Self-Reliance
Another word for self-reliance is responsibility, especially for yourself. Practicing self-reliance means that you learn to do those things so you don't have to depend on other people so much. It also means that when other people need help, you give it to them, but you also do what you can to teach them to be able to do for themselves the next time. “I want to employ as many people as I can, and improve their quality of life” Sarath quotes his ambition. Yes, he means what he says, he practices self reliance. You can give free food, clothes, or whatever you can to the needy but that will only make them depend on you. Instead, Sarath’s way of helping the poor makes them self-reliant too. Yuva: helping others, Swami Vivekananda's principle

Sarath Babu Elumalai, The Food King
The 31-year-old founder and chief executive of the Food King restaurant grew up with four siblings in Madippakkam, on the outskirts of Chennai. Once upon a time, this guy was selling Idlis in the streets with his mother.
His mother Deeparamani, a single parent, sold Idlis in the mornings, worked for the mid-day meal at the school during daytime and taught at the adult education programme of the Indian government, thus doing three different jobs to bring them up and educate.
Struggling to study under street lamps, Sarath determined not to give up academics at the time he was in class X at Kings Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai. To pay his special fees in XII, he did book binding during summer vacation, where he could even employ 20 other children. That is where his journey to entrepreneurship started.
Encouraged by a friend, he secured admission in the Chemical engineering programme at Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani, for which he got financial aid from the government.
The Game Changer
It was while preparing for the Common Admission Test that he read in the papers that 30 per cent of India's population does not get two meals a day. “I know how it feels to be hungry. What should be done to help them?” he exclaims.
He was inspired as he read about Infosys and Narayana Murthy, Reliance and Ambani. Reliance employed 20,000-25,000 people at that time, and Infosys, around 15,000. When a single entrepreneur like Ambani employed 25,000 people, he was supporting the family, of four or five, of each employee. So he was taking care of 100,000 people indirectly. Sarath felt, he too, should become an entrepreneur.
Unlike his, his mother’s dream for him was to get a job so that he could pay all the debts, build a house and take care of her. So, he decided to go for a campus interview and got a job with Polaris Softwares. When he sat for CAT, he failed to clear his first attempt.
He worked for 30 months for Polaris (Aug’01-May’04), by then he could pay all his debts .When he took CAT for the third time, he cleared it and got calls from all the six IIMs. He went on to do his MBA at IIM, Ahmedabad on Scholarship and loans.
He believed that there lay a business idea under all the experience he had gathered in selling idlis which would help him make a successful journey in the catering business, Sarath refused an offer of Rs 8.5 lakh from a reputed IT firm to pursue his hunch.
Business Idea - A tough beginning
“My mother is my first inspiration to start a food business” he says. Then of course, his experience as the mess secretary at IIM-A was the second inspiration. He must have handled at least a thousand complaints and a thousand suggestions at that time. Every time he solved a problem, they thanked him.
He felt that there is a good opportunity in the food business, as he perceived that lot of people who work in food industry come from weaker section of the society. With help of his friends, he registered the company with a capital of 100,000. Foodking Catering Services Pvt Ltd, started its operations on May 16th, 2006 by supplying snacks to corporate sectors, banks and software firms. The first order was to supply snacks at a software company in Ahmedabad.
Determination
By the end of first year, he had a loan of 20 lakhs. He had no experience in handling people in business, and it was difficult to identify the right people. Though he made losses in the first year, not even once did he regret his decision of not accepting the offers from MNCs and starting an enterprise of his own. He looked at his losses as a learning experience. He was confident that he would be successful one day.
When he started his second unit in October, he made losses of around Rs. 2000 a day. He worked really hard to get birthday party offers, what reduced his losses. He started the third unit again in Ahmedabad but it also made losses.
All his units were cafeteria and he understood then that the small cafeterias do not work; He needed huge volumes to work.
In December 2006, an IIM Ahmedabad alumni event took place in Mumbai and he decided to go there mainly to get a contract. He missed his train and had an unforgettable night sleeping on the platform. Not giving up his determination, he went to IIM-A the next day. But, unfortunately, he didn’t get the contract.
Purpose & Perseverance
In March 2007, he got an offer to start a unit at BITS, Pilani. That was the first medium break. For the first time, he started making profits there, though the other units continued to make losses. The reason for their success at BITS, Pilani was the volume; there were more students and there was a need for a unit like Foodking, while in Ahmedabad, they have at least a hundred options.
If he made Rs 5000 a day at Ahmedabad in two shifts, here he made Rs 15,000 a day. BITS, Pilani unit gave him the confidence to move on. “Unless you make money, you can’t be confident in business”, the leader states.
When all his friends who worked for various MNCs made good money every month, he made losses with his venture. But he kept telling himself, that he is moving in the right direction to reach his ambition and vision. His dream was to provide employment and he was doing just that. He continued to work till 3 a.m. but never felt tired. Through BITS, Pilani, he got the BITS, Goa contract and that was the biggest break. Within six months of starting operations in Goa, he repaid all his debts.
Best Practice
Food King was specially designed for the customers to serve them good food at nominal prices. Sarath believes, “Starting a business doesn't always mean that you start with an innovative product but we could be innovative in our offerings. We are professionalising the same old Indian cuisine by properly organising it.” The specialty of the food king is to serve good food at a nominal price. They design the menu according to the customers.
Foodking was setup with a vision to offer employment to illiterate and semi-illiterate people and bring up their living standards. Only 10% of his workers are educated, the rest are uneducated. He wants to make a change in their lives. If they have any problem, he takes care of it. He supports the marriages and education of poor families.
Pepsi MTV Youth Icon 2008 Food King Sarath Babu believes in doing the right thing for the right reason.
Sarath’s View
Sarath admits that even for a fighter like him Foodking has thrown some hard challenges. In this particular sector, the challenges were availability of capital which is there for any other sector. Then, the availability of quality manpower which was also one of the biggest challenges. The third challenge was since he is a first time entrepreneur and he did not have any capital at all, he did not get any credit track record in the market. Nobody was willing to give credit. He has to put all his investments and only then he could start.
Foodking Catering - The Rise
Started with supplying snacks, it undertook Event Catering, Industrial Catering and Institutional Catering and also has Retail Outlets. Serving 8,000 meals every day, today it serves five universities across India and its gross revenue is Rs 8 crore. Sarath has also recently launched a fast food restaurant and hopes to take the count to a 1000 by 2016 touching revenues of Rs 50 crore.
Public Life
His determination has made him not just a true leader in business but in public life as well. The dark horse in the 2009 general election, Sarath polled more than 15,000 votes in his debut attempt. Despite that drubbing he didn’t give up on his political aspiration. He stood as an independent candidate from Velachery in the recent Tamil Nadu elections but lost again.
Sarath Babu has started “edu bharat” an enrichment programme for local management students.
Sarath has also started the Hunger-Free India Foundation, which aims to feed at least 100,000 people every year. “I’ve been food- challenged all through childhood. Now is my turn to challenge hunger.”
Lessons from the leader
• There will be lots of challenges in the beginning but one should learn to look for the light at the end of the tunnel.
• Never give up even if there are hurdles.
• Determination and a tough mind are vital to cross the initial hurdles.
• While starting business without much money, one should not have any overhead expenses.
• Before looking out for franchising, business concept should be standardised.
When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."