Tinku Saini thought it would happen in 2009 when he opened the first location of Tarka Indian Kitchen in Austin, Texas.
“I believed Indian food had enough mainstream acceptance to work in a fast-casual model,” he said, “but it’s not like burgers, pizza or burritos. The complexity of the cuisine was a gatekeeper to fast growth.”
Indeed, industry forecasters have been predicting for years that Indian would be the next segment to create a permanent fast-casual niche in the U.S. But it hasn’t quite panned out that way. Now, almost 15 years later, it seems to be moving more assuredly in that direction, albeit dressed in a modern Indian style.
Several forces are at work, according to Saini and other leaders of the trend. Consumers are hungry for global flavors, and there’s been more exposure to Indian cuisine through independent restaurants in almost every state.
According to Restaurant Business' sister company, Technomic, 52% of American consumers have tried Indian food and liked it. And Chicago-based researcher Datassential found that 49% of U.S. consumers have been to a restaurant that primarily serves Indian cuisine—although they may only visit three to four times a year.
Akash Kapoor, “chief troublemaker” of fast-casual concept Curry Up Now, which he founded in 2009, calls it “the Trader Joe’s effect.” The grocery chain’s Paneer Tikka Masala, Lamb Vindaloo, Vegetable Biryani and other prepared meals have made Indian cuisine as accessible and almost as familiar as Thai or Mexican to American shoppers.
The perception of Indian food has changed, too, with upscale fine-dining restaurants operating in trend-leading cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco and L.A. “Many Americans got their first taste of Indian food at mom-and-pop restaurants, often with cheap lunch buffets that weren’t well maintained. That negative impression stayed with them until recently,” said Kapoor.
With its wealth of vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free options, the cuisine also exemplifies a number of rising food trends. Aside from the eating angle, health trends like yoga, meditation and ayurvedic medicine—a natural and holistic approach to wellness—all have Indian roots.
The pioneers evolve
As Saini mentioned, the complexity of the cuisine has been a roadblock to fast-casual growth. But a more robust supply chain filled with easier-to-source ingredients and prepared products is easing the way. So are streamlined menus.
“When we opened the first Tarka Indian Kitchen, we had a full-service mentality and too many items on the menu. We even used to butcher our own meat,” said Saini. “The service wasn’t fast enough, and we had lines out the door. So we trimmed the menu to what it is now—a small starter list, flatbreads, curries, kabobs and biryanis, and a couple of soups.”
To succeed as a modern Indian concept, you can’t fit a traditional Indian restaurant into the fast-casual mold, he discovered.
Tarka Indian Kitchen now has nine locations spread across Austin, Houston and San Antonio. Saini works with a local co-packer to make the “mother sauces” with clean labels and flavor profiles that are key to the authenticity of his menu items. Sysco distributes them to all nine locations. He now has a meat supplier that does the butchering, too.
Customers love Indian flatbreads, he said, and Tarka’s naan, roti and pav (toasted vegan yeast rolls) are still baked in-house. “We installed dough sheeters and a rotary oven to bake them—no tandoor needed. That takes some of the skill and complexity out of the process,” said Saini.
Curries are the most popular menu item, and like fast casuals serving Mediterranean, Mexican and other Asian cuisines, Tarka invites guests to customize their selection, choosing their protein and sauce. In the first category are chicken, lamb, paneer, shrimp and vegetables, which can be combined with seven or eight sauces of various spice levels. The restaurants also recently introduced Beyond Kima Curry made with Beyond ground meat that stands in for the usual ground lamb.
Despite all that variety, “Chicken Tikka Masala is still the most popular dish,” said Saini.
Keeping things fresh
Tarka means “tempering spices in hot oil,” a technique that releases a pop and sizzle. “That sound only happens when you make everything fresh,” Saini said.
To reinforce the freshness angle, the concept’s kitchens have an open plan, so when customers come up to the counter, they can see their food being prepared. Orders are then brought to the table by runners and served on real plates.
One question Saini gets often is “Where are all the Indian cooks?” as guests peer into the kitchen. “Our kitchen teams are multicultural—Hispanic, African-American and other backgrounds,” he said. “Because we’ve simplified our processes, we’re able to train quickly.”
