Nobody can Bake it like the NoMads

Pizza is not a trend, it’s a way of life. 

As two people who live by this saying, there were absolutely no doubts about the fact that we wanted to start this new venture with the story of a legendary pizza place. And when it comes to legendary, the first place that came to our mind was No Mad Baker. We contacted the owners and asked them if they would be interested in a short interview, and being the friendly duo that they are, they readily agreed.

So here we bring to you, the story of Varun and Regina, two of the most enthusiastic and optimistic people that we’ve ever come across. They do not follow anyone or anything, except for their hearts.  It all started after they passed out from college and were totally clueless about what they wanted to do with their lives. They didn’t want to be stuck in a monotonous job. All that they knew was that both of them shared a common interest which was cooking food and experimenting with different recipes.

The Crazy Duo

Their story begins…

One day, Regina’s brother suggested them to try making food for PDPU students as there were no proper eating joints near PDPU at that time. They decided to make sandwiches and see if it would work. They started with selling the sandwiches to the shop owners outside the college, who would later, sell it to the students. The sandwiches were a big hit, and they got a lot of appreciation for that. The only problem being that they were very particular about the ingredients that they used and weren’t ready to compromise with that. Due to this, half of the day they used to go around the whole town in their ‘famous blue activa’ trying to get the best quality ingredients. Soon they realized that it wasn’t worth it as their whole day used to go in collecting ingredients and delivering them till PDPU, hence after a month of this tedious cycle, they stopped.

The next recipe that they thought of experimenting with was curry buns. They started with Veg & Non Veg curry buns and used to go to the lane near TGB, and sell it to youngsters for 20-30 rs. Approaching people was a bit weird at first, and the first thing that they ended up saying to their first customer was “Veg or Non Veg?”. After a little time, they got pretty comfortable with this. Their curry buns were a hit, and then they added cupcakes to their menu too. One of the people who had tried their buns was having a Harley Davidson event and he asked them if they would be interested in catering for it. They readily agreed and till date, consider this as their first big break .Catering for 400 people was quite a task, but they managed to pull it off with the help of their friends and family. After successfully pulling off their first corporate event, this duo went to the famous TV show Sanjeev Kapoor ke Kitchen Khiladi. This show was a huge learning experience for them. They met a lot of people and learned how cooking is a lot more than just the ingredients used in the recipe, it was all about the science behind it. They started experimenting with different recipes after the show ended and blogging about it. They would write about the delicious things that people could make with the common ingredients lying around in the house. At the end of the blog, they were broke as they had spent all their money buying ingredients to experiment with new recipes.

The ‘Mad’ Idea

One evening, they were sitting around and craving for a pizza, due to the broke state and lack of Non Veg pizza options, they decided to make one instead of ordering it. They invited their friends over and turned it into a pizza party. Their friends loved the pizza and couldn’t stop praising it. That’s how the idea of a pizza delivery joint came in. The name comes from the fact that they were like nomads who traveled all around the city to get the perfect ingredients. They spent a week after that, trying to perfect their recipe and once that was done, asked one of their friend to make a menu. The initial menu had 4 Non Veg pizza’s and One Veg Pizza. They posted the menu on the Foodaholics in Ahmedabad group and it was immediately taken down as the group did not allow promotions. But the admin of the group, Rohan  Bhatt, decided to try their Pizza and he loved it. He let them put the menu back on the group and they got 16 orders on the first day. They said yes to everything without realizing that all the delivery addresses  were in different directions and they had to personally deliver each pizza. They couldn’t complete all orders and hence ended up getting a few bad comments. They didn’t let this break their spirit. They went to Rohan for advice and the three mutually decided to work together. From then on, Rohan managed the management part of things and Varun and Regina made the pizza’s and delivered it.

It started from a small shop called “Body Touch” (The board was of the tailor’s shop who rented the shop before them). And now it is one of the most popular pizza joints in the city and they have recently opened a  new cafe. They started with making 4 Pizza’s an hour and now make 60-70 per hour. They faced a lot of challenges and setbacks, but the only thing that kept them going was the will to give their customers a pizza of good quality and taste.

They’ve sold food on the streets, traveled all day trying to get ingredients, done a corporate event with no experience and started a new pizza place from their kitchen. They’ve had negative reviews and crazy customers. They’ve had their share of ups and downs. And yet, they didn’t let any obstacle stop them or break their spirit. Through all the things changing constantly and the challenges that came one after the other, the only thing that remained constant was them being together (Also…Their cute blue activa 😛 ) ❤

And now it’s time for the BIG SURPRISE :

You won’t have to wait outside their doors for long as they’re planning on opening a dine in before the end of 2016  (Yes, it’s official!)

 

So if you are a Pizza lover and Pizza is the thing that’s on the back of your mind all day long (Don’t worry, it’s totally normal 😛 ) then order some cheesy authentic pizza’s now.

 

 

 

Hunger Helpline : +91 9979899126

The Nomad House: Shila Lekh Complex, Vastrapur Lake, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad