From IIT to Pani Puri in London: How an Indian Designer Turned Street Food into a Supper Club

In a city obsessed with Michelin stars and minimalist menus, an Indian NRI has quietly built a community using something far more powerful than fine dining — pani puri.

Ankita Khante, an IIT Guwahati postgraduate and former Samsung designer, now runs a monthly ticketed supper club in London called The Bouzi Club, alongside her husband Aman Krishna. The concept brings together strangers over a seven-course Indian-fusion meal, starting with an interactive pani puri icebreaker.

The story has predictably gone viral under a familiar headline trope — “IITian selling pani puri” — a framing Khante herself gently but firmly rejects.

Not a Fall From Grace, But a Pivot

Khante was born and raised in Nagpur, Maharashtra, completed her Bachelor’s in Architecture from VNIT Nagpur, and later pursued a master’s in design at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. Before relocating to the UK in 2024, she worked as a Product Designer at Samsung in Bengaluru.

After moving to London post-marriage, Khante took time to understand the local job market. What followed was not a resignation letter from ambition, but a redefinition of it.

Hosting dinners for friends slowly evolved into a structured, ticketed supper club — one that now hosts 10–12 guests per month at £50 per person (around ₹6,000), serving a curated Indian-fusion menu.

Why Pani Puri? Because It Breaks Ice Faster Than LinkedIn

According to Khante, the first 10 minutes of any dinner decide whether guests remain strangers or become a table.

That is where pani puri enters — not as nostalgia, but as strategy.

Each guest has their own expectations, spice tolerance, and opinions on what the “perfect” pani puri should taste like. The dish becomes interactive, conversational, and instantly disarming. It is now the club’s signature opening ritual.

In a city where people often eat alone despite crowded restaurants, this humble street snack does what networking events fail to do — make people talk.

The Business Behind the Bowl

The Bouzi Club operates as a small, home-run venture. While the couple does not disclose turnover, they confirm steady growth through repeat guests and word-of-mouth. During peak festive months, they run themed supper series tied to Indian festivals.

The challenges were predictable but not trivial:

• No business background

• Learning pricing, ticketing, logistics from scratch

• Understanding London’s palate and spice thresholds

• Navigating food regulations in a new country

  Over time, they built a repeatable format and smoother operations.

  The IIT Tag and the Lazy Narrative

  Khante addressed the viral framing directly, clarifying that the journey was never about abandoning education or “downgrading” careers.

  She credits her IIT training for giving her the confidence to experiment, adapt quickly, and build something from the ground up in an unfamiliar ecosystem. Entering hospitality without a background in the service industry, she says, has been humbling and has deepened her respect for the craft of hosting.

  The subtle mockery lies in the framing itself — as if education is only validated when it ends at a cubicle desk, and entrepreneurship must look a certain way to be taken seriously.

  Supper Clubs: A Quiet Global Trend

  A supper club sits between a private dinner party and a restaurant. Often hosted in homes or pop-up spaces, it prioritises experience, conversation, and community over scale.

  In cities like London, where loneliness quietly thrives amid density, supper clubs have become informal social bridges. The Bouzi Club fits squarely into this shift — Indian food as conversation, not consumption.