If you sink your enamel right into a slice of pizza, the harmonious mix of tangy sauce, recent dough, and melty cheese explodes with flavour in your mouth. The satisfying crunch of the crust solely enhances all the culinary journey.
In November 2014, Sandeep Jangra skilled a second he would always remember — tasting his very first pizza with buddies. Captivated by its deliciousness, Sandeep was impressed to share this culinary delight along with his metropolis. Inside a number of brief months, his dream turned a actuality as he opened the inaugural Pizza Galleria outlet in December 2015, proper within the coronary heart of Gohana, Haryana.
What units this pizza chain other than others is that it’s one hundred pc vegetarian, and has pizzas ranging from Rs 69.
After turning the folks of Gohana into pizza lovers, Sandeep began opening shops in different components of Haryana, and shortly expanded to different components of the nation. Right now, he has over 72 shops that promote over 20,000 pizzas day-after-day, with a turnover of Rs 15 crore within the final monetary 12 months 2023-24.
Right here’s how this 32-year-old went from having arrears in his engineering course to being a profitable entrepreneur, offering employment to over 700 folks!
Introducing a metropolis to the style of pizza
Sandeep grew up in a joint household in Gohana the place his father managed a building materials enterprise — a setting that ignited his early entrepreneurial spirit. Following his education, he studied at NC Faculty of Engineering within the close by city of Israna.
Nonetheless, Sandeep confronted appreciable obstacles throughout his tutorial journey. Fighting sure topics, he discovered himself having to retake exams, extending his engineering programme to 6 years. After 4 years, he encountered a dilemma — missing his diploma but unable to reveal this to his dad and mom. In a stroke of resourcefulness, he secured a place at Ericsson India in Gurugram by a buddy, incomes Rs 9,000 monthly.
It was right here in November 2014 that the entrepreneur had his first chew of pizza along with his buddies, which modified his life endlessly. “I liked the style of the pizza and questioned the way it was made. It gave the impression to be a fatter model of a roti with a special sauce and cheese,” Sandeep recollects in a dialog with The Higher India.
Over the subsequent few months, the thought of beginning a meals enterprise crept into his thoughts. However how does one make a pizza and construct a enterprise across the identical? To study the nitty gritty of such a enterprise, he approached a number of pizza shops in Gurugram and Haryana. It was Pizza Wings in Rohtak the place he bought an opportunity to study the ABCs of operating a pizza retailer.
“I educated for a few month and a half at Pizza Wings. They taught me every part from the way to make the dough and the sauce to the way to ship the pizza and run a retailer. I realised that making a pizza is just not rocket science,” laughs Sandeep.
Upon finishing his coaching, Sandeep returned residence and shared his bold marketing strategy along with his household — opening a pizza store within the bustling metropolis centre. Nonetheless, his father was reluctant to put money into the enterprise. Undeterred, Sandeep sought assist from his brother and buddies, who collectively contributed the preliminary funding of Rs 6.5 lakh to ascertain his inaugural retailer in Gohana.
“My father was upset about me quitting and returning. He anticipated me to make a reputation for myself as an engineer,” shares Sandeep. Whereas convincing his household was a giant problem, the subsequent problem was discovering expert labour for the shop in a metropolis the place many hadn’t tasted a pizza.
“I employed three boys who had accomplished Class 12 and trusted my imaginative and prescient. I taught them the way to make the pizza base, sauce, pack the pizzas for service in addition to supply,” provides the CEO of Pizza Galleria.
The subsequent and most vital step was to create consciousness and market the product. For this, Sandeep rode his bike across the metropolis, knocking on doorways and distributing pamphlets. He additionally carried a mike and speaker and went round asserting, ‘Khul gaya, khul gaya, ab aapke sheher mein Pizza Galleria khul gaya (Pizza Galleria is now open in your city/metropolis)’.
This observe is adopted by him even immediately. Each time a brand new retailer opens, he rides across the metropolis shouting these slogans, adopted by distributing pamphlets.
D-day arrived on 25 December 2015, when many individuals in Gohana tasted their first fresh-dough pizza. To entice clients, he provided the primary 300 pizzas free, a observe adopted even immediately in any respect new shops. Slowly and steadily, because of the atmosphere and novelty of pizzas, a loyal buyer base was created.
He began with a restricted menu of seven to eight pizzas, garlic bread, and a few pasta. It took virtually a 12 months for Sandeep’s pizza enterprise to style success in Gohana. The largest problem, he explains, was educating folks to strive a brand new dish.
“Folks didn’t know what’s so particular a few recent dough pizza and even the way to eat it. Similar to me, they too considered it like a fats roti with a special chutney (sauce). I additionally had to make sure that the standard of the meals was good within the absence of skilled cooks,” he shares.
He overcame this problem by constructing Normal Working Procedures (SOPs) to be adopted for making the pizzas, after which serving, packing, and delivering them.
Creating employment in small cities
Finally, because the folks of Gohana accepted and thronged to Pizza Galleria, Sandeep knew he was heading in the right direction. This led him to open the subsequent retailer in Panipat and Ganaur (Haryana) in 2017.
Since then, there was no wanting again. Right now, he has 72 shops, which embrace company-owned shops in addition to franchise shops in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Delhi-NCR, and Chandigarh. With this, he additionally has been capable of present employment to over 700 folks.
“I really feel proud that I’ve been capable of create such a big household by Pizza Galleria. We had a meetup the place we had invited over 100 employees members to Karnal. Seeing so many individuals collectively who’re doing effectively immediately is my largest accomplishment,” shares Sandeep.
Sandeep was additionally joined by his buddy Ishan Chugh as a co-founder in 2017 after the third outlet was opened.
Pizza Galleria serves pizza, pasta, garlic bread, sandwiches, fries, burgers, gentle drinks and extra. Their pizzas begin at Rs 69 and their combos begin at Rs 89. Their bestsellers are the tandoori paneer pizza, pizza galleria exotica, and makhni pizza, and in addition gives a ‘Baahubali’ 24-inch pizza.
Their USP, other than being vegetarian, is their tomato sauce and tacky liquid sauce, which provides to the flavour of the pizza, states Sandeep.
Sandeep and Ishan appeared on Shark Tank India season 3. Whereas they weren’t capable of land a deal, it created an enormous enhance in demand, in keeping with the founder. “We obtained over 4,000 enquiry calls from folks concerned with opening franchise shops. It is going to assist us obtain our imaginative and prescient of opening 500 shops by 2030,” shares Sandeep.
Sandeep’s dream is to create an Indian model with footprints the world over. His largest validation, he says, finally got here from his father who praised Sandeep for his distinctive work.
“My goals got here true by Pizza Galleria. From drawing a wage of Rs 9,000 monthly, I’ve been capable of purchase my very own home and automotive. What issues most to me is my household’s reward, which is one thing cash can’t purchase,” he shares.
When Sandeep had his first chew of pizza in 2014, little did he know that he could be promoting over 7 lakh pizzas a month a decade later!
“Work onerous to fulfil your goals. Don’t cease your self from attaining massive goals since you’re from a small city. It’s the perfect time to start out a enterprise. Begin small; even meals carts have become large companies. Reside your life in such a approach that it turns into an instance for others,” he shares.
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Edited by Pranita Bhat, Photos Courtesy Sandeep Jangra
