Hotcake brand began by a couple with Rs 3 lakh floods to Rs 11 crore turnover in three years

What about starting your day with a heap of light and soft blueberry hotcakes showered with maple syrup, a pat of spread, and all your #1 fixings? Tasty hotcakes need no presentation! Flapjacks and ends of the week can go together, truth be told. These tomfoolery little men date back to the hours of old Romans, and are adequately still to fill your heart with joy.

Well, we introduce you to Sundeep Singh, 34, and Akashdeep Dan, 27, who are co-founders of ‘Uncle Peter’s Pancakes’, a brand that was born in the summer of 2019 and is now known for its authentic pancakes along with other savory dishes. The sweet dream that began with a cloud kitchen in Bengaluru with Rs 3 lakh in 2019 has grown into an Rs 11 crore turnover brand in just three years.

It has spread its wings to eight cities through 16 outlets, where they sell an estimated 2000+ pancakes every day. Between Sundeep and Akashdeep, the former had more experience in the food and beverages industry before the duo came together in 2018 to start Uncle Peter’s Pancakes. Sundeep’s first brush with entrepreneurship began at the BITS Pilani (Goa Campus) in Sancoale, where he did his BE in Mechanical Engineering between 2008 and 2012.

Sundeep smelt a business opportunity and struck a deal with a Domino’s outlet at Panjim. Sundeep then informed the students that he would be supplying pizzas during the weekends and those interested could order in advance. The BOGO offer he got from Domino’s meant that he would be paying only for 50% of the orders. “The students got their pizza easily and also saved Rs 200-300 on taxi fare, while Domino’s got bulk orders.

They were all happy, and I never took pocket money from my parents during my four years of engineering.” Sundeep was born into a middle-class family in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, in 1988, where his father worked in the electrical department of the Indian Air Force. “We siblings were always reminded by our parents that good education is the key to a better future.” During college final year, Sundeep did a six-month internship at Texmaco Rail and Engineering Ltd in Kolkata, during which time he also worked in an event management company in the evenings.

After his graduation, he shifted to Bengaluru, where he joined Satva Consultations, which organized flea markets for companies selling organic products. “I did all this to save money for my future business,” says Sundeep. Sundeep grabbed the opportunity and purchased a commercial kitchen that came up for sale. He invested his savings of Rs 10 lakh to start Swad Food, which supplied lunch packs to many companies in Bengaluru.

But in 2017 he sold the business for a profit and registered a new company ‘Bogmalo Foods & Hospitality LLP’. Within a year, he opened new outlets in Gurugram, Goa, and in four other places. Sundeep and Akashdeep wanted to create a unique food brand that catered to a single product in multiple varieties. Since Akashdeep has a sweet tooth, he did a lot of R & D on desserts and came up with the idea of creating an authentic pancake brand and Uncle Peter’s Pancakes was born as a cloud kitchen in June 2019 from Indira Nagar, Bengaluru.

About six months later, they opened their first outlet at Indira Nagar. They started with 50 varieties of pancakes and now have more than 100 varieties, apart from various other savory dishes. Uncle Peter’s has 16 outlets spread across eight cities, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Lucknow, Kolkata, Indore, Ahmadabad, Pondicherry, and Goa. 

Bogmalo Foods & Hospitality LLP, which operates both brands, registered a turnover of Rs 15 crore in FY 2021-22, with Uncle Peter’s alone accounting for Rs 11 crore. Divya works as a General Manager at Swiggy in Bengaluru. I have great support from my parents, though they were tense in the initial years of my business.

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