Rish Saini Get in touch

Rish Saini

Founder, restaurateur, consultant and creatorGurugram

Rish Saini seated at a bar counter in a black leather jacket

From the restaurant floor to the whole idea.

I build hospitality businesses and shape the worlds around them, from the spaces and brands to the photographs, marketing and systems. Through my studio, Breakthrough Design Studio, I help other owners open and reposition venues, and through AI for Hospitality I share what works.

Explore the work Work with my studio (external site)
  • Founder of Underdoggs, since 2011
  • Managing Director of Mrs Kaur’s Bakery & Cafe
  • Five Underdoggs venues and the Mrs Kaur’s flagship, designed by me
  • Brand awards from INCA (NRAI), the Indian Restaurant Awards, EazyDiner and Times Food & Nightlife

Since 2006, in brief

I started on the floor. I still work from it.

Most of my working life has been spent inside businesses I help run. That is where I learned to design: by seeing what a room, a menu or a brand costs once the doors open.

  1. 2006

    Started on the restaurant floor, serving tables in the United States.

  2. 2009

    Became a director of Mrs Kaur’s Bakery & Cafe, my father’s bakery and café.

  3. 2011

    Founded Underdoggs, a sports bar built for many sports at once.

  4. 2015

    Launched Desi Warrior, an obstacle-course run I co-founded, with Battlefield Gurgaon.

  5. 2017

    Designed my first Underdoggs venues: Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar.

  6. 2018

    Started Breakthrough Design Studio and began creating concepts for other owners.

  7. 2025

    Designed the Mrs Kaur’s Bakery & Cafe flagship on Golf Course Road, Gurugram.

  8. Today

    Managing Director of Mrs Kaur’s, building Underdoggs and sharing what works through AI for Hospitality.

Selected work

Three projects, three kinds of contribution

  1. The central island bar at Underdoggs Aerocity under a slatted timber ceiling, with screens along both walls.

    Underdoggs

    Five venues designed · 2017–2019

    Founder & Director · designed five venues

    Venues designed by someone who also has to run them, for a brand built around the busiest hour of the week.

  2. The navy shopfront of Mrs Kaur’s on Golf Course Road, with a gold script sign, glazed doors and planters in front.

    Mrs Kaur’s Bakery & Cafe

    Golf Course Road, Gurugram · 2025

    Managing Director · designed the flagship

    A flagship for a twenty-year-old family bakery that many people grew up with: familiar to them, and built to work from breakfast to dinner.

  3. The Ālaya dining hall by day: a central aisle of green marble tables and cream chairs under timber beams and fabric pendants, with the bar and windows beyond.

    Ālaya Café & Bar

    Shillong · 2026

    Breakthrough Design Studio · concept to opening

    From an open brief to opening night: the name, identity, rooms, food and drink, training and launch, for owners whose own team now runs it.

All work

How I build

Four rules I build by

  1. Start with how it will trade

    Before a drawing, I want to know who comes, when, and what they spend. At Uptown Escape that question produced the whole concept: a café by day and a cocktail bar by night.

  2. Design for the ordinary night

    Opening night flatters every room. A venue has to work on a quiet weekday as well as on a sold-out match night, for the guests and for the team.

  3. Live with the consequences

    I stay with the businesses I design for, so I see what slows the bar, which tables stay empty and what the team quietly works around. That goes into the next decision.

  4. Write down what works

    When something works, I turn it into a method the team can repeat. AI helps me turn those methods into systems, which I share through AI for Hospitality.

Where I’m building now

Two hospitality brands, a studio, and a place to share what works

  • A bar seen through rounded arch openings, a football match playing on screens on either side.

    Underdoggs

    Founder & Director · since 2011

    A sports bar brand built for many sports at once, with food, games and its own beer. Ten locations across India, with six more under fit-out.

    underdoggs.com (external site)
  • A long glass bakery counter of pastries and cakes set into navy cabinetry, with arched shelving above.

    Mrs Kaur’s Bakery & Cafe

    Managing Director · a director since 2009

    My father’s bakery and café, founded in Khan Market in 2006 and twenty years old this year. I lead its brand, marketing and imagery, designed its flagship and direct its food and beverage development.

    mrskaurs.com (external site)
  • The Uptown Escape dining room: marble-topped tables and cane chairs under strings of hanging lights, with a window wall on the left.

    Breakthrough Design Studio

    Founder & Director · since 2018

    My studio for other owners: opening, repositioning and improving restaurants, bars and cafés, planned from the business outward. Its most recent project is Ālaya Café & Bar in Shillong, from concept to opening.

    breakthroughdesignstudio.com (external site)
  • Rish Saini reviewing a tablet with a colleague at the host stand at Ālaya Café & Bar

    AI for Hospitality

    Founder

    Where the methods from these businesses become practical guides, templates and real examples for restaurant, bar and café owners, with a free weekly newsletter.

    aiforhospitality.in (external site)

Through the lens

I photograph the places I build

I shoot my own venues, menus and match nights. Most people meet a venue in photographs before they walk in.

See the photography
  • The Ālaya rooftop terrace at night, large rattan pendants glowing over the seating, with the lights of Shillong beyond the railing.
    Ālaya Café & Bar, Shillong · Breakthrough Design Studio, 2026
  • Screens showing a Manchester derby football match above a ring-shaped UNDERDOGGS sign and a lit bar.
    Match night at Underdoggs, 2026
  • A tray of glossy croissants above a row of chocolate brownies.
    Mrs Kaur’s bakery, 2025
  • Pizza, burgers, fried chicken and pints of beer arranged on a dark stone table against a leather banquette.
    Underdoggs menu photography, 2026
  • A coral cocktail with a dried citrus garnish in a coupe glass on a stone bar top, warm lights out of focus behind.
    Ālaya Café & Bar, Shillong · Breakthrough Design Studio, 2026

Notes

Writing from the operator’s side

Short essays on building hospitality businesses from the operator’s side.

All notes

Beyond the work

Other things I’ve made

An obstacle run, a podcast, reflections and photographs that sit outside the main story but belong to it.

Beyond the work

Get in touch

Building something in hospitality?

Get in touch about a venue project with my studio, speaking, press, partnerships, joining the teams at Underdoggs or Mrs Kaur’s, or AI in hospitality.

Ways to reach me
Ālaya’s glazed frontage at night, rattan pendants lit along the timber canopy and planters below.
Ālaya Café & Bar, Shillong · Breakthrough Design Studio, 2026