We conclude our week of 'how to' guides with advice from a designer who has channelled his creativity into making one of east London's tastiest foodie success stories...
Urvesh Parvais opened the popular Gujarati Rasoi restaurant in Dalston with his mum in order to share with the world their passion for the traditional Gujarati food from Surat, made in the same way as was taught to them by their mother and grandmother.
1. Develop a product or experience that you believe in. I loved the food my mum cooked at home. Indian food as I knew it was an ocean apart from what I tasted in generic Indian restaurants. I started working with my mum and tested her food out on friends first and then on a wider audience at Broadway Market. This ensured that my ‘product’ was something people wanted.
2. Be prepared to make sacrifices. If it’s markets then forget about your weekends for a start, that’s when you need to be grafting. Be ready to push yourself and test your strength, both physically and emotionally. Learn from your mistakes fast, stop making them as soon as you work out something is wrong.
3. This one I’m scared to write, just in case I’m tempting fate, but here we are: the only constant is change, so be relaxed when it goes wrong. If you really believe in your project, you will work out a way to keep it afloat. Be prepared to evolve and adapt both your business as well as yourself, change is constant so flexibility, intuition, sensitivity and courageousness are necessary. Don’t be in a hurry to grow too fast, take your time: slowly, slowly.
Gujuratorasoi.com
Read Robert Urquhart's article about entrepreneurial designers here.