New Delhi [India], September 24: In a city as dynamic as Delhi, where dining, nightlife and lifestyle preferences are evolving at an unprecedented pace, building a successful hospitality brand requires far more than a good menu or an attractive space. It demands an understanding of people, culture, design, food, entertainment and, most importantly, the ability to anticipate what guests will want next.
Shubh Sharma has built his entrepreneurial journey around precisely this philosophy creating hospitality destinations that are distinctive in identity, ambitious in scale and memorable in experience.
Interestingly, Mr Sharma’s professional foundation was not rooted in hospitality. He holds a B.Tech in Computers, followed by an MBA from the University of Wales, UK. This combination of technology-driven education and management exposure has given him a structured approach to business, strategy and execution skills that he has subsequently brought into one of India’s most dynamic and experience led industries.
Over the years, Mr Sharma has emerged as a prominent name in Delhi’s evolving F&B landscape, with a portfolio that has included Barcode, Cafe Di Milano, Pokerface and Mayfair, followed by his latest venture, Matram. His journey reflects a consistent willingness to experiment with formats, aesthetics and culinary narratives rather than simply replicate established models. Industry coverage has highlighted his focus on developing fresh concepts and creating experiences that offer customers something different.
His entrepreneurial journey gained momentum with Barcode, which he launched in 2015. The concept quickly found resonance with Delhi’s younger audience and established the foundation for Mr Sharma’s approach to hospitality to build a strong identity, create an atmosphere around it and give customers a reason to return. In 2017, he expanded his portfolio with Cafe Di Milano, further strengthening his presence in Delhi’s competitive dining and nightlife ecosystem.
With Mayfair Dwarka, Shubh took this philosophy a step further. At a time when Dwarka was often viewed as secondary to Delhi’s more established dining and entertainment destinations, he identified an opportunity to create a premium experience closer to the neighbourhood’s growing consumer base.
Mayfair was conceived around a sophisticated, London-inspired aesthetic, bringing together contemporary dining, cocktails, music and entertainment. The concept was designed to demonstrate that consumers in West Delhi did not necessarily have to travel across the city to experience premium hospitality. Mr Sharma’s belief that Dwarka represented an underserved but sophisticated market became central to the venture’s positioning.
That ability to identify an opportunity before it becomes obvious has remained an important part of his entrepreneurial approach.
His latest venture, Matram, represents another significant evolution in that philosophy. Positioned as a chef-driven dining destination, Matram goes beyond conventional restaurant formats to explore India’s culinary diversity through contemporary presentation and techniques.
The concept draws inspiration from regional cuisines spanning Kashmir, Kerala, Gujarat, Assam and several other parts of India, with a focus on forgotten recipes, heirloom ingredients and traditional culinary techniques. The objective is not simply to serve Indian food, but to tell the story of India’s diverse culinary heritage through a contemporary dining experience.
At the heart of Matram’s culinary direction is Chef Suresh Singh Fartyal, whose extensive experience has helped translate Mr Sharma’s larger vision into a menu that combines authenticity with modernity. The result is a destination where regional Indian flavours are presented through a more refined and contemporary lens.
For Mr Sharma, however, food is only one part of hospitality.
The experience surrounding the food is equally important.
Architecture, interiors, music, service, lighting, mixology and storytelling all contribute to how a guest remembers a destination. His ventures demonstrate this understanding through distinctly different identities whether it is the European-inspired character of Mayfair or the heritage-led culinary narrative of Matram.
This ability to create individual identities for different concepts is particularly significant in an industry where successful brands can easily become repetitive. Mr Sharma’s philosophy has consistently been to avoid simply reproducing an existing venue and instead develop concepts with their own personality, audience and reason to exist.
His approach also reflects a broader understanding of today’s hospitality consumer. The modern diner is no longer visiting a restaurant only for food. They are looking for an experience worth sharing, a setting worth remembering and a concept that feels relevant to their lifestyle. Sharma has built his businesses around this changing expectation.
His upcoming projects, Motichoor and Mandappam, further demonstrate this appetite for experimentation.
Motichoor is being developed around modern Indian sweets and traditional chaat, bringing familiar flavours into a contemporary and niche format. Mandappam, meanwhile, is envisioned around youthful, colourful and authentic South Indian cuisine for North Indian audiences, creating an opportunity to introduce regional flavours to a wider demographic.
Alongside these concepts, Mr Sharma is working towards a large-format brewery project in the capital, envisioned as a major experiential destination. With an anticipated capacity of around 1,200 covers, international cuisine, global drinks and high-energy entertainment, the project represents another step in his ambition to create large-scale hospitality experiences that combine dining, nightlife and entertainment under one roof.
What makes Shubh Sharma’s journey particularly relevant to a 40 Under 40 platform is therefore not simply the number of restaurants he has been associated with. It is the evolution of his entrepreneurial thinking from creating individual venues to developing distinctive experiences and scalable hospitality concepts.
His story demonstrates how skills acquired through technology and management education can be translated into an entirely different industry when combined with entrepreneurial instinct, consumer understanding and a willingness to take calculated risks.
From identifying the potential of Dwarka to developing Mayfair, from building a portfolio of youth-oriented F&B destinations to bringing a deeper focus on India’s regional culinary heritage through Matram, Mr Sharma has consistently demonstrated one defining quality: the ability to see possibilities where others see only a conventional market.
As Delhi’s F&B ecosystem continues to evolve, his next chapter is likely to be defined by the same philosophy that has shaped his journey so far spot the gap, challenge convention and create experiences that people remember.
For Shubh Sharma, hospitality is not merely about running restaurants. It is about building brands, creating communities and shaping experiences.
And as he continues expanding his portfolio across dining, nightlife, entertainment and large format hospitality, Mr Sharma represents a new generation of entrepreneurs who are helping redefine how India’s urban consumers eat, celebrate, socialise and experience hospitality.
