Rajagopal the Dosa King: A story good enough for a Bollywood blockbuster

P. Rajagopal was popularly known as the ‘Dosa King’. An icon in the world of Indian restaurants, he was convicted of murdering a young man and died in a hospital days after surrendering to the police.

The Dosa King, Founder of a Global Chain of Restaurants

The restaurateur was the founder of the chain of South Indian food, Sarvana Bhavan. This became one of the biggest chains of vegetarian food first in India, slowly expanding beyond borders. The business that he started in 1980 currently includes 80 outlets around the world. Out of these 80, 33 are located in India. Across borders, he has 47 outlets in cities like Sydney, New York, and London. Thousands of people are under his employ.

Early Years

Born in the remote Punnaiadi town in Tamil Nadu, he lived in a thatched roof house, as a low caste. He left his education and shifted to another town where he worked at an inexpensive eatery. He slept on the kitchen floor and bathed in a waterfall.

As a teenager, he moved to Chennai and opened his own grocery store. There he realized that the places around him didn’t have a restaurant. Every day he would have to go to a neighboring locality for food. At that time there were very few restaurants, most of which catered to the upper castes. Yet, he chose and reigned a field which was traditionally dominated by the Brahmins.

Starting the Business

He faced teething problems as his grocery business did not perform very well. He hardly knew anything about food business but he started it upon the suggestions of an astrologer. His adviser suggested that he use low-priced labor and ingredients. He faced severe losses in the beginning. Early on, he fired his adviser and started using high-quality products, including coconut oil. Through word of mouth, his popularity increased and he started making a profit; his business expanded.

He catered to the emerging middle class. The location and ambiance he chose for his outlet were unpretentious and reputable. His restaurants specialized in three snacks from South India: idli, vada, and dosa. This holy trinity of snacks is prepared from grounded lentil and rice. Everything is made from scratch.

In Chennai alone, 8000 workers were under his employ. The benefits provided to the employees are as good as those offered in Silicon Valley. From education to pension, it is his benefit schemes that gain him enormous loyalty. Such is the popularity that even though he was involved in such a major scandal, his business survived. A lot of credit, of course, goes to his foolproof business model.

His first international outing came in 2000 when he opened his restaurant in Dubai. Eventually, he extended his business to Dallas, Doha, and Qatar, targeting places wherever Indians were in majority.

He wrote an autobiography which is available for sale, in his Chennai based outlets. The book is named, ‘I Set My Heart on Victory”, and is an interesting combination of humility and fallacies.

A scandal that began with an astrologer’s advice

Found guilty of ordering the murder of the husband of a young woman, the case against him was registered in 2001. This famous and successful restaurateur had been married twice earlier. Despite this, he was adamant to marry a married woman as was suggested to him by his astrologer. He showered her with lavish gifts in an attempt to win her. But the lady refused.

He hired an assassin to kill the husband. This man’s body was found in the forest of Tamil Nadu. He was supposedly smothered to death.

In 2004, he was convicted and sentenced 10 years’ imprisonment for the murder. He filed an appeal against his conviction which was unsuccessful, in fact, his sentence was further elongated to life imprisonment. Despite the crime being so violent in nature, through the process of protracted appeals, He managed to evade serving his term.

Last week he finally surrendered before the police. Upon surrendering, he was admitted to a hospital immediately. His lawyers had attempted to obtain bail on the ground of medical problem, but the request was rejected. A week later, he died of a heart attack in a hospital, in Chennai.

Rajagopal was a legend in his area. One of his competitor, Manoharan, owner of Murugan Idli said,
“He brought prestige to the vegetarian business. He made a revolution.” About his conviction, he added, “Others in that position would have totally collapsed. People thought he was finished. But there was no impact on him or his business.”