From food truck to Forbes: San Mateo’s Curry Up Now founder recognized for innovative Indian cuisine

Despite having zero restaurant experience, Hosseini said he wanted to serve authentic Indian flavors in “familiar formats” as a way to expand people’s taste buds to cuisines they might otherwise be intimidated to try. So they took their idea to the streets, literally.

Two weeks after their lunchtime craving, they bought a food truck and Curry Up Now took off. This year, they opened their fifth brick-and-mortar restaurant to go along with an expanded fleet of five food trucks. Marking their success, Hosseini was recognized in Forbes’ 2016 list of inspirational business and industry figures.

“The restaurant industry sort of happened on a whim,” Hosseini said. “It’s pretty cool to look at the timeline and look back and you know where you started and you look at where you’re ending up. Words don’t really describe it, it doesn’t give it justice.”

The father of two, who recently turned 30, now helps oversee restaurants in San Mateo, San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose and Oakland, along with a successful catering business and their signature food trucks. Co-founded with Akash Kapoor and Rana Kapoor, they also created signature Mortar & Pestle cocktail lounges at Curry Up Now’s San Mateo and San Jose locales.

While Silicon Valley is known as the birthplace of countless startups and technological advancements, Hosseini said he was thrilled to earn a formidable Forbes’ recognition in the food and drink category.

“It’s really rewarding, it’s exciting and I think it’s really good for what it is we’re doing and what we’re planning on doing,” Hosseini said. “And I think it’s good for the Bay Area in general, because we’re getting recognized for something other than tech. So we’ll see where it takes us.”

Even with their newest Oakland restaurant less than 2 months old, Hosseini said they’re continuously looking to improve — and it’s that innovative spirit that keeps them thriving.

“It’s important to be creative, sticking true to what’s helped us to succeed. We’ve never shied away from that and we’re not complacent. We always want to do better,” Hosseini said.

The mix of traditional Indian street food served up in well-known formats like a burrito or sandwich was inspired in part of Hosseini’s own experiences. Recalling wanting to be adventurous when ordering off an unfamiliar menu, the Kansas native admitted “I’d be one of those guys that was intimidated.”

For someone who might go to a restaurant knowing little about Indian food, the goal was to break down that barrier, he said.

Mixing in a commitment to fresh ingredients and naturally raised meat, Curry Up Now serves an impressive range of Indian-inspired cuisine. From a traditional samosa and fried raviolis dipped in tikka masala, to Indian-inspired fries and chutney-topped tacos, the menu keeps curious foodie’s on their toes.

Providing consistent, quality service has been paramount to their success; but he also credits Curry Up Now’s ability to reach tech-savvy Bay Area customers as key to their expansion.

“I think there’s a couple things that help with our popularity, one is being able to connect with the people who are curious about our food. We were able to use social media to really help with that,” Hosseini said, before recalling how him and his business partners first launched on the streets of downtown Burlingame.

Like any budding business, things weren’t always easy and building a fan base came with hard work.

Having built a company from the ground up, Hosseini recalled the early days full of stresses familiar to those who’ve ventured into startups.

“There’s no money, you’re just trying to make it through every day,” he said.

Now going on nine years in the business, Hosseini said he’s thrilled to see the food truck craze continuing to rise in popularity. Looking back, launching a gourmet mobile eatery is what allowed the three young guys to take a risk, experiment and go from mortgages to terrific tikka masala concoctions.

“When we started, there was no one to go to and ask, ‘how do you do this and what are some things to expect?’ We kind of just took it and ran with it,” Hosseini said. “I think it’s great, obviously it works for some and doesn’t work for others; it’s just the nature of the business. But it’s great to see other guys succeed and grow and get better at what they do. I think it helps the industry and gives hope for guys who may not necessarily have the financial means to go open a big expensive restaurant. But if it works for them, they can build off it.”

Visit curryupnow.com for more information.

samantha@smdailyjournal.com

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