Real Estate Professional Builds Handcrafted Sweets brand with Rs 60 Crore Turnover in Just Six Years

Starting with a single outlet in 2019 at a rented space with a monthly rent of Rs 3 lakh and just 35 employees, The Hazelnut Factory (THF) has grown rapidly over the last six years, reaching a turnover of Rs 60 crore.

With its handcrafted sweets, specialty coffee, and premium packaging, THF has blended European café aesthetics with Indian flavours. The brand is the brainchild of Ankit Sahni, who took a leap of faith from the real estate sector into F&B industry and found his true calling in the world of artisanal sweets and café culture.

From real estate to handcrafted sweets, Ankit Sahni followed his dream and turned The Hazelnut Factory into a successful café brand (Photos: Special Arrangement)

The registered name of the company is Hazelnut Factory Food Products Private Limited and their headquarters is located in Lucknow, UP. Offering rich baklavas to delightful cookies, cakes, savouries and namkeen, THF caters to both retail customers and corporate clients. It also organises events at its outlets.

THF operates as a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) under the COCO (Company-Owned Company-Operated) model. Now, they have expanded to 11 outlets across Lucknow, Kanpur, and Noida.


Ankit oversees operations, marketing, branding, and expansion activities, while his younger brother Badal Sahni, who is a director in the company, takes care of production and back-end operations.

Ankit, 35, was born in Palia, located in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh, around 130 km from Lucknow. Growing up in a joint family, he completed Class 8 at Birla Vidya Mandir in Lakhimpur.

From Class 9 onwards, Ankit studied at GD Goenka World School in Sohna, Gurgaon, and completed his Class 12 in 2007. He then went on to pursue a BA in Economics Honours from Panjab University in Chandigarh.

“My father wanted us to have a good education. I kept on doing random education to garner respect. However, I was always keen on doing business,” says Ankit.

A glimpse of The Hazelnut Factory’s signature counter

His father, Harvindar Kumar Sahani, initially ran a rice mill, later started a factory, moved into real estate, and eventually entered politics, becoming the MLA of Palia in Lakhimpur Kheri.

After completing his graduation, Ankit joined Investors Clinic, a real estate consultancy firm, in 2011 with a salary of Rs 25,000 and learned the basics of real estate sales.

He worked there for six months. In 2012, he returned to Lucknow, where his father encouraged him to join the family’s real estate business.

“We developed premium residential apartments with around 48 flats, each priced at Rs 1 crore. The project went well, and I went on to do more such projects,” says Ankit.

“While everyone was happy with my growth, I always dreamed of owning a café. When I shared this idea with my father, he was shocked that I wanted to leave the real estate business and start a café of my own.”

After spending four years in the real estate sector, Ankit finally took a leap of faith and took up a franchise of the well-known café chain Impresario, which operates brands like Mocha and Social.

Ankit with his brother Badal Sahni, who oversees production and back-end operations at The Hazelnut Factory

It was a big shift in his professional journey - from building homes to stepping into the food and beverage space. Ankit put in a lot of research and effort to understand the new industry.

The sudden shift in career was deeply intriguing for Ankit. “I had to start afresh. When I entered the F&B sector, I realised that the manpower was tough to handle,” he says.

“Apart from this, I had to do a lot of food tasting, which made me gain 20 kg in the first 7–8 months. I also realised that having the right set of people was very difficult. The best thing that I had was that at the initial level I had the money to burn cash.”

Ankit began THF on February 20, 2019, in Lucknow, from a 4,000 sq. ft. rented property. A 2,000 sq. ft. area at the back was used for the factory, while the café was set up in the front.

The place cost him Rs 3 lakh per month in rent. He invested Rs 2.5 crore for setting up the outlet, including the interiors and purchasing equipment like ovens.

The firm that started with around 150 products now handles nearly 500 products, which are prepared fresh every day in their kitchens. Everything at THF is made in-house, except for the coffee which is sourced from outside.

From bread, cookies, and pastries to cakes and sweets, all items are produced at their factory outlet. The lowest priced item is 30 grams of milk bread that costs ?30, and the most expensive is the Pan of Nawab, priced at Rs 7,000 per kg.

The journey of THF began on a strong note. In the very first year, their first outlet was doing daily business of Rs 1.5 lakh. By the end of 2019, they had opened four outlets in Lucknow.

Ankit aims to expand The Hazelnut Factory across India with 70 planned outlets in three years

However, the COVID pandemic hit, and Ankit had to shut down three outlets immediately. Once the situation returned to normal, he started expanding again. By 2022, THF had eight outlets in Lucknow and further expanded to Delhi and Kanpur in 2023.

The company has plans to open 70 outlets across India over the next three years. At present, they are opening around three to four outlets every quarter.

All production is carried out in their factories located behind the cafés in Noida, Lucknow, and Kanpur. Products are then delivered to the outlets through their own vans.

Out of the 800 employees, around 500 are involved in front-end operations, 250 manage the back end, and 50 are part of the corporate team. The staff are spread across the outlets, factory units, marketing, HR, and other management functions.

While speaking about the food and its quality at THF, Ankit says, “We don’t use khowa (mawa) in our sweets and make everything fresh daily. If the cakes are unsold, we throw them after 18 hours. Our cookies have a three-month shelf life.

“We have also trademarked a few dishes from our café, like LABON, which is a combination of laddoo and bon-bon. Apart from this, Cashew Theramisu has also been trademarked by us. I would say that we don’t make desi mithai or traditional sweets; in fact, our sweets give you an international look and taste.”

THF recently raised Rs 131 crore by selling a 51% stake to Bikaji International Food, popularly known as Bikaji, a well-known snacking brand in North India. This funding has not only opened up more opportunities for expansion but also brought in Bikaji’s operational expertise in areas like mystery audits and third-party quality checks.

At present, 85% of THF’s business comes from retail customers and the remaining 15% from corporate clients.

From Baklava and LABON to Cashew Theramisu and cookies, The Hazelnut Factory serves handcrafted treats

On a personal note, Ankit shares that while his father is now confident about his entry into the F&B sector, he still makes surprise calls to the outlet managers to check the counter sales for the day.

Ankit is married to Surabhi, and they have two daughters—Alaya, who is four, and Thea, who is two.

Sharing a word of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, Ankit says, “Follow what you like and don’t look at what others are doing. Because what you want to do, comes from within. One must live their dream.” In his free time, Ankit enjoys spending quality time with his little daughters. - ©TWL