Basu Ratnam: The Indian-American restaurateur building INDAY around food, community and purpose 

(Oct 25, 2026) Inspired by his Indian roots and the way food travels across cultures, Basu Ratnam founded INDAY, a restaurant group that has grown from a single outlet to nine locations, bringing bold flavours, everyday nourishment and good karma to contemporary dining in the New York City.

Basu Ratnam grew up in Oyster Bay on Long Island, New York, in an Indian-American household where the kitchen was central to family life. His mother cooked every day, tended a garden and introduced her children to ingredients, flavours and cuisines. After studying political science at Brown University, he entered the world of finance before taking an unexpected turn into the restaurant business.

Some of Basu’s earliest memories are of cooking with his mother, including making biryani together and trying different regional recipes until they found a style they liked. He began cooking more in college and, in his early 20s, while living in New York City, and started to understand how ingredients, heat and timing could transform a dish.

Today, Basu is the founder and CEO of INDAY, the Indian-inspired fast-casual restaurant group he launched in 2015. Starting with a single shop, INDAY has grown to nine locations across Manhattan and Williamsburg, bringing Indian flavours into an everyday format.

For Basu, however, the restaurant was never simply a business idea. It grew from a lifelong relationship with food, a desire to reconnect with something meaningful and an understanding of food as a way of nourishing not just individuals, but communities.

“I hope someone can find a little connection to home here, and someone else can discover something entirely new,” Basu Ratnam, founder and CEO of INDAY tells The Global Indian.

Indian food has deep roots, and it continues to evolve through the people who cook it. I’m excited to contribute to that story in our own way.

Basu Ratnam

 

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Between Indian roots and a changing food culture

Basu’s connection to India is rooted in his family’s journey to the United States. His mother is from Kolkata and his father from Hyderabad. Both came to pursue graduate studies, met in the US and worked to keep their ties to India alive while building a life in their adopted country.

“My mother started multiple non-profits supporting South Asian communities (SACSS and YICG), and my father worked to bring 20+ of his family over,” Basu says. “They had their challenges, but embraced the entrepreneurial and civic spirit of the US.”

While growing up Basu used to travel to India every couple of years. “I’ve especially loved spending time in the south, Hyderabad and Bangalore, and I’m always drawn to the flavors of Goa and Kerala. But I’m equally inspired by the way Indian food has travelled,” says Basu.

Some of my favorite Indian meals have been in London and Kenya, and I love the Indian influences in Trinidadian cooking. There’s something beautiful about seeing how people carry their food with them, adapting to a new place while keeping a connection to home. That’s shaped how I think about INDAY.

Basu Ratnam

When finance stopped feeling like the destination

The idea for INDAY emerged while Basu was working in finance. His career involved buying and selling major clothing companies, but as he progressed, he felt increasingly disconnected from the things that had once excited him. Food, by contrast, kept bringing him back to memories of home and to the values his mother had associated with cooking.

She had given him an understanding of food as nourishment for the mind, body, spirit and community. Basu began to wonder whether that philosophy could become the foundation of a business.

At 26, he decided to find out. He had never worked in a restaurant, so rather than assuming he understood the industry, he took his business plan to some of the smartest people in his life and asked them to explain why he should not pursue it.

Instead of discouraging him, many offered to become advisers and early investors.

The idea eventually became INDAY, which got launched in New York City in 2015. Basu had to learn that building a restaurant required far more than a good concept, a business plan and financial backing. One of his first major obstacles was finding a landlord willing to give a young, first-time restaurateur a chance.

It took about a year and a half to secure the lease. When the deal finally came through, Basu and his team celebrated on the street with champagne in plastic cups. It was a modest celebration for a milestone that would shape the next chapter of his career.

Growing a brand around food and good karma

INDAY’s menu has included dishes such as Chicken Tikka, Golden Curry, Charred Chili Chicken and the Karma Bowl, alongside newer offerings such as Chicken Over Rice and Steak Over Rice. The restaurants emphasise fresh preparation, bold flavours and food intended to leave diners feeling nourished rather than weighed down.

That philosophy extends beyond the food itself. INDAY’s locations are designed around the idea of good karma and an environment that feels energising and welcoming. The business has also focused on details such as sourcing specific ingredients and eventually making its own bread after Basu and his team could not find one that met their expectations.

For Basu, introducing Indian flavours to a wider audience also means recognising that diners bring different expectations to the table. Some arrive with memories of meals eaten during trips to India, while others have grown up with Indian food and are interested in seeing it presented differently.

We don’t use ‘authentic’ to describe INDAY. We’re not trying to recreate a particular dish from someone’s childhood. We’re expressing the flavours, generosity and hospitality that make Indian food so meaningful to us, in a way that fits how people live and eat today.

Basu Ratnam

Starting with one shop, INDAY expanded across New York. By 2025, it had reached nine locations across Manhattan and Williamsburg, including its Rockefeller Center restaurant.

The growth has given Basu a larger platform, but the premise remains close to the one that brought him into food in the first place: Indian flavours, interpreted for contemporary everyday eating.

As INDAY expands, Basu hopes to reach people with different relationships to Indian cuisine, whether they are reconnecting with familiar flavours or encountering them for the first time. For him, the aim is to make room for both experiences without losing the generosity and hospitality at the heart of the food.

1 Billion Breaths for India

The most unexpected expression of Basu’s relationship with food came during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second wave overwhelmed hospitals and healthcare systems, while shortages of oxygen and medical supplies added to the crisis. Indian Americans were themselves dealing with the uncertainty and losses of the pandemic, but images and messages coming from families, friends and communities in India brought the scale of the crisis much closer to home.

Basu responded by helping create 1 Billion Breaths for India, a fundraising movement that brought Indian restaurants together to support COVID relief efforts.

The idea was simple. Restaurants could use what they already knew how to do, feed people, to raise money for those facing a medical emergency.

Basu began reaching out to restaurant owners, and the response was immediate. The initial effort brought together nearly 30 restaurants across North America, with participating establishments creating special meals and directing proceeds towards COVID relief and oxygen initiatives in India.

The initiative subsequently expanded, drawing participation from restaurants in different parts of the world.

What followed was more than a fundraising exercise. It became an example of how a diaspora community could use its professional and social networks to respond to a crisis thousands of miles away.

The restaurant industry itself had been badly affected by the pandemic, yet Indian restaurants from different countries still found a way to participate. That collective response became one of the defining moments in Basu’s journey as a restaurateur, and raised over $1million.

Building an Indian food brand in the US

For Basu, cooking remains both creative practice and a way to stay connected to his roots. The pleasure is still in developing a menu, visiting local suppliers, finding the right ingredient and working out how the pieces belong together.

His journey has moved from his mother’s kitchen in Oyster Bay to the kitchens and dining rooms of NYC, with finance in between and a global crisis creating an unexpected chapter along the way.

Looking ahead, Basu wants to take INDAY beyond New York and make Indian-inspired food part of everyday life in communities across the United States.

There’s so much to share, the bold flavours, the variety, and the possibility of eating something that feels nourishing and exciting at the same time.

Basu Ratnam

He also wants people to associate INDAY with more than its menu. For him, Good Karma Hospitality is about the care that goes into preparing a meal, welcoming a guest and treating the people who work for the business.

“As we grow, I want people to associate INDAY with how we make them feel: welcomed, cared for, and a little better than when they walked in,” Basu says. “Opening more restaurants gives us the opportunity to bring that care to more people. That’s the growth I’m excited about.”

At its centre is a fairly simple idea that food can be a way of remembering where you come from while creating something that belongs to the place where you are.

• Follow Basu Ratnam and INDAY on Instagram

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