How Mr. K’s is Redefining Healthy Eating in Kolkata

In a city where deep-fried indulgence is almost a love language, one founder dared to challenge the norm with an air fryer.

Meet Kauseyo Basak, the brains (and taste buds) behind Mr. K’s – Healthy Indulgence, Kolkata’s first cloud kitchen that serves comfort food without the guilt. Think burgers that won’t bloat your macros, wings that crunch without the grease, and protein shakes that taste like dessert.

What started as a personal craving during late nights in corporate life has now become a full-blown food revolution, redefining what it means to indulge smartly.

In this candid conversation, Kauseyo takes us behind the scenes – from stress-fueled experiments in his kitchen to launching a brand that’s now on a mission to go national. If you’ve ever believed healthy food can’t be exciting, this story might just change your mind.

What inspired you to start Mr K’s, and how did the idea of air-fried comfort food come to life?
Kauseyo: Mr. K’s was born out of a personal need – I wanted to enjoy my favorite comfort foods without the guilt that usually comes with them. While working long hours in business development and analytics roles, I realized there were hardly any accessible options that balanced indulgent flavors with clean, healthy cooking. That’s when I started experimenting with air-frying at home, trying to reimagine burgers, wings, and wraps more cleanly. What began as a personal food experiment quickly evolved into a business idea that merged nutrition, nostalgia, and Kolkata’s bold flavors.

Was there a personal story or turning point that made you pursue clean eating and healthy indulgence as your entrepreneurial mission?
Kauseyo: Yes! My health journey. During a particularly stressful work period, I started gaining weight and experiencing burnout. Clean eating became my coping mechanism. But I didn’t want to give up on the food I loved. That tension between indulgence and well-being is what inspired Mr. K’s mission: creating clean comfort food that feels like a treat, not a compromise.

Before launching Mr. K’s, what did your professional or personal journey look like? Any lessons from your past that helped you shape this startup?
Kauseyo: Before Mr. K’s, I worked across several roles – from an Operational Business Analyst at BT to business development roles in healthcare and consulting. These experiences sharpened my skills in stakeholder management, data-driven decision-making, and process optimization. I’ve also run a digital marketing venture, which gave me strong branding and content instincts. All of these helped me treat Mr. K’s not just as a passion project but as a sustainable, scalable business from day one.

“Healthy indulgence” is a powerful brand proposition. How do you define it, and what does it mean to you as a founder?
Kauseyo: To me, “healthy indulgence” means eating food that excites you and supports your body at the same time. It’s about rethinking what comfort food can be – using fresh ingredients, better cooking methods like air-frying, and conscious portioning, without sacrificing taste or culture. As a founder, it’s the bridge between customer satisfaction and nutritional responsibility.

What’s your vision for Mr. K’s in the next 3 to 5 years? Are you aiming to be a Kolkata-only brand or planning for pan-India expansion?
Kauseyo: While Kolkata is our soul, the vision is pan-India. In the next 3 to 5 years, I want Mr. K’s to be the go-to cloud kitchen for clean comfort food across major metro cities. We’re also exploring packaged, ready-to-eat, air-fried options and B2B health meal partnerships to scale without diluting our core brand.

Why did you choose a cloud kitchen model over a traditional restaurant setup? What advantages or challenges have you faced with this decision?
Kauseyo: A cloud kitchen offered the leanest way to test our concept, control costs, and adapt quickly to customer feedback. The biggest advantage is agility – we can update the menu, run hyper-local campaigns, and expand through delivery partners. The challenge, of course, is visibility and lack of foot traffic, which we offset through strong branding and social media engagement.

Your menu reflects a strong blend of high-protein meals with Bengali and Indo-Chinese flavors. How do you balance taste, nutrition, and authenticity?
Kauseyo: That balance is everything. We start with flavor, rooted in Bengali street food and Indo-Chinese comfort, but we re-engineer the recipes for nutrition. We use lean proteins, air-fried techniques, homemade sauces, and add-ons like probiotic slaws or millet buns. Authenticity comes through small details, like kasundi mayo or our spice blends. Nutrition comes through conscious design.

