“We used to eat dinner around the table in Nashville and wonder why our friends didn’t eat more Indian food,” says Neal Idnani, CEO of Naan Stop. “Our mother was a great cook. Our neighbors just devoured her food, so much so that she started a catering company to keep up with demand. But for American kids our age, it was just a little too different for them.” “They wouldn’t go to an Indian restaurant,” says Neal's brother and CFO Samir Idnani. “That was kind of an intimidating experience for them, with the language barrier and everything. As we grew older, we started kicking around ideas. How could we bring Indian food to people in a way that’s familiar?
We knew if we could make people comfortable ordering, they’d love it.” Those conversations formed the foundation of what would become NaanStop, which serves fresh Indian cuisine made from their mother’s recipes, using the build-your-own-meal approach familiar to so many fast casual restaurants.
After a year of operating NaanStop as a food truck in Los Angeles, the Idnanis decided to return to Georgia and open their first restaurant in Atlanta. “We wanted to be closer to home,” Samir says. “Atlanta has a large, diverse customer base, and it’s a great hub for growth in the Southeast"
The brothers opened the first NaanStop in downtown Atlanta in 2012. The concept caught on quickly, leading to a second location in Buckhead in October 2014. A third location opened in Atlantic Station in February 2019, with a design that reflects the Idnanis’ heritage as Indian Americans.
“Our restaurants are an extension of our home, and we want them to look and feel that way,” says Samir. “We’re Americans, and we fit in with that culture, but we’re also steeped in our Indian culture. How do we bring both parts of that into the restaurant? The presentation of the food is one way to do that—something that’s familiar to Americans, but the flavors and ingredients are very authentic to Indian cuisine.”
This month, celebrating 10 years in Buckhead, Naan Stop is serving a new entree, the Mumbai Meatball. It can be served as part of the rice bowl, naan wrap or salad. Kofta (meatballs or veggie balls) originated in the Middle East and India centuries ago. Neal explains, "As kids, the various types of kofta were mainstays in our house. We wrapped them up in flatbreads like roti and naan, which our mom would also make from scratch."
With a mission to make Indian food a comfortable everyday experience and embracing diners' love for all-things meatballs, the brothers riffed on the kofta to come up with the Mumbai Meatball Wrap. Bite into North Indian-style meatballs wrapped in soft, fresh naan with grilled onions and peppers, a corn salad inspired by Mumbai street vendors, and a cool yogurt and cilantro chutney.
Future growth plans include adding four locations over the next 24 months. The Idnanis also are looking to expand NaanStop’s product line of spice mixes into retail and wholesale and to develop a franchise program that offers a path for career growth to existing staff members within the organization. Along the way, they plan to continue a community service program that started during the pandemic with a series of pop-up food drive-thru locations to help feed families and support local charitable organizations.
3420 Piedmont Road NE
678.861.NAAN (6226)
How could we bring Indian food to people in a way that’s familiar? We knew if we could make people comfortable ordering, they’d love it.