Gurgaon man quits ₹50 LPA job to start momo business: ‘Earned ₹5 crore in 2.5 years’

A Gurgaon-based entrepreneur has opened up about how his small momo stall transformed into a profitable business earning crores in revenue. Saket Saurabh is the co-founder and CEO of The Momos Mafia — a business he launched after quitting his well-paying job in 2023.Saket Saurabh, 33, launched The Momos Mafia as a roadside stall.In a conversation with HT.com, Saket said that The Momos Mafia was built with the intent of having a recognisable dumplings brand in India. Saket quit his stable job, where he earned more than ₹50 lakh per annum, to take a leap of faith and start the business.Today, The Momos Mafia operates on a franchise model and has a presence in seven Indian states. Saket said that in two-and-a-half years, his company has earned more than ₹5 crore in revenue.Quitting ₹50 lakh jobLast week, Saket shared an Instagram video with the caption, “50 lakh ki job resign kar chale momo business karne.”“From road side cart to a proper franchising business. Every step earned. And this is just the beginning,” he added.The video has gone viral on Instagram with almost 3 lakh views and dozens of comments.Saket told HT.com that The Momos Mafia is not his first brush with entrepreneurship. After graduating from NIFT Delhi in 2014, he co-founded Wowflux.When Wowflux was acquired FlixStock, Saket was onboarded as a product manager. He was earning ₹52 lakh the time he quit in September 2023.Small beginningsWhile he was still working, Saket had joined his ser and brother-in-law in opening Bamboo Cafe in Gurgaon. The small eatery served a number of dishes — from parathas to biryani — but momos were their best-selling item.(Also read: Delhi couple quits corporate jobs, moves to the hills and opens a cafe, taking pay cut for happiness)“It was a generic cafe. We were selling everything. As an experiment, we opened a small canopy selling only momos right outside the cafe,” Saket revealed.“After that small canopy, we put up a cart at a location called Infotech in Gurgaon. That cart did great business. We were doing ₹10,000 to ₹12,000 in sales every day.“We met many office workers at that stall who wanted to open their own momo carts. That’s how the franchising business started,” Saket said.Growing the businessThe Momos Mafia was officially regered in January 2024. The business has five partners — Saket, Ekta Kumari, Gautam, Surya Prakash and Shubham Thakur.Saket told HT.com that opening momo carts was quick and profitable, but not without problems.“In the first year, we opened a number of carts,” he said. “This was the good side, but the cart business was also volatile. We ran into various problems — some days the authorities would remove carts, we ran into staffing problems, sometimes the weather did not cooperate. Operationally, there were many challenges,” said the entrepreneur.“After doing this for one year, I realised that momo carts could not grow into a meaningful, scalable business. A ₹500 crore brand cannot be built around carts,” he said.At the same time, Saket was well aware that momo sales are mostly done on the roadside. “So in the second year, we started opening small shops. Outside the shops, we put up momo carts. We called it CSR model — which stands for Cart Service Restaurant.”Currently, The Momos Mafia has around 40 carts, 20 small outlets, and two proper quick service restaurants.Earnings from momo businessSaket said that in the first year, the company earned ₹16 lakh. “In the 2023-24 financial year, for the three months of January, February and March, we did ₹16 lakh,” he claimed.“Last year, we did ₹2.2 crore. This year, we have already done ₹2.2 crore and we will be closing this year at ₹3 crore,” he said. “So in two-and-a-half years, we have earned more than ₹5 crore.”Asked if he has any advice for others who may want to venture into the momo business, he said: “Start with a proper outlet. Do not start with a stall. With a stall, you can earn maybe a lakh, 2 lakh or 4 lakh. But when you talk about the bigger number and a proper business thing, start with an outlet. This is one of my big learnings.”(Also read: Man sells Maggi in the mountains, internet stunned his earnings: ‘Should I quit my job?’)