Archive · 21 Sep 2026
How Three Outsiders Built Mumbai’s Beloved Burger Businesses
Three friends from different careers decided to build burger businesses.
Jimmy was a musician and worked in marketing.
Sijo had worked as a war contractor, and Anant had worked in movie marketing.
None of them had formally trained in cooking or restaurant management.
In 2012, Jimmy tried to open a café in Sangli.
When that did not work, he learned how to run a food cart by helping a vada pav seller.
He used those lessons to start Jimis Burger, which later grew to eight outlets in Mumbai.
Sijo and Anant also learned about food through family traditions, home cooking and experimentation.
Jimmy Bhore, Sijo Mathew and Anant Chowdhary entered food businesses without formal culinary or restaurant backgrounds.
Jimmy began exploring a burger venture in 2012 after returning to Sangli to open a café.
When the café plan failed, Jimmy learned by helping Santosh Mali operate a vada pav cart.
That experience led to Jimis Burger, which grew from a cart into eight Mumbai outlets.
Sijo co-founded Good Flippin’ and Anant drew on his food experiments and movie-marketing experience.
- Who
- Jimmy Bhore, Sijo Mathew and Anant Chowdhary, along with vada pav seller Santosh Mali in Jimmy’s early learning process.
- What
- Three friends from music, war contracting and movie marketing built burger businesses in Mumbai without formal food-industry backgrounds.
- When
- The story began in 2012; Jimmy’s burger venture later expanded to eight Mumbai outlets.
- Where
- The journey began in Sangli and later expanded to Mumbai; Sijo grew up in Bahrain and had worked in Kabul.
- Why
- Jimmy wanted to bring the burger experiences he encountered while travelling to places with limited food options, while the three friends pursued food businesses through personal interest and experimentation.
- Main people
- Jimmy Bhore, Sijo Mathew and Anant Chowdhary
- Starting year
- 2012
- Jimmy’s first location
- Sangli
- Learning experience
- Jimmy learned by helping Santosh Mali run the Ganesh Vada Pav cart.
- Jimis Burger growth
- From a cart to eight outlets across Mumbai
- Sijo’s business
- Good Flippin’
- Previous careers
- Music, war contracting, marketing and movie marketing