In The News

The Globe & Mail  interviews Toronto's Hemant Bhagwani and Derek Valleau, owners of the city's upscale Indian restaurant chain, Amya. The business partners, who opened their first Amya restaurant in 2007, are moving in a new direction - bottling their famous sauces for sale in Canada's supermarkets. The line of Indian sauces - butter chicken, coconut curry, spicy Indian ketchup, and mango and mint chutney - officially launched last spring and are now available in 125 stores across the country.

An excerpt of the Globe & Mail interview:

"Question: When you opened the restaurant in 2007, part of your long-term plan, even then, was to have a line of grocery-store products. Why did you want to go in that direction?

Hemant Bhagwani: Derek and I had flown to India before we opened the restaurant and we stopped in England for a couple of days. When we went through Marks & Spencer, we were just blown away by how Indian food on shelves is doing. We came back and saw what was happening in the Canadian market and felt there was huge potential.

Derek Valleau: Another thing we noticed, in London, was that a lot of high-end restaurants market themselves in grocery stores and that hasn't happened in this country yet. They recognize demand for their product and diversify themselves and that's also behind what we're doing with our sauces. We're a small restaurant chain in Toronto and this will give people outside of this area the Amaya experience at home.

Question: How did you go about researching what products you would launch with?

Mr. Bhagwani: We started Amaya Express (a takeout location) a few months after we opened the restaurant. And we thought, 'Ok, we'll put some shelves and fridges in here and it won't be just a takeout and delivery place, it could also be a sort of Indian grocery store.' We started promoting our prepared meals and sauces there. We were selling them in plastic containers and seeing what the response was. And we did get feedback that helped us launch this line."

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original source the Globe & Mail