Mr. Sagar and Mrs. Deepa Shirgaonkar, Owner of Aakashdeep Caterers

“When you aspire something in life, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

Such is the success story of Mr. Sagar and Mrs. Deepa Shirgaonkar. Both of them after surfacing from the initial turmoil of their life’s struggles, decided to start with the Tiffin business. In the initial years, they provided lunch tiffins to the bank employees and other government office employees. With the word of mouth, their tiffin service got their first big order which enacted as a major path setter for their catering business. The V. S. Dempo House, Goa was organising a 5-day first aid camp in which they got the opportunity to cater them with their tiffin service.

Mr & Mrs. Shirgaonkar are till date obliged to the Dempo group as because of their order, the Shirgaonkars got a recognition and now are running a successful catering business by the name of Aakashdeep Caterers. The payment they received from the Dempo’s order sufficed them to buy more commercial kitchen equipments and come on scale with their catering service. In a span of 18 years of their catering service, they have gone from serving to 15-20 people to about 7000 people at a time.

The biggest challenge faced by them is the time management for cooking. If a large order is there, they have to start with their preparations one day before only, and make it a point that the food does not stale. Another issue is handling the workers, as at times they don’t act promptly.

The Shirgaonkars aspire to start their own restaurant, though they have set their path for the same on a small scale. Their only son, Aakash Shirgaonkar is also studying hotel management and will be an eminent pillar for their business. Considering the current scenario, they believe that for any catering business the most prior thing is the taste of their food. But not to neglect, the presentation of the food also holds significance to keep the customers happy and make them re-visit your restaurant.

For them, having their catering services taken to the corporate events and once working with the Masterchef Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor would mark them as successful in their own eyes. They believe that there is still a long way to go for them. Mrs. Deepa Shirgaonkar having a midas touch for cooking in her hand has been nominated and selected in Masterchef, India but due to her professional challenges could not participate. She was also nominated in the Griha Udyogini Puraskaar, held in Pune.

The secret to success path for the catering business is to be innovative with your food, follow the new trends like performing live counters, and make the food presentable and tempting.