AI Founder to Food Leader: Culinary School Grad Bets On Health-Centered Hospitality — and Wins
The Chef-owner of Bangalore’s Mamacoco Hospitality Group is also a graduate of the Institute’s Plant-Based Culinary Arts program (now Health-Centered Culinary Arts). But he didn’t start out in food. In fact, far from it.
Before deciding to attend culinary school, Chef Kiran was the founder of a successful AI manufacturing company called Unit X. In 2022, he sold Unit X, and decided to make a major career change.
He knew he wanted to positively impact the planet, but he wasn’t sure where to begin. His wife, Ankita, guided him to an answer.
As Chef Kiran tells it, Ankita noticed that nearly everything he watched, read and talked about centered on food. She suggested — and he confirmed — that a culinary career was exactly what he had been searching for.
Learning Through Travel and Tradition
Chef Kiran has long loved food and flavor. Growing up in India, he roasted garden vegetables in the residual heat of his mother’s coal-fired oven. Because his father’s job required frequent moves, Chef Kiran regularly immersed himself in new regions by befriending local “aunties” and learning how they prepared their favorite meals.
“There are so many different kinds of sauces and local vegetables that they would prepare, so that’s where I started picking things up — I would learn from them,” he says.
“By the time I was in high school, my knowledge of Indian cooking was solid.”
That curiosity stayed with him into adulthood. An avid traveler, one of Chef Kiran’s favorite memories involves heading to rural Italy after meeting someone in Rome the night before.
“He was bragging about his grandmother’s pasta and I was like, ‘I need to learn how to do that, and I need to go see her do it,’” Chef Kiran says. “It’s amazing what happens when you just ask…and that’s how I learned how to make pasta and marinara sauce.”
As Chef Kiran focused on his professional life, his curiosity about food, hospitality and sustainability continued to grow. He hosted large backyard dinners and spent his free time studying chefs, recipes and restaurant culture.
Eventually, those interests led him to the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.
Finding a Home at the Institute
Chef Kiran spent a month visiting NYC restaurants before commencing his studies. His strategy was simple: enroll in a top plant-forward culinary program, sharpen his vegetarian cooking skills and open a fully vegetarian fine-dining restaurant.
Long term, he hoped to expand into casual dining and quick-service concepts — and eventually influence the way people eat at home.
“Once that happens, then I can actually achieve my vision of changing the way people eat — making it more vegetarian, or veg-centric,” Chef Kiran says.
He was drawn to the Institute because of its focused, accelerated format.
“It’s the most advanced plant-forward program there is,” Chef Kiran says. “Also, the location was in the heart of Manhattan, which gave me the opportunity to work in places nearby.”
As a student, Chef Kiran volunteered regularly at the school’s hydroponic farm and, within weeks of starting school, was working the line at Amanda Cohen’s Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant, Dirt Candy. Connected to the restaurant through one of his Chef-Instructors at the Institute, he credits the experience with shaping his understanding of professional hospitality.
The Pressure of the Professional Kitchen
“It was my first day in a professional kitchen, and they put me on the pass for dinner service,” Chef Kiran says. “I thought, ‘Is this really happening?’”
With Dirt Candy’s open kitchen, Chef Kiran didn’t have much time to second-guess himself.
“I looked at the tweezers in my hand and realized my hand was shaking,” he says. “At that moment these two women sat down right in front of me and I was like, ‘You know what, I need to take three deep breaths and really look like I know what I’m doing.’ Then a few minutes later I heard one of them say, ‘That guy looks like he knows what he’s doing.’”
Working the line in front of guests — and witnessing Dirt Candy earn its first Michelin Star — cemented Chef Kiran’s love of fine dining. He carried that experience back to India when he launched Mamacoco Hospitality.
Building Mamacoco Hospitality
As Chef Kiran prepared to launch his restaurant group, he focused on more than culinary technique. One of the biggest lessons he took from culinary school was the importance of hospitality and teamwork.
“The biggest lesson I learned was that it’s not just about getting the skill to cook, it’s also about the soft skills of working with people,” he says. “If you want to build your own business, trust matters. You need to lead with a willingness to help people.”
When it came time to launch the business, Chef Kiran knew he wouldn’t do it alone. He turned to his most trusted collaborator: his wife, Ankita.
“No story of mine is complete without her…we’ve always worked and lived together,” he says. “So this wouldn’t have been realized without her in it.”
Even the company’s names are personal. Mamacoco is Chef Kiran’s nickname for Ankita, while Moglu is her nickname for him. Chef Kiran serves as Owner, Executive Chef and Creative Director, while Ankita leads operations as Managing Director.
Scaling a New Vision for Indian Dining
Following its 2024 debut, Bangalore's Moglu restaurant has expanded its menu to include non-vegetarian options while maintaining its focus on layered, modern Indian micro-cuisines.
While Mamacoco Hospitality's quick-service brand Matka Junction has closed, the company has pivoted to a new fast-casual concept, Ghee Roast Company, with plans to expand regional Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh flavors across India.
