Everyone wants to be successful in life, but not all of us are willing to take timely risks in awkward situations. Although critical times in life are hard to deal with, they also serve the milestones in our life-journey. These are the junctures that allow us to halt, breathe – decide the right direction, and put all humanly possible efforts thenceforth – but the fear of the unknown overshadows our innate motivation, derails our progress. For everyone lacking motivation due to the fear of the unknown, the story of Flying Cakes’ Sunil is a must-read.
Born in an indigent Delhi based family, Sunil somehow completed his higher secondary school certificate (SSC) exam. His father was a mechanical labourer and the only earning member in their family of five. His family’s financial condition demanded Sunil earn a living for himself. Soon after SSC, he started doing menial jobs earning Rs 200 odd a day. He did many such blue-collar jobs before joining Domino’s Pizza as a pizza delivery boy in the year 1998. He worked for a long time with one of the Domino’s Pizza outlets in Delhi and performed exceptionally well to become their best-performing employee. His consistent best performance made him the blue-eyed boy for the employer but a devil for other co-workers – he soon resigned in the year 2003.
It was not an impulsive decision. After saving a considerable fund while working at Domino’s, Sunil decided to open up a small food stall in Delhi. The business however did not last long as it was not established with the due legal processes and Sunil got into trouble because of this a couple of times.
After surveying the area, he realized that the locality lacked a good cake shop. That is when he decided to legally open up a Cake shop business in 2007. Of course, it could not have been possible without the help of his friend who loaned him Rs 58,000 to open up his business which he named ‘Flying Cakes’.
Flying Cakes was an ambitious project for Sunil compared to the earlier roadside eateries, but the business was extremely challenging due to the low margins. Nevertheless, the only certainty about time is that it changes. And with this thought, Sunil continued his struggle.
One day a woman working at a nearby HCL visited Flying Cake to order for her son’s birthday. The woman was head of HCL’s admin department – the quality of the cake baked by Sunil impressed her, and Flying Cake soon began to receive corporate orders from her.
Sunil was eager to do business with excellent quality. He realized what it was like to eat fresh cakes. They ensured that the cake was prepared only on order and delivered in the lowest possible time to ensure freshness. To ensure quality and to know the importance of his presence, Sunil worked round the clock in the early days of flying cakes.
Today, Flying Cakes is a well-known cake-shop brand, doing a business of Rs 8.5 crore through its 15 branches in cities like Noida, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. He has recently launched a new range of fast food products like pizza, burger in Noida.
Sunil has set a target of opening fifteen new branches by the year 2024. Sunil gives the message to aspiring entrepreneurs that “You should not be afraid to take risks, without risk, you will stay in the same place forever.” To do something big in life, you have to raise relationships, sometimes circumstances will be against you, and then you have to face it firmly. “
