UPDATE (Sept. 21, 2018): Curry Up Now Inks Deals To Open In North Decatur Square, Madison Yards, Interlock
Curry Up Now, the California-based fast casual Indian street food franchise, is expanding to Atlanta under the direction of Hemant Suri.
Suri last week sold his Midtown Tavern concept to focus on growing Curry Up Now locally as the exclusive franchisee for the area.
“Midtown Tavern was an opportunity to get my feet wet and learn how the restaurant industry works,” Suri Friday told What Now Atlanta in a telephone interview.
“You can say it was my first jab to see if restaurants were how I wanted to invest my future.”
Suri and his team are looking to open five Curry Up Now locations in Atlanta over the next three to five years, he said.
The first outpost could open within the next six to eight months, pending how quickly a location is secured.
Prospect areas for the first few Curry Up Now restaurants include “somewhere along the Beltline,” Alpharetta, Buckhead, Cobb County, and Decatur.
“We’re pretty open right now in terms of location but are digging in deep, looking at foot traffic and demographics.”
The first Atlanta Curry Up Now could include the concept’s bar Mortar & Pestle, a separate lounge within the same space that serves handcrafted Indian-inspired cocktails, local microbrews and specialty wines.
Founded in 2009 by husband and wife duo, Akash and Rana Kapoor, and Senior VP of Operations and Co-Founder Amir Hosseini, Curry Up Now takes traditional Indian flavors and “presents them in a friendly, recognizable format,” according to a press release Thursday.
The menu includes items likes the Tikka Masala Burrito, Deconstructed Samosa, Sexy Fries, and Naughty Naan, using all-natural, never frozen, gluten-free curries, chutneys and sauces, cage-free eggs, local and organic produce, and dairy products, and protein options that are halal, naturally raised, and free of antibiotics and hormones.
