Tasty business: These 7 chefs-turned-entrepreneurs are a major inspiration

Chef Ashish holds up a working experience with various big shot hospitality groups like Taj Palace, Taj Rambagh Palace Jaipur Hotel Taj Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad, and Hotel Crowne Plaza, Rohini.

His core area of expertise is Italian, Mexican, French and cold kitchen cuisine.
Ashish is also specialized in pre-opening, kitchen designing, and kitchen equipment.
After working with the biggies in the industry, Ashish now holds up his own brand by the name of “Ardour Cooking with Ashish Massey” and co-owns 3 major restaurants in Delhi/NCR region in partnership:

• The Ancient Barbeque (Noida)
• The Ancient Barbeque (Sohna Road)
• Smokehouse Biryani (Noida)

If you love watching food shows on TV, you must be familiar with Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi.
Chef Harpal, popularly known as the Dancing Chef of India and known for his 'namak-shamak daal dete hain' act on his TV show Turban Tadka, started his career in 1987 with The Oberoi in Bhubaneswar and worked with several leading hotel groups in India and abroad during his career. He has spent several years in learning different cuisines. He learnt Hyderabadi cooking from Ustad Habib Pasha and Begum Mumtaz Khan. He also did research on Ayurveda-based food to see how cooking can improve nutritive value of the food.

In 1993, Chef Harpal hosted the first episode of Khana Khazana on Zee TV and has done numerous TV shows since then including Harpal Ki Rasoi, Kitchen Khiladi among others. In 1998, he conceptualized and executed the opening of the Indian specialty restaurant Khazana in Dubai. He also formulated business plans and opening plans for other restaurants.In 2012, he decided to launch his own restaurant chain The Funjabi Tadka (TFT). The flagship branch of the restaurant opened on 18th January 2013 in Kolkata.
Chef has written food columns for newspapers and magazines. He is one of the oldest associates of Sanjeev Kapoor, and has developed content for his books.The two have authored a book Royal Hyderabadi Cooking.
Sokhi has conducted cooking schools at Regent Jakarta and The Peninsula Manila. He has also organized Indian food festivals internationally.

Pooja Dhingra is an Indian pastry chef and businesswoman. She is the owner of macaroon bakery chain Le 15 Patisserie in Mumbai, including the first macaroon store in India.

After completing her course, Dhingra returned to Mumbai and opened her first store in March 2010. In 2016, Dhingra expanded her enterprise, opening a new location called Le15 Café in South Mumbai. While signature desserts named after French women will be featured, the cafe's menu includes simple, savoury food main course dishes.

A PR professional turned Chef, Osama Jalali is well known in the critics' circle. And with his record weight loss transformation, Osama has his baby restaurant in his kitty, that is opening this week in Delhi's Connaught Place.

Osama is best known for his cooking tours across the country with his mother Nazish Jalali churning out lost Rampuri cuisine of Uttar Pradesh.

And the Kebab King is now coming up with an all-vegetarian restaurant, The Masala Trail.

(Image: Facebook)

Chef Abhijit has been in the food and beverage industry for the past 16 years and has a rich and diverse experience with deluxe hotels, restaurants and airlines.

He specialises in Indian cuisine and started his pilgrimage of the cuisine with the ITC group of hotels where he perfected his skills at iconic restaurants like the Dum-Pukht and Bukhara.The professional journey further continued with The Oberoi Hotels, BJN restaurants, Head Food and Beverage for Kingfisher Airlines and new product development chef for Indian Cuisine Gate Gourmet worldwide.

His pursuit for authenticity and local flavours has since then taken him across the country and abroad where he has worked and understood the nuances of various regional cuisines and also the art of transforming Indian cuisine for various off-shore markets.

Having consulted for number of years, what brought Chef Abhijit to join the Fingerlix team was the shared passion for redefining packaged food in our country. He currently heads the new product development and is instrumental in creating products which are true to the belief of Fingerlix for fresh food.

Saransh won the Food Food Maha Challenge hosted by Sanjeev Kapoor and Madhri Dixit. Author of the acclaimed food travelogue 'India on my Platter', he has hosted various TV shows on Food.

Saransh has co-founded the brand Goila Butter Chicken which serves authentic Butter Chicken based on research.

Saransh’s specialty is contemporary Indian food, with varied knowledge of Italian food & bakery and confectionery as well. He is particularly famous for his delicious Butter Chicken so much so that it’s now known as ‘Koyla Goila Butter Chicken’. Saransh’s philosophy is to preserve traditional Indian cooking techniques and food and give it a modern look and character so it is easily accepted by the youth.

Roshan has worked in diverse geographic regions very early in his career. He brings with him industry experience in Hospitality, Outdoor Catering, High end food solutions.

Over the last few years he has been actively involved in key portfolios with some of the most crucial and diverse places among Mahindra Holidays Resorts India Pvt Ltd. He brings with himself a unique blend of creative flair and passion for food, belief in continuous research & development to keep abreast with the market trends and deliver the latest innovations. Has strong business sense and engaging interpersonal skills.