Saransh Goila built Goila Butter Chicken from a Mumbai takeaway into a 100-plus-store restaurant brand before its acquisition by Devyani International.
While most Indian food founders were building diverse menus, Saransh Goila built an entire restaurant chain around a single dish and then served it at a Premier League club in London.
Topic tags: Food Startup • Restaurant Chain • Chef Entrepreneur • Devyani International • Indian Startup Story
Goila Butter Chicken hit 100 stores across 40 cities (Elle India, October 2024). Then, in April 2025, Devyani International acquired the brand (CB Insights). Devyani is the franchisee of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Costa Coffee in India. Furthermore, in May 2025, Goila Butter Chicken opened at Fulham FC’s Riverside Market in London. As a result, it became one of the first Indian food brands at an English Premier League club.
The Story: An Accidental Brand Built on One Dish
Saransh Goila trained at IHM Aurangabad. He won a televised cooking competition at 25. After that, he hosted a travel food programme. He covered 20,000 kilometres across India documenting regional cuisine. That journey changed him.
During those travels, he noticed something. Butter chicken had universal appeal. It cut across India’s diverse cultures and regions. However, no one had built a global brand around it. So Goila decided to try even though, as he has said publicly, launching a butter chicken venture was never on his original plan (Elle India, October 2024).
The start was genuinely small. In 2016, he and his college roommate Vivek Sahani opened one takeaway-only outlet in Mumbai. Word spread fast. Consequently, demand grew quickly. Moreover, the recipe had a specific claim that made it different. Goila Butter Chicken does not contain cream or processed sugar (Goila Butter Chicken About). In a category where every restaurant serves “butter chicken,” that formulation claim created a product identity that most competitors could not truthfully replicate.
People Also Ask
Who founded Goila Butter Chicken? Saransh Goila co-founded Goila Butter Chicken in 2016 with his college roommate Vivek Sahani. Both are graduates of IHM Aurangabad (Tracxn).
Who acquired Goila Butter Chicken? Devyani International acquired Goila Butter Chicken in April 2025. Devyani is the franchisee of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Costa Coffee in India (CB Insights).
How many outlets does Goila Butter Chicken have? Goila Butter Chicken has 100+ stores across 40 cities in India, plus London locations including Shoreditch and Fulham FC’s Riverside Market (Elle India, October 2024).
What makes Goila Butter Chicken different? Goila Butter Chicken’s recipe does not contain cream or processed sugar — a verifiable product claim that differentiates it from every traditional butter chicken recipe (Goila Butter Chicken About).
What is Goila Butter Chicken’s expansion plan? The brand targets 200 stores by 2027, supported by Devyani International’s franchising infrastructure (Elle India, October 2024).
Quick Facts
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2016 | Tracxn |
| Co-founders | Saransh Goila, Vivek Sahani | Goila Butter Chicken About |
| Store count | 100+ across 40 cities | Elle India, October 2024 |
| Acquired by | Devyani International, April 2025 | CB Insights |
| Expansion target | 200 stores by 2027 | Elle India, October 2024 |
| London presence | Shoreditch + Fulham FC (May 2025) | Goila Butter Chicken About |
| MasterChef Australia | Guest judge appearance (2018) | Goila Butter Chicken About |
| Forbes recognition | Forbes Celebrity 100 (2019) | Goila Butter Chicken About |
How Goila Butter Chicken Scaled From Takeaway to Acquisition
Building a brand on one dish instead of a diverse menu
Most food entrepreneurs build broad menus. They want something for everyone. Saransh did the opposite. He committed entirely to butter chicken. Consequently, that focus created clarity. Every customer knew exactly what they were getting. Moreover, the no-cream, no-processed-sugar formulation gave the brand a specific and verifiable product claim. Therefore, the brand was impossible to replicate without copying both the recipe and the claim something competitors were unlikely to do publicly.
MasterChef Australia as earned media worth crores
In 2018, Saransh appeared as a guest judge on MasterChef Australia. Contestants recreated his signature dish on international television. As a result, Goila Butter Chicken received global recognition that no Indian food marketing budget could have purchased at equivalent cost. Furthermore, the coverage positioned the brand as a genuine culinary story not just a franchise chain. This media moment made the Devyani acquisition more credible years later.
Similarly to how Ranveer Brar built intellectual property beyond the kitchen, Saransh understood that media presence is a business asset as much as the product itself.
Devyani as the scaling infrastructure
Before the acquisition, scaling to 200 stores would have required Saransh to raise significant capital and build franchise operations from scratch. Instead, Devyani International brought ready infrastructure. Devyani already operates KFC and Pizza Hut locations across India. Consequently, it understands franchise operations, quality control, and location selection at national scale. Therefore, the 200-store target by 2027 is credible with Devyani behind it in a way it simply was not before the deal.
The Risks
Consistency at scale is a real challenge. Butter chicken quality is personal for Indian consumers. Therefore, maintaining the no-cream, no-processed-sugar formulation and specific flavour profile across 200 locations simultaneously is a major operational task.
Brand identity post-acquisition may shift. Saransh’s personal chef brand was central to Goila Butter Chicken’s credibility. However, as the brand scales under Devyani’s franchise model, that chef-driven authenticity becomes harder to maintain at every outlet.
Single dish revenue ceiling. A one-dish menu limits average order value. As the brand scales, growing per-customer revenue without adding dishes and diluting the identity is an ongoing tension.
Key Takeaways
- Saransh Goila co-founded Goila Butter Chicken in 2016 as a Mumbai takeaway. It grew to 100+ stores across 40 cities before its April 2025 acquisition by Devyani International (Tracxn).
- The recipe claim — no cream and no processed sugar is verifiable and defensible. Therefore, it created a product moat in a category where every competitor serves the same dish name.
- Goila Butter Chicken appeared on MasterChef Australia in 2018 — the only Indian food brand to do so earning international credibility no marketing budget could have bought at equivalent cost (Goila Butter Chicken About).
- Devyani International acquired the brand in April 2025, bringing the franchise infrastructure needed for the 200-store-by-2027 expansion plan (CB Insights).
- In May 2025, Goila Butter Chicken opened at Fulham FC’s Riverside Market in London —one of the first Indian food brands at an English Premier League club.
The Bottom Line
Goila Butter Chicken is proof that product conviction compounds. One dish. One formulation claim. One consistent identity across 100 cities and now London. The Devyani acquisition validates the brand’s commercial value. The 200-store plan tests whether Devyani’s scale can preserve what Saransh built the authenticity of a chef-driven single-dish brand as it becomes a franchised national chain.
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