Rachel Goenka
Chapter Head, Mumbai
Founder & CEO, The Chocolate Spoon Company
Rachel Goenka is the Founder and CEO of The Chocolate Spoon Company – the holding company for her enviable chain of chic restaurants, bars, bakeries & patisseries (The Sassy Spoon, House of Mandarin, Sassy Teaspoon, Baraza Bars and Bites & Wicked China). Shy to boast of it’s many firsts, TCSC dared to bring in Eclectic European cuisine to India in 2012. Rachel was instrumental in redefining how restaurants in India curated desserts with a range of innovative offerings at her restaurants.
Rachel graduated with a double degree in Journalism and English from The Pennsylvania State University. Post her stint in journalism and advertising she realized her true calling and passion was in food and decided to turn her dream into a reality. She then attended The Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, where she trained under celebrity chef Rachel Allen, and then moved to Le Cordon Bleu in London to specialize in patisserie.
A young businesswoman, at 24 Rachel embarked on her entrepreneurship journey and is best known for her astute business sense and a strong belief that your employees are the most critical ingredients of your business platter! Sassy is what best describes her approach to all that she does from restaurant conceptualization to delighting the customer with holistic dining experiences.
Currently, her restaurant portfolio comprises 15 outlets and 2 central kitchens across Mumbai and Pune. In addition to the traditional dine-in business, under Rachel’s leadership, TCSC has been aggressively diversifying its revenue streams via outdoor catering, corporate lunch box services, private labelling and banqueting. She has also launched one of the first cloud-based dessert only delivery brand, Cake Me Home, aimed at leveraging the advent of third-party delivery channels, in Mumbai this year.
TCSC & Rachel have both been extensively recognized and won numerous accolades in 2018 & 2019. Rachel most recently won the award for ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the Year’ at Times Hospitality Icons 2019.
In 2018 she won the award for ‘Young Restauranteur of the Year’ at the Restaurant India Awards 2018 and was also featured in The CEO Magazine article on ’30 Women Entrepreneurs to watch in 2018 in India’.
Ms. Sassy, as Rachel is widely known, has made her mark on a heavily male dominated industry and is intent on blazing a trail for other aspiring women-entrepreneurs across all industries!