Meet Mumbai's Rags-To-Riches Restaurant King

"It became a hit as a majority of my middle- or lower middle-class customers wanted value for money and comprised the nearly two-thirds of (the then) Bombay population who eat outside for a variety of reasons," Poojari explained.

Over the next few years, Poojari hosted and rubbed shoulders with Amitabh Bachchan, late scamster Harshad Mehta, top film and glamour world personalities, politicians, government and police officials and top industrialists who visited it once and became regulars.

As the years passed, Poojari himself became a legend credited with bringing respect and dignity to Mumbai's favourite street foods like 'paav-bhaji' or 'puri-bhaji' which was once consumed at corner carts. Poojari transported them into four-and-five star and international ambience!

"Over the next two decades, the old single table was replaced by 20 Sukh Sagar restaurants in India and the Middle East, an ice cream factory, a shopping mall and a 50-room three-star hotel in Bangalore, all together employing more than 1,000 people," Poojari told IANS proudly.

Besides the all-time favourite paav-bhaji, Sukh Sagar now offers pure vegetarian fast food fare in South Indian, Punjabi, Gujarati, Jain, Continental, Chinese, Mexican, Thai, Italian and other cuisines, ice-creams, sweets and savouries, at the various outlets, depending on the local popular demands.

In Bangalore, Poojari set up the city's first full-fledged four-storeyed Food Court, introduced escalators, and even started the city's first bakery for fresh bread for the 'paav-bhaji'!

"Years ago, when I started the Sukh Sagar in Bangalore, nobody could provide freshly baked bread in the desired quantity. So, I had to import this daily from Mumbai by train. As the business soared, local bakers were ready to bake bread for me. Then, I decided to set up my own bakery and later a small milk dairy for the milk-shakes and ice-creams," Poojari said.