Who we are:
We have spent 4+ years developing the business model of Nirmal, a self-service Indian café in Ypsilanti, MI, which promotes "disruptive eating" through 4 stages. "Disruptive eating" addresses two of the most glaring issues of our generation; Social Inequality
and Climate Change. 'Nirmal' is an unique experiment and it is not related to only serving food. Please see 'Many firsts' at our website
www.nirmalindiancuisine.com and you will be able to realize how we are different from other Indian establishments,
or any other restaurants or food chains.
Also please read our blog at http://nirmalasramban.blogspot.com.
This details our transformation into Nirmal, a self-service café from a fine dining restaurant formerly called "Temptations".
Why we need funds:
To complete the business model of Nirmal, we have broken our plan into three stages. The first two items below are integral. We are raising funds for all three items along with other marketing efforts to fulfill our ultimate goals.
1. Free Cooking classes with grocery at hand: We plan to offer free cooking classes at Nirmal on our off day Sundays and tie up with the local Indian grocery stores to provide the neccessary ingredients after the classes at reduced
prices. Later we plan to take our cooking classes to the apartment complexes, other community centers etc. The whole idea is to make Indian food familiar and dispel various myths about it. Also it would encourage the cooking at home bringing the price of lunch
or dinner for a family down by 50%.
2. Own delivery network ~ We need this to reach out to the offices, especially during the lunch rush, and to the homes throughout the day. Our inspiration is Bombay dabbawala, a delivery network in Mumbai, India which provides
homely and authentic food to the offices for lunch. Our online ordering system will be unique in the sense that our patrons can order their food from one week to 24 hrs in advance.
3. A Book and the video game on "disruptive eating" ~ We are working on both with the target of launching in Summer 2015. The plan is to use these tools to reach out to people across generations in order to help them learn about
the importance of food in addressing global issus.
The book titled "Disruptive eating"- Empowering everyone to change the world will detail our journey from "Temptations", a fine-dining restaurant with Full Bar to "Nirmal", a self-service café with the mantra "Eat Healthy Drink Healthy". We will
explain how "disruptive eating" can make our community, country and the world a better place and how each of us has a role to play. This would also contain a section on Indian food items with easy to cook instructions. This book aims to promote healthy, sustainable
cooking at home.
The video game titled "Nirmal- Save the World" (nirmal means Pure) would be targeted at kids (8 -13 years of age). Kids will be able to calculate their BMI and observe the changes in their BMI as they go on eating at home or outside. Also how their veggie
eating or use of bio-degradable products can impact the environment and global warming.
The idea is to let kids become aware of BMI, the calorie values of the food items and global warming issues at a young age, through a game they will love to play. Also they can convert the points earned while playing the game into a food box or the gift
card at Nirmal.
Our Future plans:
The whole premise of Nirmal revolves around how to reach out to 80% of the populace in and around Ypsilanti location. The delivery network and the cooking classes will play a great role in our endeavor. The third item on our agenda, mainly the book and the
video game, would help us in drawing attention to the "disruptive eating" model at the state as well as at the national level.
Once we complete our business model at Ypsilanti location, we move on to the next phase:
In the next phase, we plan to open 2 -3 more locations in Michigan. There are 40+ Indian restaurants in Michigan and we are confident that we can convince at least 2-3 owners to convert themselves into a Nirmal franchise with or without their participation.
This will enable us to expand at much faster pace, rather than build each Indian restaurant from the scratch.
In the whole US, there are 3500 Indian restaurants in almost 1000 cities. We aim to convert at least one Indian restaurant per city into a Nirmal franchise. One location would be our Central production and distribution unit in that state like the Ypsilanti
location in MI. Then we make forays into the schools, the colleges and the office cafeterias as we did in Michigan.
In 5 to 10 years time frame, we see Nirmal growing into the first Indian food chain with 500+ locations in the US. With ‘Nirmal’ becoming more and more visible, more and more Indian restaurants and other restaurants may be forced to follow our agenda of
"disruptive eating".
This could bring a real change in the US food industry and change the health profile of the US in the next 20 years, creating a huge impact on the environment and global warming too.
Why we need your support:
We are not aware of any restaurant or food chain anywhere pursuing such a health related agenda explicitly. Also we need Nirmal Cafe to provide authentic and affordable Indian food to demonstrate in practice what we are preaching. So 501 (C) (3), the non-profit
status in the US, for a food chain or cafe may be unprecendated.
We are using the SSG platform to give a clarion call to the organizations or the individuals to join us in this novel cause of making the world a better place.
Some Examples of our Delcious Food:
