Chef Maneet Chauhan of Morph Hospitality Group—who was also one of the Roots speakers in 2018—provided a motivational keynote presentation to this year’s attendees. Maneet is a recipient of the James Beard Award of Excellence, an award-winning author, and an active philanthropist. She is also a prominent TV personality, which includes being on the permanent judge panel of Food Network’s award-nominated show, Chopped.
Early in her keynote presentation at Roots, she shared her belief that when nothing is ventured, nothing is gained—and then she used her life experiences as an example.
She grew up in a small town in India, where her father worked as an engineer and her mother was a school principal. Maneet was surrounded by people who wanted to become doctors or engineers; if they really thought outside the box, they planned to become accountants or lawyers.
As for Maneet, she already wanted to work as a chef.
Maneet used to take food that she’d prepared to her sister’s school, and people loved what she cooked. This further inspired her to follow her passion—one, she said, really began because she loved to eat. After she’d eaten at home, she’d go to her neighbors’ houses to eat there, too. In her town, people came from different regions of India, so she learned about the varying Indian cuisines.
She’d watch her neighbors cook, asking them why they used a particular spice in a certain way or why they chose the herbs they did. Finding the entire process to be mind-blowing, her parents supported her dreams, telling her to become the very best at whatever she did.
After attending the best culinary school in India, Maneet went to the United States, where she attended the Culinary Institute of America. When she watched chefs give demos, she envisioned herself giving one. When she listened to graduation speakers, she imagined herself doing the same.
Maneet’s philosophy is to take risks and seek opportunities, no matter how improbable they sound or how crazy they may be. Many people, she notes, come up with incredible business ideas but are afraid to take the first step. But, Maneet notes, when you do something you love, people will love you for it.
She warns that there are no shortcuts to success. The true foundation of success, she explains, is working hard and working smart, using mistakes made along the way as important learning tools.
When Maneet and her husband had an opportunity to open a restaurant in Nashville in 2012, they weighed the pros and cons and asked plenty of questions. Then, by identifying the gaps in Nashville’s culinary tapestry, they focused on filling a niche in this cool foodie city and built strategic partnerships along the way.
In 2020, the couple had multiple restaurants and were poised for their best year ever—but COVID-19 interfered, and they ultimately needed to lay off 250 people. This, Maneet admits, felt like the end of everything they’d worked for. As they emerged from the worst of the pandemic, they closed one restaurant and consolidated others as they rebuilt themselves for success.
When talking about her mantra, she gave multiple pieces of advice, including the following:
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Set goals, no matter how improbable.
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Create a roadmap and, as much as possible, stay on the path.
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Be adaptable enough to change course as needed.
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Stay flexible because your goals will likely change.
Using the food program Chopped as an analogy, Maneet advised attendees to imagine being given a basket of ingredients in life. The ingredients would make no sense, so each person’s job is to make sense of what they’ve been given.
Additional advice provided by Maneet include these:
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Collaborations are important.
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Put yourself out there and learn from others.
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Find like-minded people.
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Be generous to others and, most importantly, to yourself.
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You will make mistakes, but those are learning opportunities.
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Attitude is everything.
Her final piece of advice doesvetails well with this conference’s theme of regeneration—that is, to gain strength through regeneration in your business and in yourself. The story of growing and regrowing a successful business is based on the ability to be creative and to constantly pivot.