What’s the story behind some of your most popular dishes, like the Tangra Dragon Burger or Mishti Doi Protein Shake?
Kauseyo: The Tangra Dragon Burger is a tribute to Kolkata’s Chinatown – a spicy grilled chicken patty with Schezwan sauce and pickled greens. It hits all the right notes: fire, crunch, and nostalgia. The Mishti Doi Protein Shake is a fun fusion – it tastes like dessert but fuels like a post-workout drink. These dishes tell stories of local culture meeting mindful innovation.

Can you walk us through your R&D process? How do you test new recipes or decide what becomes part of your final menu?
Kauseyo: We use a combination of small batch testing, customer feedback loops, and nutritional profiling. Each new item goes through multiple rounds of internal tasting, then beta testing with loyal customers or influencers. Only when a dish scores high on taste, macro balance, and uniqueness does it make it to the menu. We also monitor reorder rates as a key success metric.

Who is your primary audience today – fitness enthusiasts, foodies, or busy professionals – and how do you ensure you meet their needs?
Kauseyo: Our core audience is busy professionals and health-conscious millennials who want convenience without compromise. That said, foodies love us for the flavor profiles. We meet their needs through clear nutritional labeling, quick delivery, and variety, like protein-packed wraps for lunch, indulgent yet healthy burgers for dinner, and shakes for post-workout recovery.

Have you seen any surprising customer trends since launching Mr. K’s? What dishes have unexpectedly become hits or faced resistance?
Kauseyo: Surprisingly, our vegetarian options – like the Park Street Paneer Burger and Chowringhee Champ – have seen great traction, even among non-vegetarians. On the flip side, the New Town Sticky Wings took some time to pick up, likely due to unfamiliar flavor expectations. But with education and sampling, customer acceptance grew steadily.

With so many health food start-ups rising, how do you stay differentiated and maintain customer loyalty in such a competitive space?
Kauseyo: Our edge is flavor-first innovation rooted in culture. Most health brands focus on Western nutrition trends. We localize clean eating – whether it’s through a mustard-laced patty or a mishti-inspired shake. We also invest in storytelling and transparency: customers know what they’re eating, why it’s good for them, and how it connects to their roots.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in your first year, and how did you overcome them?
Kauseyo: Supply chain consistency and customer trust were major challenges. Sourcing high-quality, low-oil ingredients consistently was tough during early scale-up. We tackled it with supplier contracts and in-house prep processes. To build trust, we offered samples, focused on visuals and macros in marketing, and stayed active in customer communication via Instagram.

As a founder, how do you balance creativity in the kitchen with the business and operational side of running a cloud kitchen?
Kauseyo: I treat both like essential ingredients of the recipe. Creativity happens during downtime, early mornings, or weekend R&D sessions. Operations run on systems – dashboards for sales, delivery time tracking, and structured reviews. My corporate background taught me time blocking, delegation, and KPI tracking, which really helps me stay balanced.

Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring foodpreneurs who want to build something meaningful and health-conscious like Mr. K’s?
Kauseyo: Start with your “why.” Health food needs purpose, not just trendiness. Be customer-obsessed, not just calorie-conscious. Build processes early, even when you’re small. Most importantly, stay flexible – test fast, fail faster, and always let taste lead the way.

From Mr. K’s Frying Pan to Your Plate

From air-frying burgers in his kitchen to building one of Kolkata’s most buzz-worthy cloud kitchen brands, Kauseyo Basak has shown that food, when led by passion and purpose, can be both comforting and conscious. Mr. K’s isn’t just a food brand – it’s a movement for people who want to eat well without sacrificing flavor or culture. And with every bite, the message is clear: you don’t have to choose between your cravings and your goals.

Whether you’re a fitness enthusiast, a busy millennial, or just someone who wants their cheat meals to work a little harder, Mr. K’s is waiting to deliver something guilt-free, protein-packed, and proudly Bengali to your doorstep.