The legacy
How a home chef became the Queen
1
7–8 biryanis on the dining table
Smita Sabharwal describes herself as “an avid foodie, biryani freak & a home chef” who loves to innovate. She had spent a decade in managerial roles, including at Citibank.
One evening her husband, Chaitanya, came home from work to find 7–8 biryanis laid out on the dining table, each ordered in from a different kitchen. “Is there a party?” There wasn’t. She had been craving a good biryani.
2
A Kathal biryani, and a Facebook post
The next day she made a kilo or two of Kathal (Jackfruit) biryani, the first biryani of what became Biryani Queen. She posted on Facebook: “I have made amazing Kathal biryani. Any takers, please message me.”
It was sold out in minutes. She noted down every address, and the next day cooked enough for everyone who had asked. It was February 2014, and the legacy begins. She became the first home chef in Gurgaon, starting with 15 biryanis.
Soon she was selling 100 kg of biryani a day, 50 handis, and delivering them herself in her own car.
3
A name, given by a chef
Within a year she had won three awards, and a celebrity chef crowned her the Biryani Queen. The name stayed.
- Best Restaurant — Home Delivery · 2015
- Popular Choice Award — Best Home Caterers · 2015
- Winner — Best Home-based Caterer · 2016
- Best Home Chef of the Year · 2016
- Upcoming Franchisor of the Year — QSR · 2019
- Emerging QSR Chain of the Year · 2024
4
Vegetarian biryani, taken seriously
“This concept is my wife’s. … My wife is the first lady who started making five different types of vegetarian Biryani and all are abundantly flavourful.”
Back then “veg biryani” meant one thing. She made five: Delightful Vegetable, Shahi Paneer Tikka, Tasteful Kathal, Spicy Soya Chaap and Soya Keema.
The one people talk about is the Kathal: jackfruit, marinated and dum-cooked, finished with raisins and cashew. It became her signature.
5
The method: layers, and dum
“We at Biryani queen follow the method of layered form of cooking for Biryani.”
The menu says it plainly: dum pukht — slow cooking in a sealed pot so everything infuses — is the method Smita Sabharwal stays committed to. Rice and masala go in layers into a handi, the rim is sealed with dough, and it cooks in its own steam.
One handi of dum rice is laid in three layers — Hyderabadi at the bottom, Awadhi in the middle, Kolkata on top with saffron and milk — so every style draws the rice it needs. The protein gets its own dum before it goes in with the rice, and the rice is cooked fresh every three hours as the orders come in. That is how 40 kinds of biryani are each ready in 9 minutes, without turning into pulao.
Rice over masala
Milk and colour
The dough seal
Opened, served
6
From one kitchen
to the world
- 2014Biryani Queen begins
- February: her first Kathal biryani, offered on Facebook, sells out
- She starts with 15 biryanis
- 2015The nameThree awards within a year, and a celebrity chef crowns her the Biryani Queen.
- 2016Best Home Chef of the YearIndian Restaurant Awards 2016.
- 2017Co-founder and the first store
- Chaitanya Sabharwal leaves his corporate job to join as co-founder
- The first QSR store opens, bootstrapped
- 2018Franchising beginsThe brand starts taking on franchise partners.
- 2019Upcoming Franchisor of the Year
- QSR category, 17th Franchise Awards
- Ten franchisees in under two years
- Sarabjeet Singh Sethi joins as Head, Franchise Business
- LaterBengaluru and beyond
- Indudhara Thyagaraj joins as a director
- He leads the national expansion
- 2024Emerging QSR Chain of the YearIndian Restaurant Awards 2024.
- And the legacy continues
7
A short history of biryani
The word is usually traced to Persian: birian, “fried before cooking”, and birinj, rice. How the dish reached India has several theories; a popular one sees it as a meeting of the Indian pulao and the Mughal kitchen.
Legend has it — and it is only legend — that Mumtaz Mahal found Mughal soldiers looking undernourished and asked the royal cooks for a dish of meat and rice that would feed them properly.
The people behind the brand
Smita Sabharwal
Founder & Director
An avid foodie, biryani lover and the first home chef behind Biryani Queen, who loves to innovate.
Chaitanya Sabharwal
Co-founder & CEO
Left his corporate job to join Biryani Queen as co-founder in 2017, to take it to a QSR format.