Switch from ‘survive to thrive’ mindset sees street food vendor double revenue

A London-based street food business doubled revenue in 2023 after its leadership team switched from a survive to thrive mindset.

Mumbai Mix was established in 2014 by a mother and daughter trio – Mohini Samani, Dimple Radia and Deshna Samani. Together, they combine authentic Indian and East African recipes with locally sourced, fresh ingredients to create innovative Indian street food dishes that are 100% vegetarian. Over the last 10 years, they have built up a loyal customer base and now have sites at locations across the city including Bloomsbury Farmers Market, Parliament Hill and Queens Park.

Dimple, who is a Registered Dietitian and an Associate Senior Lecturer at London Metropolitan University, joined her mum and sister to run Mumbai Mix full-time in 2019 after reducing her teaching commitments at the university. She joined the family business with a view to helping it expand but soon after partnering with her mum and sister, Mumbai Mix was rocked by the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Innovating the business model to help it survive became the immediate priority.

Mumbai Mix weathered the well-publicised challenges that faced the hospitality sector during this time by creating new dishes and launching a range of cold food products. This meant customers could grab-and-go and did not need to wait in crowded queues to collect their orders. Importantly, it meant Mumbai Mix retained its loyal customer base, maintained its revenue streams, and survived the pandemic.

Once the pandemic was over, Dimple knew they needed to insulate the business against future challenges and take a more proactive approach to innovation and growth. That’s when she enrolled on the 12-week Help to Grow: Management Course, which is specifically designed to help business leaders and senior managers increase resilience, innovation, and growth.

The course provided Dimple with a greater understanding of the viable avenues for growth which Mumbai Mix could pursue. Using the practical business frameworks from the course, Dimple was able to create a business plan targeting new revenue streams, and build more accurate forecasts, helping the trio to feel more confident about their level of resilience against possible periods of turbulence in the future.

Mumbai Mix went on to secure a highly coveted spot at the National Theatre in London’s Southbank and initiated a marketing strategy which led to the trio appearing on BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen, which enabled the business to reach a broader audience and attract new customers. The family business is now looking to build on this growth by tapping into the UK festival scene and expanding online.

Dimple Radia, co-founder of Mumbai Mix, said: “A month after I completed the Help to Grow: Management Course, we started our one-year residency at the National Theatre. It couldn’t have been better timing. I was going through the application process towards the end of the course and, without doubt, the information delivered in the modules on marketing strategy, organisational design and employee engagement were critical to developing our successful pitch. The support and confidence provided by my mentors and peers was just as valuable.

“The ‘innovate to survive’ mantra we developed during the pandemic was flipped on its head and we’re now innovating to thrive. So much so that in just two years we’ve evolved to employ seven members of staff and become robust and resilient enough to undertake ambitious opportunities – goals we only ever talked about previously.”

Business leaders can find out more about Help to Grow: Management here.

About Help to Grow: Management

Help to Grow: Management is a 12-week course designed to support business leaders and senior managers to increase resilience, innovation and growth within their organisations.

Delivered by Small Business Charter accredited business schools, the course is available in 60 locations across the UK and is 90% government funded. It is designed to fit around existing work and personal commitments, providing business leaders with more than 50 hours of online and in person training including 10 hours of one-to-one mentoring. Individuals completing the course automatically join the Alumni Network, where they have access to exclusive events, content and partner offers, as well as the support of a UK-wide peer network.

The Small Business Charter, which oversees Help to Grow: Management, is an award for the UK’s world-class business schools. The Charter was developed by Lord Young, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Chartered Association of Business Schools to celebrate business schools that play an effective role in supporting the UK’s 5.8m SMEs and their local economies by extension.

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