This past weekend my wife Logan and I found ourselves a bit peckish in Washington Square Park. A line of 20 people led us to “Dosa Man” and his food cart. He sells South Indian vegan dosas for under $10 each, and three quarters of the people in line were Indian. We gave it a try and the food was delicious. Vice’s Munchies blog and Gothamist have both made videos about the owner, Thiru Kumar, who came to New York in the 1990s, fleeing violence in his native Sri Lanka. You can check out the videos on his website.
God bless America’s great melting pot and our open borders to those seeking refuge, I say.
And Thiru made me think: Doing one thing well, being known for one thing, and keeping it simple, can be a key to success even in a competitive market. Your offering doesn’t need to be flashy. His food doesn’t even need to have meat in it, even in New York. It’s also a question of focus. Thiru’s mission is to serve South Indian food to as many people as possible. He doesn’t need a restaurant to do it. He doesn’t need any staff. He’s paired his operations down to the minimum, and it’s all delivered with a sense of pride and pleasure in what he’s doing.
People absolutely love it.
My mission is to write while you talk. Everybody loves it. And we win! I like to think that’s pretty straightforward. But I’m curious. If you had to put a single word in front of your name, describing what you’re offering, what would it be?
Dosa Man. What a legend. What an inspiration for us all.
