Ameya Deshmukh, founder of Cluck Bait shares his journey with us from managing a team of 148 chefs, working for global luxury brands to bringing his dream to start a food service brand to life.
I am originally from Mumbai, India and I started my culinary journey right after college as an apprentice.
I was awarded an all India level scholarship with one of the most prestigious hospitality chains in the world, The Oberoi Hotels & resorts group. I worked as an apprentice in one of their properties in Jaipur, Rajasthan. They have an amazing school in New Delhi called The Oberoi center of learning & development which was also my grounds for theoretical studies about culinary .
After three years of my training, I left India in 2009 to work for Marco Pierre White with his first venture outside of the UK opening in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
I worked for Marco Pierre White's brand in Dubai as well as Park Hyatt in Maldives, and Kempinski which is a German luxury hotel chain with their properties in Dammam, Saudi Arabia and in Dubai.
I had the opportunity to relocate to NZ in December 2022 and work for Millennium in Taupo, Waikato as an Executive Chef.
During COVID, I developed the intention that I should do something of my own and start my own food service brand. It took me around 3 years to develop the concept. I always wanted to get into a QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) concept instead of fine dining or casual dining, even though my background is predominantly from fine dining and casual dining.
I narrowed down my vision, deciding that I wanted to do something in chicken wings. Relocating to New Zealand came in at the right time because honestly before we started this, we did an industry study to see if something like this already existed in the market. I visited Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua and predominantly the north island to understand if something like this existed and we were glad to know that nothing of what we were planning to do was available in the market.
That gave us enough boost to kick start, and the vision is pretty clear - we want to be the undisputed king in the chicken wings restaurant industry building it as a top notch go to comfort food brand.
All the tossing sauces, dry rubs, seasonings are recipes that I developed over a period of almost 2 years after a lot of trial and error.
The feedback we have received so far on Google reviews and from our customers is very pleasing to see. It has to be accessible and we want people to understand the offering when they visit us.
It goes with our name as well: Cluck Bait - y’all gonna be hooked. The main character of the menu is yes, the chicken wings, but it is also our sauces which we call tossing sauces and dry rubs because they are quite unique. You won’t find them easily in NZ, they are not off the shelf products, they are recipes which are quite complicated in nature to make but the taste is simply amazing so I am very happy with the outcome and the feedback we have received so far from our customers. We have build a good base of our regulars and makes us happy to see them come back for more.
We are very proud of what we have achieved so far, but obviously there is a long road ahead and a lot of pot holes in our way which you expect in any business. Our vision is to go nationwide first in New Zealand. Currently, we are operating as a food truck as but we have set goals for Cluck Bait. I guess we all will find out in few years time.
I always liked to try different cuisines, flavours and ingredients and in 9th grade I decided to become a chef. I didn’t find anything else interesting then and even now after so many years.
I have been fortunate, this industry has given me an opportunity to travel a lot, not only for my professional experience but also as a tourist. It has given me the opportunity to be a global citizen and do exactly what I love, and not a lot of people get that chance to do what they like so I think I was fortunate to be able to try different flavours, enhance my palette, get exposed to different cultures, food and traditions that have kept on building over the years.
It got more interlocked when I started working for Marco Pierre White and some other amazing chefs. They bring their experiences to the table and it's so harmonious when you hear and taste food from someone who has been trained in a different set of cuisine, different style of preparation and to try their style of cuisine is quite a unique experience.
Cluck Bait is primarily operated by myself and my wife and we have a couple of friends who help us out when needed. It's a small team compared to the Middle East where the size of properties are quite massive. The team I was looking after was around 148 chefs before I moved to NZ.
I think the inconsistency of produce is challenging because nothing much can be done about this as geographically we are so far apart. Logistics can be a nightmare sometimes and nobody is to blame for this, this is how it is, so the menus need to be altered so many times in a year. It's a little bit tricky because it affects a lot of other things - training hours going into training staff, the food cost component, a lot of things are interlinked.
Chomp was already available where I used to work before as an Executive Chef and that is how I got introduced to it. I quickly realised that Chomp is a very useful tool to ensure all tasks pertaining to health and hygiene can be completed on one platform. My user experience is very good.
I ensured that all my team had food safety certificates, were trained with food handling certificates and properly trained on Chomp. I had nominated supervisors who would keep an eye on it and make sure the team had completed their tasks.
Chomp makes everything seamless because everything is available on the interface. You can see what you have missed, in the past few days or weeks and what needs to be accomplished. I think Chomp as a product gives that clarity and visibility for a user to ensure all the guidelines are up to date and they are met as per the council regulations.
To be honest with you, I have not used any other interface here in New Zealand. I got introduced to Chomp and also some of my friends in this industry use Chomp. That probably goes to say that Chomp in itself is so efficient and it basically does what it is supposed to do. I don’t feel the need to approach any other company. There are other companies that I am aware of in NZ who also provide the same solutions but I honestly am very comfortable using Chomp. I like how the team always responds when you need them to. They are extremely professional.
I don’t like to have any standards, especially with health and hygiene, compromised because if those things aren't taken care of then the customer won’t feel safe to come into the restaurant or the hotel to consume your food and beverage. Even when Cluck Bait grows, when we become a bigger brand, I will ensure all my sites always have Chomp installed.
Nothing honestly because I’m pretty happy with the mistakes I have made because those mistakes probably led to something good in a way. I am happy with my journey, I am happy with the chefs I have worked with, the brands I have worked with, the extremely prestigious brands in the industry I have been a part of. I am very happy with my journey so far.
I like to collect autographs and memorabilia. And I like to do that from personalities who I have admired growing up. They can be from the movie or sports industry or the culinary industry.
From the culinary industry, I have been fortunate to meet with global renowned chefs, eat at their restaurants and try their cuisine.
I also like to collect autographs from the boxing era so Mohammed Ali, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, all the golden era of boxing. I have two autographs of Mohammed Ali, one of Mike Tyson.
I have met and cooked for some legendary cricketers including Sir Viv, Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Geoffrey boycott, Wasim Akram.
I have them all framed and on a wall in the house where I grew up in India in a UV protection case so there is no sunlight or natural light penetrating inside.
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