Looking at Chaitanya Akkineni, one would never imagine that his go-to comfort foods would be butter naan and butter chicken. The extremely fit Telugu actor confesses that when he does not have to follow a strict diet for his roles – which rarely happens – he loves to gorge on his favourite cheat meals, which also include sushi and burgers!
It is no wonder then, that the Premam star whose first love remains acting, is also the might behind Shoyu, a Pan Asian cloud kitchen in Hyderabad and has now come up with another cloud kitchen, Scuzi, which offers comfort classics such as burgers and pizzas. He has partnered with Varun Tripuraneni, Arjun, and Saniya Jaiswal for the premium food delivery brand.
You May Also Like: Prithviraj Sukumaran Finds Direction More Complex Than Acting
In an exclusive with Esquire India, he opens up about his obsession with good food, learnings in the F&B business and what he reaches out for when he gets hunger pangs at 3 am!
You can't be in the hospitality business without being a foodie yourself. Do you consider yourself one?
I was obsessed with butter naan and butter chicken at one point. I think my journey with food started with visiting restaurants and looking for the best butter chicken and butter naan. The first thing I do when I travel is to read up online about the food scene there and to see where the best food is available – whether at a Michelin-star restaurant or a stall on the street. It tells me the story of the place I’m traveling to.
Do you cook?
I can't cook at all, unless you count making great coffee! Otherwise, I am good at eating and passing judgments.
What’s your favourite cuisine?
I love Pan Asian – Japanese to be precise. I find it inspiring how everything is so minimal, yet so complex. I haven’t visited Japan but I am a huge fan of the Nobu chain of restaurants. In fact, the first thing I look for when I travel now is to search for the best place to have sushi!
You May Also Like: The Rise And Rise Of Vicky Kaushal
How did Shoyu happen?
I wanted to bring the sushi experience to Hyderabad. Although there are many players doing Pan Asian here, there’s not much importance given to Japanese in the menu. I wanted to open a restaurant but then the lockdown happened and the idea shifted to the cloud kitchen space. I found a huge gap where gourmet cloud kitchens were involved. I wanted to focus a lot on the correct packaging and research on ingredients that travel well. We also have a restaurant-style approach to our menu. We keep changing them through the year and keep doing specials based on ingredients and festivals.
What were some of the learnings from Shoyu and how have you incorporated them in your latest cloud kitchen Scuzi?
I’ve learnt that the customer places a lot of value on meals that are well-packaged. They don’t mind paying a little extra when there is attention to detail. We are also limited to the aggregators in a way, so at times there are challenges when it comes to deliveries during extreme weather like heavy rainfall, etc. We use craft paper for packaging and that can get spoiled during rains, so we have made cute little raincoats for the food bags. However, these challenges are all part of the job; I have nothing to complain about.
Tell us about Scuzi and its offerings.
Scuzi is cult comfort food. There are classic dishes such as burgers, pizzas and pastas. The hero ingredients are bread and cheese. The idea came to me because I love a good, well-made burger. I feel a great burger should have good meat, good bread, cheese, and one topping. Coincidentally, I met my partners in Goa and they have a restaurant there called Como Agua where I had the best pizza. I thought these guys know what they are doing, and I wanted to put together a brand with them. That's how Scuzi started. And of course, we have a great burger on the menu.
Expansion plans with the cloud kitchens?
We want to keep Shoyu as a cloud kitchen brand. Having said that, we have opened a QSR outlet at the Hyderabad airport. We want to open more cloud kitchens in other cities now.
You May Also Like: Sparsh Shrivastava On Making His Mark With Both Movies And Music
Films wise, what’s next on the cards?
I’ve started shooting for an untitled film with director Karthik Dandu, which is a mythological thriller. I've never explored this space before and I am looking forward to it now.
Lastly, what do you reach out for when you are feeling hungry at 3 in the morning?
Salted butter caramel ice cream!