Today we’d like to introduce you to Neal and Samir Idnani.
NaanStop began as a conversation around the dinner table with family. We wondered why more Americans didn’t eat Indian food. Our friends would come over and raid our fridge for mom’s leftovers all the time. But, they would never go out and eat Indian food on their own. We wanted to create a place that was comfortable and approachable for newcomers to the cuisine, while still keeping the bold flavors people know and love about Indian food.
Neal began working out of college with a hedge fund and realized very quickly that he hated it. When the economy tanked, he got laid off and took a minimum wage job at Jimmy Johns to learn the ropes of the restaurant business. Meanwhile, Samir was pursuing an MBA and working on the business plan for NaanStop with his professors. Just before Samir’s graduation ceremony, Neal mentioned to Samir that he had was stalling out at Jimmy Johns, his roommates were moving on and he was trying to figure out his next move. Samir said, “Why don’t you move to LA and we’ll open a food truck!” 2 hours later, after the ceremony, Neal gave Samir a big hug and said, “Congrats bro! And, I’m moving to LA!”
We opened NaanStop as a food truck in LA in January 2011 and operated for about a year, testing recipes and feeding the folks of SoCal. But, we got wistful for home and moved to Atlanta to put down roots. In September 2012, we opened our first location downtown, with our second one following 2 years later. Our mission is still to make Indian food something people can enjoy as an everyday affair. Everything is still based on mom’s recipes and we make everything from scratch including our samosas, which won best pastry in Atlanta 3 years in a row!
Has it been a smooth road?
Ha! Of course not! We have had many struggles along the way. One of the biggest challenges has been managing the construction of our second location and dealing with permitting and city inspectors. On that project, construction was delayed several times because of things like waiting for 2 weeks for a plumbing inspection to take place and dealing with officials who approved construction based on plans submitted to the city and then changed their minds once we had already built what they approved.
Every day presents a new challenge. But, when it’s your own business, it’s not so bad because you have your goals in sight. We have spent years skipping on our own salaries to realize our dream, but wouldn’t trade it in for anything.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
NaanStop is a fast-casual Indian restaurant. Our mission is to make Indian food an everyday affair. We do it by keeping true to our mom’s recipes, introducing folks to Indian flavors, and making it quick and convenient to fit Indian food into your life. One of our best known items is the Samosa. It’s a crispy pastry stuffed with potatoes, peas, and spices. Making them is a labor of love for sure. We peel, boil, and season hundreds of pounds of potatoes a week and hand roll each samosa. The samosas won best pastry in Atlanta 3 years in a row. We’re really proud of that because their one of our mom’s signature items.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
We love Atlanta. Starting a business anywhere is not without challenges, but we couldn’t have picked a better place to start ours. Atlanta is big and diverse, but each neighborhood has a distinct feel. Whatever you want to do, you can find the right niche in Atlanta. As members of the Downtown community, we would love to see the city do more to revitalize downtown and bring people to the neighborhood in the evenings and weekends. Downtown has seen a lot of growth in the past 5 years since we have been there, but still has a lot of room to grow.
Contact Info:
- Address: NaanStop Downtown
64 Broad St NW
Atlanta, GA 30303NaanStop Buckhead
3420 Piedmont Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30305 - Website: www.naanstop.com
- Phone: DT: 404.522.6226; BH: 404.846.6226
- Email: info@naanstop.com
