Shankar Mahadevan finds his ‘second wind’ in food entrepreneurship with Malgudi

Music composer and singer Shankar Mahadevan is expanding his creative footprint beyond the stage and into the world of food entrepreneurship with the rebooted Malgudi, a South Indian resto-café positioned to scale across India and overseas. Mahadevan speaks about building a second legacy, while co-founder K. S. Ramakrishnan outlines the strategy behind transforming Malgudi into a national restaurant brand.

Although Malgudi existed earlier as a standalone restaurant, the founders made a decisive choice

to discontinue the previous format and rebuild the brand entirely. The new Malgudi retains only the name, with a completely redesigned menu, experience and operating philosophy.

The founders identified a significant gap in the market for an experience-led South Indian dining format — one that sits between casual eateries and premium fine dining. Malgudi aims to occupy this mid-premium space, balancing comfort cuisine with hospitality discipline.

Ramakrishnan explains that while the Malgudi name existed earlier, the founders made a strategic choice to shut the old brand down completely and rebuild everything — menu, ethos, design and experience — from scratch. “We didn’t acquire Malgudi to continue what it was,” he says. “We saw a vacuum in the market. South Indian food needed a full-format dining experience, not just eateries and not just premium fine-dining. There was a huge opportunity sitting in between.”

With over two decades of experience scaling retail and F&B businesses across 28 countries and 400+ locations, Ramakrishnan brings the operational backbone, while Mahadevan brings the creative and sensory precision.

For the founders, Malgudi is not just about a plate of dosa or a hot idli. It is about soul food delivered with hospitality discipline. “South Indian food is comfort,” Mahadevan says. “But what’s been missing is the experience, the ambience, the warmth, the joy. We wanted to fill that gap.” The duo spent more than a year perfecting recipes — including a 100-year-old Benne Dosa recipe — working weekly with chefs, tasting, refining and ensuring consistency across outlets. “Malgudi has to taste the same in Chembur, Bandra, Lower Parel, or Dubai,” Ramakrishnan adds. “That’s the real moat — consistency and sincerity.”

With outlets in Lower Parel, Chembur, Bandra and a 240-seater in Dubai, Malgudi is now gearing up for aggressive but disciplined expansion into Mumbai, Abu Dhabi, Delhi and Singapore. Ramakrishnan calls it the “go deep before going wide” strategy — saturating cities before expanding outward, backed by strong unit-level profitability. “We want to build value, not chase valuation,” he emphasises. “Every outlet today is profitable from month one.”

As Malgudi expands internationally, the brand aims to showcase the depth and diversity of South Indian cuisine beyond the familiar dosa-idli narrative — presenting authentic flavours, regional nuances and a dining experience that resonates with both Indian and global audiences.

For Mahadevan, Malgudi represents a creative extension of his artistic journey. While music remains central to his identity, food entrepreneurship offers a new avenue for storytelling, experience-building and cultural expression.