For M. Keshav Rao, building a food brand began with a simple question: could dishes associated with expensive restaurants become an everyday choice for ordinary families?
In 1999, that question took shape as Green Chillyz, a small street-side kiosk at Master Canteen in Bhubaneswar with just two employees. More than 26 years later, the business has grown into a restaurant and catering brand with ambitions extending beyond Odisha.
Speaking to Interview Times, Rao describes a journey shaped by patient work: introducing customers to a new dining format, earning their confidence and building systems that could support a growing business.
A Small Beginning That Required Patience
When Green Chillyz began, Rao recalls, restaurant-style Chinese and non-vegetarian dishes were often associated with star hotels and prices beyond the everyday budgets of many middle-class customers.
He saw an opportunity to make that food more accessible through an informal format and affordable pricing. But identifying a gap did not mean customers immediately embraced the idea.
“Every step was a challenge,” Rao recalls.
According to him, it took roughly four to five years for the food to gain broad customer acceptance. Promotions, consistent service and repeated efforts to introduce the menu were essential during those early years.
That experience helped establish a principle that continues to guide the business: customer trust takes time to earn and regular effort to retain.
Affordability as a Business Philosophy
Rao summarises his approach to pricing as “minimum profit, maximum volume.”
The idea is to encourage repeat business by offering value that customers can recognise. As ingredient costs rise, he says, pricing decisions are reviewed by the operations and management teams, with increases kept measured while protecting food quality.
For Green Chillyz, affordability is closely connected to its identity. The brand’s promise centres on freshly cooked food, a varied menu and an experience that customers can return to without treating every visit as a special occasion.
Maintaining that balance becomes more demanding as a restaurant network expands. A familiar name may attract a first visit, but the next order depends on what reaches the customer’s plate.
Growing Through People and Consistency
According to its company profile, Green Chillyz has expanded to more than 15 outlets and a workforce exceeding 300 people. Its listed locations include Saheed Nagar, Lewis Road, Master Canteen, Gopabandhu Square, NALCO Square, Patia and Berhampur.
Behind that growth is an operating structure designed to make the experience consistent across locations.
Rao emphasises trained employees, professional conduct, hospitality and dependable service. Recipes are standardised, while routine checks and reporting help monitor food and outlet performance. The company profile also describes central-kitchen support and outlet-level quality control.
Recruitment and training are managed by HR and operations teams, covering kitchen employees, outlet staff and office functions. Customer feedback, Rao explains, helps identify where the business needs to improve.
These practices matter because expansion brings a practical challenge: ensuring that a customer’s confidence in one outlet carries over to another.
Delivering Before Food Apps Became Routine
Green Chillyz’s delivery journey began before app-based ordering became an everyday habit.
Rao recalls an in-house, call-centre-led system in which orders were received centrally and assigned to outlets according to the customer’s service area. It connected the brand with customers at home while giving the team experience in order coordination, fulfilment and delivery management.
The business later adapted to online aggregators.
Its company profile records Zomato recognition for reaching one lakh online orders, alongside recognition from Zomato and Swiggy for performance and customer satisfaction. It also lists the Swiggy Restaurant Awards 2025 distinction for Best in Local Gems, Bhubaneswar.
The platforms changed, but timely service remained central to the customer experience.
Recognition Across Restaurants and Catering
The company profile documents recognition across food service, entrepreneurship and hospitality.
Among the honours listed are a Times Business Awards recognition for Most Promising Food Chain, the Business Odisha Awards 2023, a Business Eminence Awards honour for Rao, and recognition at India’s Most Prominent Food & Hospitality Awards.
It also records recognition from Times Hospitality Icons for the brand’s catering presence and the title of Most Promising Food Restaurant Chain in Odisha, presented by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor.
For 2026, the profile lists an International Glory Awards honour for Most Promising Catering Services & QSR Restaurant Chain of the Year in Odisha, presented in Mumbai by Ajay Devgn.
Together, these honours reflect the different areas in which the business has developed—from restaurant operations and digital orders to catering.
Catering Beyond the Restaurant Counter
Catering has become another significant part of the Green Chillyz business.
Weddings, family celebrations and corporate gatherings require a different scale of coordination from individual restaurant orders. Food must arrive on time, service teams must work together and quality must hold across larger volumes.
Green Chillyz positions catering as a core business, drawing on its kitchen capacity and service systems to serve these occasions.
Its menu spans biryani, tandoori preparations, kebabs, rolls and Chinese dishes, offered through dine-in, takeaway, home delivery and catering.
The Ambition to Reach 100 Outlets
Green Chillyz’s stated next milestone is to build a network of 100 outlets across India and abroad.
The company profile describes a franchise-friendly model supported by operating systems, brand familiarity and a repeatable quick-service restaurant format. This remains an expansion ambition rather than an achieved footprint.
For Rao, taking the brand into new markets also carries a larger purpose. He sees opportunities to generate employment, strengthen business connections and bring greater visibility to enterprises originating in Odisha.
The challenge will be to carry the qualities that built local loyalty into markets where the name is less familiar.
Purpose Behind the Journey
Asked what sustains him through difficult periods, Rao turns to the Bhagavad Gita and its emphasis on purposeful action. He speaks of setting goals, working transparently and remaining committed even when results take time.
That outlook echoes the early years of Green Chillyz, when acceptance came gradually and growth depended on persistence.
From a two-employee kiosk at Master Canteen to a growing restaurant and catering network, the story is rooted in the daily work of serving customers, training people and keeping a promise.
The next chapter will test how far that promise can travel.
Written by Snigdha Mishra | Interview Times
Based on a telephonic interview with M. Keshav Rao and the Green Chillyz company profile.