With its growing number, the Indian-American community’s appetite for authentic Indian restaurants has seen software engineers rise to the occasion and fulfill this need.
After a long day at work, when his colleagues at a high-tech firm in Silicon Valley leave the office to unwind, Rohit Rishi gears up for a second shift.
He heads to “Shah Restaurant,” an Indo-Pakistani food joint that he owns, located in one of the strip malls on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, Calif. Rishi spends his entire evening taking orders, making naans (Indian flatbread made of wheat) or even running the dishwasher.
“Running the dishwasher is one of the hardest, labor intensive jobs in the restaurant,” said Rishi with the authority of someone who knows the business. “I know it because I’ve done it.”
He heads home at 3 a.m. after closing his restaurant, sleeps for a few hours and gets ready for his day job as a software engineer the next morning.