The food court of Prozone Mall in Coimbatore on a Wednesday afternoon is reasonably quiet. The weekends here are more crowded, hence noisier. A big screen telecasts the ICC Cricket World Cup match between Afghanistan and New Zealand. And the commentary overpowers the chatter of the diners at the food court. Afghanistan, choosing to bowl first after winning the toss, makes a breakthrough as we await our first dish at Dosa Infinity. And... it’s a hat trick! No, not in the match; on our plate. A dosa stuffed with aloo masala, sweet corn, cheese, paneer, shredded beetroot, and diced spring onions is cut into three pieces and arranged vertically like a cricket wicket. (It’s called Hat-trick Dosa because it comes in three pieces). Two bowls of chutneys (coconut and mint) are positioned between the dosa stumps like bails. If you are a fan of cheese-stuffed dosas, you might be — pardon the pun — bowled over.
Hat-trick isn’t the only cricket-themed item on Dosa Infinity’s menu containing 99 dosa variants. There is also MS Dhoni Dosa, which has a lot of cheese and paneer. “It is not spicy; it has a calm-and-cool taste, just like Dhoni,” explains Muthukumar Murugan, the founder of the dosa chain. Unlike Hat-trick, the name MS Dhoni seems a bit forced. But Muthukumar, like many others, is a fan of the cricket legend. So, Cheese Paneer Dosa is now MS Dhoni for a made-up reason.
Muthukumar Murugan | Photo Credit: S Siva Saravanan
Dhoni apart, there is something else Muthukumar was passionate about: Business. Like many engineering students in Tamil Nadu (even India, perhaps), he was interested in things other than engineering.
“I never liked the idea of a 9-5 job. I didn’t want to work for someone. I wanted to do my own thing,” says Muthukumar. So, he would save his pocket money to realise his small business ideas in college. “My parents weren’t very supportive of my business pursuit, so they never directly contributed funds. Instead, I would ask them for money, stating it was for my education, but I would use it for my business,” he chuckles.
Right from his first business idea — providing stationery and essentials for his college hostellers — Muthukumar’s approach to entrepreneurship is more pragmatic than innovative. He isn’t keen on realising an ambitious or pathbreaking idea. Much like his cricketing idol, he assesses what he has and tries to maximise it. In his engineering days, it was supplying college essentials. During post-graduation, he set up food and juice stalls at various college festivals, which earned him a significant profit. After graduating from college, he and a friend devised a plan to scale up the stalls into larger outlets. “At that point, we had two options: dosas or biryanis. With biryani, you cannot accurately predict how much you’ll sell every day. There was a risk of wastage. On the other hand, with dosas, we could store any leftover dough for future use,” he explains. Once again, pragmatism was at the heart of his decision-making.
Dosa Infinity isn’t a new business model. Even in Coimbatore, several places sell a variety of dosas. One such place, Muthukumar says, is the inspiration for Dosa Infinity. “All these places closed for various reasons, including unsuitable locations and ineffective marketing. COVID-19 also forced a few closures. Nevertheless, I believe this business model could be profitable if managed effectively.”
After investing in good dosa masters — mainly from Karnataka — he opened his first outlet in December 2020. In three years, Dosa Infinity has grown to 11 outlets (four within Coimbatore and seven in other cities of Tamil Nadu like Tiruppur, Sivakasi, Madurai, and Thiruthuraipoondi). Muthukumar plans to extend these franchise-based outlets to other parts of India and eventually abroad as well.
Apart from Dosa Infinity, he has also started Shanthi’s Cloud Kitchen, which provides “home-style South Indian food” starting from ₹150.
In the course of listening to his story, we devour some of the Angry Bird dosa (a spicier variant of MS Dhoni), Pizza Dosa (with toppings of green peas, paneer, corn, cheese, onion, capsicum, and cabbage with a base of pizza sauce), Pasta Dosa (which is similar to Pizza Dosa except with penne pieces and a different sauce), and Chocolate Dosa (dark chocolate sauce, tutti frutti, nuts, and cherry).
For the less adventurous customers, Dosa Infinity has the regular offerings of Plain Dosa, Ghee Dosa and others. The name is slightly misleading. There aren’t infinite options. But 99 is enough to confuse you.
Published - October 26, 2023 05:30 pm IST
