A Professors Multi Million Dollar Bread Enterprise

Prof. Mahadevan's Multimillion Hotbread Enterprise

1. A PROFESSOR'S MULTI-
MILLION-DOLLAR BREAD
ENTERPRISE
Shashikant S Kulkarni

3. Prof. M Mahadevan
Age 54
From a Place called Udumalpet,65 kilometers from
Coimbatore
Post Graduate in Commerce
Parents were Doctors
Inspired by the book “Hotel” by Arthur Hailey
Came to Chennai in 1979 as an Assistant Professor
at Madras University

4. 'Hot Breads Mahadevan'.
Taught Marketing to management and accounts
students, during daytime.
Started working for four hours at Hotel
Ambassador Pallava at night
Was a trainee, a bell boy, a receptionist.. was a
professor during day time and a bell boy in the
evening.

5. Are you Mad?
Mother asked Mahadevan “'Are you mad? You are
a teacher, and then you are going and cleaning
tables? I can't understand this. I will not be able to
find a girl to marry you!‘
Mahadevan answered “One day, I will become the
owner of a hotel and give employment to many
people.

6. First enterprise, a take-out with Rs 60,000
Along with a partner started first take out (Chinese
take-away)-- at the Tic-Tac unit in Chennai.
Kitchen functioned between 5pm and closed at
11.30pm
Next was a restaurant by name ‘Cascade’, Chinese,
Thai, Malay and Japanese cuisine were served
there
The interior was all white and blue
And that was in 1986

7. From hotel to bakery
Inspired by the little bakeries in Singapore
Started Hot Breads with Rs 11 lakh (Rs 1.1 million)
in 1989.
Was not looking at selling just bread alone but
curry buns, pastries, pizzas, burgers, etc
Took a bun, filled it with curry and made it a curry
bun. Today curry buns are a big hit even in Paris
Achieved the break-even in the first year itself

8. First overseas Hot Breads unit in
Dubai
In the third month itself, people from Kochi and
Bangalore came to Mahadevan to start Hot Breads
units there.
By 1994 Hot Breads had 12 units in India. Started
a unit in Dubai and in the last 14 years there are
many units in Dubai of Hotbread
With the help of Lebanese guy started preparing
Arabic Bread

10. Becoming a Non-Resident Indian
After opening first unit in Dubai, Mahadevan decided
to become an NRI
Stringent rules forced Prof. Mahadevan to be a Non-
Resident Indian.
The second stop was Paris
In the last 20 years, Hotbreads opened -- with help
from others -- 130 bakeries in 16 countries: the United
States (New York and San Francisco), Ghana, France
(Paris), UAE (Dubai), Botswana, Kuwait, Muscat,
Singapore, Malaysia, the United Kingdom (London), etc.
Now they are going to Australia.

11. Doing your homework is important
Presently Prof. Mahadevan’s Hotbread has around
68 units in India
Started with Rs 60,000
Make 100 crores in India annually
120 croes Internationally
Mahadevan’s philosophy “You have to be at the
right place at the right time”
Doing your homework is very important which is
studying and understanding the market.

12. Advice of Professor
Prof. Mahadevan’s advice to the budding
entrepreneurs is, innovate and think different. Don't
follow anyone's footsteps; leave your own
footprints for others to follow. Try to be lean and
mean. Don't take your customers for granted.
There are 3000 people working for Mahadevan in
India and more than 1000 people abroad
India needs not one but 10,000 Mahadevans to
give employment to thousands of people