"This Cafe in Chennai Promotes Not Just Food But a Complete Lifestyle"

Started in Chennai, this cafe has become a landmark on the busy streets of Kotturpuram Main Road, and also the hub of a bustling cycling community. Ciclo Café reflects the creativity and innovation that missions to bring all cyclist enthusiast and food lovers together under one roof.

The Chennai chapter for Asish Thadani began in 1999 where he handled Ford India’s complete outbound logistics platform. Recognising the emergence in India of a rapidly growing tribe of urban, health conscious sports and food aficionados, Absolute Speciality joined hands in 2015 with TI Cycles, to create Ciclo Cafe, India’s first bicycling cafe. The name itself defines what this venture stands for. Ciclo means ‘Cycle’ in Italian.

In conversation with Restaurant India, at the Indian Restaurant Congress 2018, Ashish Thadani, CEO, Ciclo Café talks about his venture and how passion for food and cycling is helping him run this successful business.

Tell us about this unique concept of your brand.

India's First Cycling Cafe Chain, Ciclo Cafe is a hub for cycling enthusiasts across India that provides top-class lifestyle facilities for sales and service of premium bicycles, merchandise and accessories, expert advice on cycling, special activities and customised cycle rides – all accompanied with world-class hospitality in the form of premium F&B services with international cuisines. The Ciclo Cafe has bicycles priced from 5,000 and go up to 8 lakh for racing bicycle range.

What initiatives are being taken to keep your brand in the forefront?

It’s a cycling café and this unique concept that has grabbed the attention of many youngsters, families, kids who when they see bicycles in such a cosy surroundings, get tempted to try one. At the end of the day, it’s a cycling café. It’s more about good food and healthy lifestyle. We keep innovating with food and keep changing with the lifestyle. We also arrange cycling events, rides; there are few runs that start from our restaurant itself. It’s not just a restaurant. It’s a mix of both that promotes a lifestyle.

How do you plan to scale your business?

Right now, we are present in Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. We are looking to adding more stores in the cities and then moving to other cities where food is important and also cycling as a culture is prevalent. Cities like Pune & Goa is on our list.  

What are your franchising plans?

In our business, passion for the sport is very important. If someone is passionate about food and cycling, then definitely we can work this out.

What plan do you have to make this business profitable rather a sustainable one?

Innovation is very important and especially when you have brands trying their best to be in the rising position. Understanding what your customers want in terms of food, ambiance and even in terms of sports programming, what we do, we have to cater to them. Adapting to one’s space is of utter importance as it is a constant game.

What is your Takeaway from Indian Restaurant Congress 2018?

Every market is different. It’s good to interact with people from the industry, taking their insights and keeping knowledge of what’s happening in other cities.