eChai with Amar Patel and Darshini Patel, Co-Founders, Buttercupp

Our today's guests for "eChai with Husband-Wife Entrepreneurs" are Amar Patel and Darshini Patel, Co-Founders, Buttercupp which offers  freshly baked cupcakes, brownies, bundt cakes and cookies using the highest quality ingredients - Couverture Chocolate, Homemade Fresh Fruit Purees, Pure Vanilla and Sweet Cream Butter.

Amar Patel has done engineering from Nirma University where he was the gold medalist as well.  He then completed a double master's from the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison and Illinois Institute of Technology, He was selected by Caterpillar Inc., the world's leading construction equipment manufacturer even before he completed his masters. That's amazing journey Amar had, now that he runs the Buttercupp - The Cupcake Shoppe along with his wife, Darshini.

Here is the insightful and candid conversation with Amar and Darshini. Join the conversation to ask any specific questions to Amar & Darshini.

Early Years : When did it first strike you to begin this venture and why? Your Eureka Moment (the moment you decided to be an entrepreneur).

In 2011 My wife and I were planning to move back to India from the US. Our US jobs were not geographically re-locatable – meaning that we could not do the same/similar work in India which we were doing in the US. Therefore we had to come up with a new revenue generating entity in India. We would frequently brainstorm different business ideas and on one such session my wife decided to have a cake to munch on. I remember having a first bite of it and telling my wife that we must enter into cake business. That is how we entered in this business. We loved cupcakes and we decided to open a cupcake centric shop in Ahmedabad. 

Business Venture : What is your business model and what problems does it solve? What are market opportunities? How is it different from your competitors? How do you generate revenues ? 

We bake cupcakes and other baked items fresh daily and close the bakeshop when we sell out. In my opinion what differentiates us from others are three features (1) Use of finest (& costly) ingredients that are sourced from all over the world, (2) Preparing the items fresh every single day, (3) Staying open till the stocks last. While this has a disadvantage that many customers have had to return empty stomach, they would know for sure that they would have been served a fresh product as long as we did. 

Sales : How did you make your first sale and how much time it took you from starting up to closing the first sale ? How long is your sales cycle ? 

We opened the shop on March 10th 2012 without any form of advertisement. We used the word of mouth publicity as the medium to spread the word and we have retained that ever since. While our growth has been modest, it has been strong and steady. Many Amdavadis are well travelled and have already tasted cupcakes abroad, so for many the opening of Buttercupp was a warm reminder of something nice they had in Europe or the US. 

Company Culture : What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture? 

No one calls me Sir or Darshini, Madam. I am referred to as “Amarbhai” and Darshini is referred to as “Ben” or “Bhabhi” or “Didi”. We have eight employees and they are addressed as “Tamhe” instead of “Tu”. We set this tone because we wanted our employees to understand that we respect having them as part of Buttercupp and in return they need to respect and love their job. Darshini (my wife) and I do not mind cleaning the dishes or mopping the floor if it is needed and this is the kind of culture that we bring at Buttercupp. No work is menial and no work is sophisticated. We have established this tone by expressing this boldly to all our employees since day one. We have a lean team but then our employees are dexterous enough that if one of them is on leave, another one can instantly do his job without any necessary training. At Buttercupp, everyone can do almost everything that is needed to run it. 

Hiring - How did you hire your first employee ? And in general what's your hiring policy ? How important have good employees been to your success? 

Our employees have been hired based on their intention to be part of the team and their commitment to accept our work culture. We have expressed this to potential candidates that they may be required to clean the dishes, or pick up cake crumbs and will be hired if they are willing to do it. Good employees are hard to find and we have done our best to retain and reward them for their sincerity.

 Learning : How did you handle your disappointments and failures?

Disappointment or failures are handled positively with an attitude that they have given an opportunity for correction and improvement. Either this means reaching out to a genuinely disappointed customer or setting a harsh tone to suppliers for their lack of commitment to provide quality raw materials.

Vision: What's your vision for your venture. What do you want to accomplish in your life ? What are your future aspirations? 

Vision is to survive ☺ and maintain the current commitment of quality to our customers. The world is very dynamic and it is a bit hard to nail down future aspirations. 

Risks : Which was the boldest decision you ever made to have this venture work? 

The boldest decision was to invest completely into this venture and not keeping a back-up plan. To use our hard-earned savings in buying machinery, space and setup audacious interiors of the shop. 

Partnerships: What are your views about having your spouse as the cofounder in your venture ? How do you overcome when you have a difference of opinion on work front ? How do you manage that :-)

If one is ready to spend an entire life with someone then it is also perfectly okay to have that person as a business partner. I wouldn't say that it makes executing the business any easy. At work we try to be business partners and at work we try to be family. Just because I am the husband does not make me a sole decision maker of the business. We make all the business decisions jointly and we say yes only if we both agree to it. If there is a different of opinion then we try to understand the other’s perspective. I find it as more of an extension of our marriage ☺. It is more or less like shopping for home improvement project ☺ 

Work-Life Balance: How do you find a balance between work family and social life? 

Work and family balance is difficult and we try to do it by keeping strict operating hours Buttercupp. We open the shop at 1:30 PM since that gives us chance to be with our daughter in the morning, have a fulfilling breakfast, spend quality time with parents and then come to work. We had missed lot of that in the US, and therefore we have always been unwilling to give up this after moving to India. That has meant not accepting large corporate orders that required cupcakes to be ready before 1:30 – but then balance is all about giving up one thing to get something else. 

Finding a partner is tough, let alone finding a Life partner - how did you meet up for the first time ? What' your story ? 

My family was living in Lagos, Nigeria since 1982 and I moved to India in 1994 for senior high school. I met Darshini when my family was invited for dinner at hers. That is when we first met. We married after almost a decade later in the US. If you were to give an advise to other husband-wife entrepreneurs starting up together, then what it is ? Try to maintain a level field. At work, the wife is a business partner whose opinion matters just as much as yours – and vice versa.