Locked down in India in 2020 due to COVID-19, Simran Savlani took a spark of inspiration—and madness—and turned it into a business.
We love entrepreneurs and small business owners at Honeycombers, which is why we’ve created Launchpad, a comprehensive digital networking platform (with IRL benefits, too) that encourages connection, business support and community. It is a privilege and pleasure to learn from so many talented and inspiring folks, so we’ve decided to share the love by interviewing some of the lovely Launchpad members. Looking for inspiration? Check out how Simran Savlani, author of the cookbook A Spark of Madness and founder of the line of Spark Sauces, gets it done like a boss.
How I get it done: Simran Savlani
How and why did you decide to launch your business?
A Spark of Madness started back in 2016, when I decided to give up my rewarding job of seven years working with lifestyle media to go pursue my dreams of learning how to open a restaurant. I didn’t speak a word of French, and I didn’t know anything about Paris, but I decided to just pack my bags and take the plunge to study at Le Cordon Bleu! My first bank address was the Champs-Élysées because that’s the only street I knew before landing in Paris.
My first job after Le Cordon Bleu was an internship where I saw a restaurant come together from an empty shell to a full-fledged restaurant and there was no better learning experience. Since then, I’ve worked as a restaurant consultant across Jakarta, Hong Kong, Lagos and Bombay, including Soho House Mumbai.
In 2020, I finally thought I was ready to open my own restaurant. But then COVID-19 happened and my life came to a standstill. I was stuck in India for six months in the most severe lockdown. For the first time as an adult, I didn’t have a job and all I was doing was cooking and cleaning. In hindsight, I like to look at that time as if I put myself through six months of self-imposed and self-taught culinary school. The result of which is the A Spark of Madness cookbook.
What does the Launchpad community mean to you?
Working as an entrepreneur can be very isolating. I miss having a team; someone to bounce ideas off of and laugh at all the mistakes. Launchpad members provide this kind of support and encouragement to each other.
What is your proudest achievement?
Going to Paris. A career shift isn’t easy. Giving up something I worked hard at for seven years, something I enjoyed doing and was at the top of my game, to then leave for a country where I didn’t know the language or anyone. Taking that leap is my proudest achievement.
How I get it done: Lightning round
On a typical morning: Honest admission—I am not a morning person. I get my best work done in the night from midnight to 3am. I look at these hours as my golden hours. After I have finished everything I need to do in the day, my brain is at its creative best and I can properly plan out all my mad ideas. When everyone else has passed out, that is when my brain is ready to work! I tend to sleep in so I can still get enough rest, and then start my day later—normally by first checking my phone to see what everyone else has been up to whilst I’ve been snoozing. I am also totally guilty of spending a few too many minutes checking Instagram.
For me each day is different. Starting a new brand means wearing different hats. So some days I could be in the food factory making sauces, others I could be packing orders, or the rest planning out marketing events.
On the hardest part about the job: The hardest part of the job, also doubles as the best part of the job—LEARNING.
Every element of A Spark of Madness is so new to me. From learning about the different paper qualities, to learning how to cook for 100 people, to figuring out how to increase the shelf life of condiments, to learning how to photograph food and taking every photo in the book myself, to chocolate tempering. There is no better school than your own experiences and this was definitely hard for me as I didn’t know how to plan for it. I am a person who enjoys planned chaos, so when I am thrown in the deep end I stress out. I want to be able to perfect it right away, which doesn’t give myself enough time to learn.
In retrospect, the learning has also been the best part. I can now tell you the different paper gsm, a list of wholesaler suppliers, everything about packaging and labelling for food products, and how to make some damn good chocolate. It has been very rewarding and I love sharing this knowledge with other people.
On the advice you’d give your younger self: Never doubt the madness. As Robin Williams said, “You’re only given a little spark of madness, and if you lose that… you’re nothing.”
The madness is what has gotten me places and I cherish it so much now. So to a younger Simran, I would say to trust that voice. That lil’ voice in your head who is all over the place but is your guiding light.
Find out more about A Spark of Madness.
Launchpad is a comprehensive digital networking platform (with IRL benefits, too) that encourages connection, business support and community. It is designed to make the entrepreneurial journey not only easier, and more successful, but also a whole lot more fun. The platform offers almost daily activities for members to connect, along with regular masterclasses, member networking roulette, small-business mentoring and media profiles on Honeycombers.