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How a 10th pass Gujarati became a millionaire in the US: ‘No MBA, just common sense’
An X user named Sunil shared the story of his Gujarati friend who immigrated to the United States, opened a Gujarati restaurant and became a millionaire
American billionaire and PayPal founder Peter Thiel once famously called restaurants the worst businesses to invest in. Cutthroat competition, slow growth and low wages all combine to make restaurants an unattractive investment, according to Thiel. For at least one Indian immigrant, however, opening a restaurant in the US was a life-changing decision that turned him into a millionaire.
An X user named Sunil shared the story of his Gujarati friend who immigrated to the United States, opened a Gujarati restaurant, and now lives a comfortable life in the land of opportunity.
Sunil was comically rueful about his own masters degree and habit of listening to podcasts as he recounted the success story of his friend who, despite studying only till the 10th grade, managed to achieve entrepreneurial success.
“Met a Patel friend who runs a restaurant in New Jersey. He was in his late 40s and 10th pass. I am engineer with masters degree who listens to podcasts,” Sunil wrote on X.
“I told him that Peter Thiel said that the worst business one can do is open a restaurant. Very high failure rate and customers are very unpredictable.
“When I mentioned Peter Thiel’s name, he raised his eyebrows to think. Obviously, he doesn’t know who Peter Thiel is.
An immigrant success story
“He said opening a restaurant is a sure-short way to be millionaire for him,” the X user elaborated.
Patel explained to his friend Sunil that he has at least 50 families who are regular customers. Dismissing Thiel’s opinion that restaurant customers are unpredictable, the Gujarati entrepreneur explained that if, one day, his food is low on salt, his customers will simply ask him to add more salt. They won’t stop coming to his restaurant because of this oversight.
The restaurant owner further spoke about the advantage of a good location in the restaurant business. His own establishment is located strategically on the way to a popular temple in New Jersey’s Robinsville township.
“A lot of Gujaratis from New York and Pennsylvania hire tourist buses when they have to go to visit Swaminarayan Temple in Robinsville. On the way to Robinsville, they make a stop at his restaurant to eat delicious Gujarati thali. That’s 50-75 people per bus,” Sunil explained.
He explained that all his friend has to do is wake up every morning, cook dal, chawal, roti, sabzi and dhokla - and in 10 years he is a millionaire.
“That’s 10th pass immigrant for you. No MBA, no listening to podcast. Just common sense, intuition and ability to take calculated risk,” Sunil concluded.
His post has gone viral with over 3 lakh views on X.
“Most of the educated people are trapped in the analysis paralysis - waiting for the perfect start. If we can just focus on the basics and continue working towards it, success will follow,” wrote X user Ram Joshi.
“Absolutely. A friend, who after getting fired from a software developer job in a brokerage firm, developed businesses like small stores and public laundromats. Made more money than what he was making earlier,” another said.
