Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Krupa Panchal. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Krupa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My husband and I come from Bombay, India. We were born and raised there. When I was pregnant, I craved Vada pav which is spiced potato patty on a bun with peanut garlic chutney. This sells like hot dogs in Bombay and it was originated there too. No one was selling it here in St Louis. It has a unique non sweet bun. This took our attention to Bombay street eats in general, again, which was not available here at the restaurants.

This inspired us to look into bringing the taste we grew up with to the city of St Louis. Most of the street eats are vegetarian and since I was too, we decided to keep it that way. We were watching Food truck race on food channel at that time which also inspired us to buy one. Most of the street eats in Bombay is sold on moving carts parked by the road side so we thought that a food truck would be an ideal replica to those carts.

And that is how we launched the first ever all vegetarian Indian food truck in St Louis in 2014.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My husband, Sid, holds a Masters in Computer engineering and an MBA degree. I am an Optometrist and Masters in Gerontology. We were very happy in our respective fields but being foodies and interested in opening our own business, we ventured into this.

I decided to become a chef by reading, hands on learning from street side vendors and developing my own recipes. Sid decided to help me with website designing to a handyman to a marketing person. Literally, my other half.

We thought that our unique combination of skills, bringing an Indian street fare and especially as a food truck will help us succeed. But in reality, it was really difficult to operate an all vegetarian food truck as being in Mid-west, we learned that people loved their meat here. There were many events where we took loss as no one wanted to even try the unique street eats we offered. People only knew curry and Naan which was commonly served in Indian restaurants.

But slowly and steadily, those who tried our food, referred more customers to us and so we grew organically. We wanted people to know that vegetarian can taste good and is good for your health too.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

We were getting popular and successful over 7 years of food truck business. But, it was very stressful on my health due to long distance travelling, going out in hot and cold weather conditions, finding employees to work on the truck and having an old truck with mechanical issues.

So we decided to open a restaurant in creve ceour in 2020 and make a switch from vegetarian to vegan, (this is the only vegetarian/vegan restaurant in the entire west county till date)

Vegan is not only beneficial for your health but also for the planet earth. We also learned how cruel it is to milk a cow and drink it which is actually meant for her baby. I worked more on recipes and brought in a vegan version of Chik’n and Shrimp and shakes and cakes.

Ironically, the city shut down on the 2nd day of our restaurant opening due to Covid. So there after, we only did take out for one entire year. It was a very difficult year with hardly any help, Sid and I worked crazy hours. Thankfully, people who knew us supported us and we could get past that year. We just finished 3 years here at the creve coeur location and cant be happy for the love and support shown by our customers.

Time is the healer. We stood with it. We feel proud to serve the most unique vegan fare in St Louis from classic Butter Chik’n to Spicy Chikn and Po’boy sandwiches. Amazing shakes, cakes and bakery items.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Opening our new venture right when Covid hit was nothing but challenging for us. – We worked with very limited staff the first year in 2020. Sid and I had to put in a lot of hours during this time. We were never closed during this tough times.
– We were supposed to open only for lunch but due to covid, made it a dinner only restaurant.
– We continued the same hours until October 2023, when we decided to open all day from 11:30-8:30 pm
– There were times when supplies like bread, certain grocery items were not available.
– Finding employees became very difficult as no one wanted to work in restaurant industries any more.
– Labor cost increased tremendously.
– Food cost became higher.

There were so many challenges where we thought we want to shut it down. But every time, we thought that, customers came rolling in and telling us how happy they were to eat our food and support our mission. We kept at it and decided to face them with perseverance. We are happy that we did as we see things more positively now…..At, Last!!!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bombayfoodjunkies.com
• Instagram: bombayfoodjunkies
• Facebook: bombayfoodjunkies