The same is true of Curry Up Now. “We can’t afford to put an Indian executive chef in every fast casual,” said Kapoor of his eight locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Plus, it’s hard to get the talent. Visas are impossible. There’s not a single Indian cook in our fast-casual restaurants.”
Instead, Kapoor has an Indian executive chef who oversees R&D and a simplified, food-forward menu. There are six master curries, which are the base for everything else. This includes entrees like chana masala, butter chicken and lamb keema, smaller portions of which can be ordered as choices in a Thali (feast) that comes on a large plate with turmeric rice, naan, dal and several chutneys.
There’s also a selection of Indian snacks and street foods, such as Papdi Chaat (papdi chips, potato garbanzo mash, masala yogurt and chutney), Samosas and 1947 Chole Bhature, pillowy breads served with chana masala, chutney onions and pickle. And Indian Chinese is one of the most popular hawker foods in India, Kapoor said, so he includes five characteristic dishes on the menu, including Chili Chicken and Fried Rice.
Taking a non-purist approach
In a nod to other globally influenced fast casuals, Curry Up Now reimagines Indian ingredients and flavors in favorite formats. Offerings include bowls, burritos, Indian-inspired poutine, a “Naughty Naan” pizza and even a Tandoori Chicken Sandwich with an Indian-spiced aioli and hot honey on a brioche bun.
Rasa, a five-unit fast-casual based in Washington, D.C., and a relative newcomer to the genre, takes a similar approach, focusing primarily on customizable bowls.
Childhood friends Sahil Rahman and Rahul Vinod, co-founders of Rasa (RAhul + SAhil = Rasa), grew up in restaurant families; their fathers are partners in two full-service Indian restaurants. “We came up with the fast-casual idea in high school, and about seven years ago, we started working on the project,” said Rahman. “We wanted to change the perception of Indian food as overly spicy and strange, and make it more accessible and healthier.”
The partners opened their first location at the end of 2017, designed with bright colors, an open kitchen like Tarka’s and an “authentic but accessible” menu. Guests build bowls by choosing a base from a choice of eight rice and veggie options, seven mains (including turmeric ginger shrimp, spiced beef, tofu and cauliflower), four sauces (tamarind chili, tomato garlic, peanut sesame and coconut ginger) and four veggies (sauteed spinach, charred eggplant, green beans and chickpeas). They can then finish off the bowl with unlimited toppings, chutneys and dressings.
“We were thoughtful of which flavors and ingredients would play well together so guests can craft a bowl that will taste good,” said Rahman. “We have one main chef that assures the recipes and components come out right, as 80% to 90% are made in house.”
There’s also a selection of chef-curated bowls with whimsical names like “Tikka a Chance on Me,” “Goa Your Own Way,” and “Aloo You Need Is Love.” These are billed as “we got you” for those who can’t decide or don’t want to end up with a weird combo.
“We keep to the core but are always introducing new things,” said Rahman. One new addition is a vegan soft serve that’s been “a total hit,” he added. Beverages are also an important area of innovation, and Rasa is known for its mango lassi, fresh coconut juice and Indian-spiced cocktails. The list includes a Masala Gin + Tonic, Spicy Mumbai Mule and Tamarind Margarita.
The brand’s newest restaurant in Maryland has bar seating and is testing cocktails on draft. Rahman hopes the bar will boost the dinner daypart.
Rasa is also looking into creating a commissary kitchen as it grows, an addition that Los Angeles-based Tulsi Indian Eatery already has in place.
“Most production happens in our commissary kitchen to standardize quality and consistency to the four locations,” said Antonio Kanickaraj, Tulsi’s director of operations. “That takes out some of the complexity, but everything is made from scratch (even the pickles!) and we have a bread maker at each restaurant.”
This fast casual, which started in 2020, celebrates regional food, and has a dedicated chef for Northern Indian, Southern Indian and Western Indian dishes, as well as a fusion section called “The Influencers.” Everything is vegetarian and the cooks who prep the food in the commissary are primarily Indian. Western cooks are mainly in charge of the fusion food, which includes items like Paneer Tikka Tacos, Loaded Makhni Fries and Sliders filled with spiced potato dumplings and sided by masala fries.
