Benne: How Two Outsiders Built A ₹350 Cr Dosa Business From Nostalgia

No chairs. No sambar. No delivery apps. And yet, Benne has built a reported ₹350 crore valuation in just two years.What started with a craving for the Bengaluru-style dosa they grew up eating has become one of India’s most talked-about new-age food brands.On Young Turks Reloaded, Benne co-founders Akhil Iyer and Shriya Narayan join Shereen Bhan to unpack the business behind the buzz — from building a standing-only format and obsessing over turnaround times to staying operationally profitable at the store level while expanding rapidly.They also reveal why celebrities including Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli came to Benne without being invited, and why the founders believe the real moat is not celebrity marketing but taste, nostalgia and the customer experience.The conversation goes beyond the dosa: why Benne stays off Swiggy and Zomato, how community tables became part of the model, how the founders are building the business alongside a marriage and a young family, and whether a Bengaluru-born dosa brand can make its way to New York, London and Dubai.No chairs. No sambar. No delivery apps. And yet, Benne has built a reported ₹350 crore valuation in just two years.What started with a craving for the Bengaluru-style dosa they grew up eating has become one of India’s most talked-about new-age food brands.On Young Turks Reloaded, Benne co-founders Akhil Iyer and Shriya Narayan join Shereen Bhan to unpack the business behind the buzz — from building a standing-only format and obsessing over turnaround times to staying operationally profitable at the store level while expanding rapidly.They also reveal why celebrities including Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli came to Benne without being invited, and why the founders believe the real moat is not celebrity marketing but taste, nostalgia and the customer experience.The conversation goes beyond the dosa: why Benne stays off Swiggy and Zomato, how community tables became part of the model, how the founders are building the business alongside a marriage and a young family, and whether a Bengaluru-born dosa brand can make its way to New York, London and Dubai.