While his peers were playing, P. Sadananda Maiya was busy planning. After all, not every boy receives a piece of Bengaluru’s entrepreneurial history as inheritance. A member of the prestigious Maiya family that owned Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR), a legendary restaurant, Maiya was instrumental in revolutionising his family business. Seemingly impulsive, gut-based decisions are his most useful flourish. Maiya wants to repeat some of that business magic with his new restaurant in Bengaluru.

The biggest lesson I have learnt as an entrepreneur is to trust my instincts and stick by them. Looking back, two of my biggest decisions were based on pure instinct. I am glad I had the courage to take them then because both gave a distinct edge to my business.

In 1999, we introduced the soft serve or softy ice cream. My team resisted the idea for several reasons but mostly because it didn’t fit in with the brand’s image. It also required large investments to set up, and if it didn’t work, we could be burning a hole in our pocket. However, I was certain that besides being a sustainable business, the softies would immensely impact the rest of our categories. I convinced my team to take the risk. Not only was it a huge success, but within a year it had contributed to 11 per cent of our turnover. It also enabled us to make a transition to being a brand that was firmly rooted in the consumers’ minds as a “complete food brand”.

Eating ice creams in restaurants was considered an expensive proposition. We changed that perception by pricing our soft serve creams for as low as 5. MTR Foods made ice cream available to every Indian consumer—even van and truck drivers. It also helped us increase our knowledge of the ready food market, something we effectively leveraged to success in our new categories—ready to eat, frozen Indian foods and ice creams.

Gut ruled my decision making most when I decided to get back into the food business, after a couple of years of MTR being sold to Norway’s Orkla group for $100 million. My well-wishers and friends tried to dissuade me. I wanted to open a vegetarian restaurant. They felt Indian food connoisseurs were now more global in their choice of food and that simple vegetarian fare wouldn’t work. Nevertheless, I decided to go ahead. I was convinced there was still a huge potential for authentic vegetarian Indian food if it was done well.

I began the restaurant Maiyas with my son Sudarshan in 2008. We had one mission—to serve authentic, delicious, great quality food. We began small in a BTM layout with two floors. We had to move to a larger place in Jayanagar in 2009. Now, we have five floors and serve south Indian, Gujarati and north Indian fare. I’ve also started a processed foods business—savoury snacks and sweets. We’ve automated the manufacturing process for snacks and sweets. And, since launching in Karnataka in late 2010, the response has been encouraging. We plan to take these products to other states.

But I wouldn’t have been able to do this twice over if I had not followed my instincts.