo. Their story aptly suits the quote ” rags to riches “. It is a fast food booming fabulous food company based in Kolkata. Their core product is momos.
How Wow Momo was started :
St. Xavier’s College alumni Sagar Dayani and Binod Kumar Homagai founded this brand in 2008.
Sagar Dayani was quite passionate about the brand and used to spend hours just doodling logos. But he was from a middle-class family so doing this was quite far away because of capital constraints. When both of them were in their final year they were not at all keen on pursuing MBA or CA. At that time they realized keeping the capital side for building a brand of top-notch choice is done by many.
So they decided to launch their own start up. They took a lot of time in designing their business plan. Time was taken to study different parameters and a common solution for all those hungry stomachs who were satisfied by eating momos and noodles. So after much analysis, both of them decided to launch their own brand named Wow Momo.
Momos variety :
Initially, they launched only steamed moms but later on, they added 12 varieties. These were chicken, corn and cheese, chicken and cheese, and many more too. Steamed moms were quite easy to prepare. So excellent chefs at Wow Momo just decided to bring a pan-fried variety. Here momos will be just fried in different sauces which will make them delicious, spicy, sour, or sweet. Serving this with all the essential spices and sauces suited to the Indian palate and biome instant hot with the consumers.
Journey of Start up :
The founders of this start-up had started this brand with 30000 rupees. This initial capital was taken by Sagar from his father. Sagar and Binod approached the supermarket chain Spencer to set up their stall. In this stall, for advertisement purposes and uniqueness Sagar used to wear a Wow Momo t-shirt. He then approached a customer who came to Spencer to have a sample taste of momos. Sagar also took an initiative to hire a part-time chef Tamji KC who was given Rs. 3000 as a salary. Ramji KC was working in a small restaurant in the city. He went to Sagar’s father’s garage and cooked momos over there. This garage became a kitchen for momos.
On the inauguration day sale was Rs 2200 while at the end of the month, they reached Rs 53,000. Tremendous growth led Wow Momo to reach great heights and Ramji KC’s salary was increased to Rs1.5 lakh per month. To serve them fresh and hot owners carried them in hot cases to the Spencer. They were offered one more stall in a famous mall with a big Spencer.
Menu of Wow Momos
Their new outlet at South City Mall Spencer was a turning point as the earnings went from Rs 50,000 a month to Rs 9 lakh. Another step that they took was inventing a new dish. In this two pieces of fried momos were kept in between the buns. Sauces and mayonnaise were also used to make it look like a burger. MoBurg was the name of this yummy mouth-watering dish.
Expansion Spree :
After Spencer’s, the team just went on to pantaloons and a big bazaar too. More than 500 outlets are there in 13 cities in 2023. The central area was used as a central kitchen. 700 people are now managing the company in the back while 900 are looking in the store.
Investments :
Tiger Global made a huge investment of Rs 130 cr so their company valuation went over Rs860 cr in 2019. They also raised a Series B funding of Rs 44 cr which the lighthouse provides and IAN too at the value of Rs 230cr.
Tiger Global made a huge investment of Rs130cr so their company valuation went over Rs860 cr in 2019.
2017 – 2019 :
After 2017 onwards, the company was also looking for an IPO in the upcoming six to seven years. The company which gained such success now had the aim to have 1000 Wow Momo shops across the world
Finally, the brand that started with Rs30,000 is now Rs1,225 cr in 2023.