Samrat Reddy’s enthusiasm for fitness led him to quit Infosys. He now runs a fast-growing Indian smoothie chain, Drunken Monkey, which he started in 2016. Samrat Reddy, 36, was an engineer at Infosys, the first company he worked for, just after he got a promotion. He then founded an offbeat business and gave it an eyebrow-raising name, Drunken Monkey, a smoothie chain for which he drew inspiration from the globally popular coffee house, Starbucks. Samrat was born in the Andhra Pradesh district of Kadapa. His father, Sudhakar Reddy, taught zoology, while his mother, Siva Lakshmi Reddy, taught chemistry. Both resigned from their jobs only two years ago. Samrat decided to open Drunken Money at a time when tea and coffee chains were mushrooming across the country. He started the smoothie chain with a single outlet in Hyderabad in 2016, and chose the franchise model and a tantalizing tagline, Naturally High, for it. Drunken Monkey has most of its outlets in Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru, a couple of locations in Delhi and Mumbai, and one in Kolkata. Samrat’s defining moment came when he chose to leave Infosys, where he had worked for more than a year and was earning Rs 1.5 lakh a month.
When he chose to leave his work, he had been in Melbourne, Australia, for approximately a year and had just earned a promotion and a four-year extension from the firm. Samrat Reddy justified his decision, stating, “I quit because I knew if I didn’t do it then, I wouldn’t be able to move out ever again.” Unlike many other academic toppers, the self-proclaimed adventurer and cricket aficionado takes pleasure in being street smart.
When I first started working, I saw that most tops were hardworking but lacked street smarts and social skills, says the guy, who now employs over 1,000 people through his franchised businesses. He explains, “Today, I don’t judge individuals based on their grades. I consider their interpersonal skills. “ Samrat invested Rs 1 crore in Drunken Monkey in 2016. He put the money into research and development and came up with a fabulous line of smoothies. Samrat Reddy says the first Drunken Monkey outlet was established in 2016 in a 700 sq ft area in Hyderabad. It had five workers and 200 varieties of smoothies. Drunken Monkey’s smoothies cost between Rs 90 and Rs 250, and the most popular flavors are dry fruit and watermelon. The smoothies are completely natural and do not include any preservatives. Smoothie bowls are a new addition to the menu They may be as full as a dinner.
Drunken Monkey, which has grown exponentially in the last five years, now has 110 locations and clocked a turnover of Rs 60 crore in fiscal 2020-21. Out of all the outlets, just two are owned by the company and Samrat plans to more than double his outlets in the next 10 months. He married just two years ago. And his wife, who holds a doctorate in agricultural sciences, is happily managing their home.