The Tulsi Curry Combos are the best value and best-sellers, said Kanickaraj. Customers can order a meal made of two or three curries with daal, rice, bread, pickles and raita, and Tulsi sometimes runs BOGO deals on weekends. The curry combos are also available as family meals or a Thali—four courses on one plate for $20.
There are 250,000 people of Indian descent living in California’s San Fernando Valley, said Kanickaraj, and Tulsi’s location in Northridge attracts this demographic looking for authentic, well-priced food in a modern setting. The downtown L.A. restaurant has a mostly non-Indian customer base. “But the bowls, tacos and sliders cater to both communities,” he added.
This fast-casual’s Americanized lassis are also a draw. “I call them Lassi 2.0,” said Kanickaraj. “They’re a lighter lassi-milkshake blend, made in house and come in 10 flavors.” These include on-trend options like mango, dragon fruit, very berry and Hawaiian paradise.
Gearing up for growth mode
But perhaps Tulsi’s most modern upgrade is a robot.
The menu here requires more labor in the commissary and kitchen, and there are three robots at every location to transport food from kitchen to table. That keeps food quality high and menu prices low, said Kanickaraj.
“We did a lot of R&D before executing this, meeting with several companies about a year ago before choosing the best tech for our restaurants,” he said.
Customers order from an employee, kiosk or through the POS system, and once the order goes through, the guest is assigned to a table and a robot is encoded with that table number. When the food is ready, it’s delivered by the robot. “They’re even programmed to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ if requested,” said Kanickaraj. “And since our locations are about 4,000 square feet, they don’t bump into anything. The response from customers has been pretty amazing.”
The robots definitely figure into Tulsi’s growth plans, he added. The fast casual is on a “responsible growth” path, planning to open more locations in California but not yet looking at franchising, said Kanickaraj. Units on or near college campuses are part of the plan.
Rasa is also primed for “conscious” growth and is proceeding slowly. Last year, the partners received funding from Rellevant Partners to fuel expansion along the East Coast. “We just brought in a COO who has experience running larger organizations, like Potbelly, and can help with execution,” said Rahman. “We were also fortunate to add the former COO of Starbucks to our Board of Directors. We want to consciously and responsibly grow the business.”
Though the brand has been in operation since 2009, the last three years have seen explosive growth at Tarka Indian Kitchen. “Our AUVs grew from $1.6 million to $2.3 million between 2019 and 2022,” said Saini. “The changes we’ve made have made us almost ready to start franchising.”
He is currently focused on his home markets, and Dallas is up next. “Texas is so large we can do 35 to 40 restaurants here alone, opening about three in each area so they don’t cannibalize each other,” he said. “We want to grow from this center, possibly to Atlanta, Denver, Nashville and Arizona.” Saini predicts expansion to other states in the next two to three years: “We intend to be a national brand someday.”
Kapoor of Curry Up Now believes there are underserved markets all over the U.S. and is plotting expansion in several directions. “We’re desperately looking for drive-thrus, especially in North Carolina and along the 101 in California,” he said. “A lot of the trucking business is run by Indians, and we’re looking at truck stops where we can serve Indian handheld food.”
He’s also turning some locations into Mortar & Pestle, a separate brand designed to be an international sports bar. Most Curry Up Now units serve beer, wine, and low- and zero-proof cocktails; Mortar & Pestle has some of the same and is also equipped with “real cocktail bars” and TVs. Board games, karaoke and beer pong are also part of the mix.
Sujan Sakar, chef-owner of Indian gastropub Baar Baar in New York City and contemporary restaurant Rooh in San Francisco believes Indian fast casual can become a $1 billion dollar segment in the next 10 years. So he’s working on an “Indian-American fast casual for the next generation,” he said. “It will tell the story of how Indian food has evolved in America; a cross-over between Indian and American.”
Sakar, known for his new-age Indian cuisine, has spent the last two years researching, deciphering consumers’ eating habits and developing recipes. “The menu has to be recipe driven, but we don’t have to represent every dish,” he said. “I want to do things from the American perspective, perhaps a total of 12 menu items as the optimal number.”
He and his brother, who will be the chef, are taking the time to figure out the exact blueprint. “We want to give people a little more than they expect … not just copy Chipotle,” said Sakar.
Stay tuned.