Harvard graduate dishes up success story through 'donne' biryani

Bengaluru: For this Harvard graduate in her mid-twenties, the lure of the lucre could have enticed her into a high-paying corporate job in the US. But this Bengaluru girl decided to come back to nammauru and dish out naati style donne biryani instead, that too during the pandemic!

When Ramya Ravi shared the idea of starting a donne biryani restaurant during the peak of Covid in 2020 she was laughed at by everyone. Who would come to a restaurant to eat during lockdown? Also, there were so many eateries serving biryani already. Then why another donne biryani eatery?

Undeterred by what others thought, Ramya, along with her sister, started a cloud kitchen and launched her brand of donne biryani - the RNR Donne Biryani by tying up with food delivery partner Swiggy. In a matter of weeks, RNR Donne Biryani started trending and she started getting repeat orders. Within 4 months she got 1 lakh orders and became the most preferred food delivery brand of Swiggy.

Ramya sourced the recipe of donne biryani from her family kitchen. "My grandmother makes one of the best donne biryanis and it is our family favourite. I use the same recipe for RNR Donne Biryani and results are there for everyone to see," says a beaming Ramya. Urged by the success among biryani connoisseurs in Bengaluru, the gutsy girl finally opened her own restaurant in the bustling 4th block locality of Jayanagar towards the end of 2021. The restaurant that serves her authentic donne biryani also has other signature dishes like naatikoli curry, naatikoli fry, drumstick chilly, elaneerpayasam, goli soda etc and has become a hot favourite among Bengalureans, in just a few months.

But what if the venture was not a success? "That is why I tested the waters first by starting RNR as a delivery brand. Also, I took the pandemic as an opportunity as we could get everything like infrastructure, manpower all at less cost," explains the go-getter.

What are the future plans for Ramya and RNR? "I am proud that we have been the first to get donne biryani into the mainstream. Now the aim is make it popular nationwide," says an ambitious Ramya.