Gurgaon · Gurugram
Restaurant Consultancy in Gurgaon (Gurugram) and Delhi NCR
Breakthrough Design Studio is an operator-led hospitality concept, design and development studio based in Gurgaon. It takes on projects across Delhi NCR: opening restaurants, bars, cafés and breweries, renovating or repositioning established venues, and improving how they trade.
Underdoggs Cyber Hub, Gurugram · 2018–2019 · designed by Rish Saini
Gurgaon is not one restaurant market. An office district, a residential high street and a mall can sit a short drive apart and still ask for different menus, trading hours, seat counts and staffing. A concept that suits one location can struggle at the next.
BDS starts with the business a site can support, then shapes the concept, space, menu and service around it. The studio is based in Gurgaon and works across India, with projects as far as Guwahati and Shillong.
Three starting points
Most projects begin from one of three positions, and each asks for the work to be done in a different order.
Opening a new venue
The business comes first: who the venue is for, what it needs to earn and whether the site can support it. The concept, menu, kitchen, layout, team and launch follow in that order, because the earlier a decision is tested, the cheaper it is to get right. Licences are planned with the project rather than after it. The full sequence is set out under opening a restaurant, bar or café.
Renovating or repositioning a venue that is already trading
The work starts with diagnosis: what guests come for now, what is working, what is not and what has changed. Sometimes the room needs a refresh; sometimes the venue needs a new position. In 2025 BDS repositioned Nuts & Brew, an established Guwahati microbrewery, and took its beer programme from four beers on tap to eight. How BDS approaches this is covered in renovating or repositioning a restaurant.
Improving a venue that is open but not trading as it should
Here the starting point is the operating picture rather than the room: the numbers first, then the menu, the bar, the layout and the systems behind service. The aim is a clear order of changes, each with its reason, rather than a promised result. The method is described in improving an existing restaurant or bar.
Work in Delhi NCR
Much of the studio’s local knowledge comes from venues its founder, Rish Saini, has designed in Gurugram and Delhi, and from the businesses he directs.
Underdoggs Cyber Hub, Gurugram, and Underdoggs Aerocity, New Delhi, 2018–2019. Rish designed both for Underdoggs, the sports bar brand he founded in 2011 and still directs. A sports bar has to work on a packed match night and on an ordinary weeknight, so sightlines, bar service and kitchen output have to be planned for both.
The Mrs Kaur’s flagship on Golf Course Road, Gurugram. Rish personally designed the flagship of Mrs Kaur’s Bakery & Cafe, the brand founded by his father, Preet Saini; Rish has been its Director since 2009. A flagship has to show the whole brand in one place: the bakery that sells across the counter and the café where people sit down to eat.
Woks & Pans, Gurugram, 2018. A BDS project, and Rish’s first design project outside Underdoggs.
From the operator’s side
Rish Saini is Founder & Director of Breakthrough Design Studio, established in 2018. He is also Founder & Director of Underdoggs, founded in 2011, which operates ten locations across India with six more under fit-out. Since 2009 he has been Director of Mrs Kaur’s Bakery & Cafe.
The questions BDS asks of a new concept, about spend, covers, kitchen capacity and staffing, are the ones he answers in the businesses he directs. Running businesses after they open keeps the studio’s planning close to what matters then: staffing, a menu the kitchen can execute consistently, and whether guests have a reason to return.
How an engagement runs
Every project is worked through the same chain, from concept and customer to brand and growth. A full engagement runs in this order:
- The business first: site, customer, price point and what the venue needs to earn.
- A concept written to answer that brief.
- The menu and beverage programme, then the kitchen and bar they require.
- Layout, interiors and technical coordination, planned around covers and service.
- Brand, operating systems, staffing and training, set up before opening.
- Opening support, followed by marketing and digital work where the project continues.
Not every project needs every stage. For a venue that is already trading, the order starts with diagnosis instead. Technical coordination and execution support carry the design through to site, so the built room stays close to the approved design.
The work draws on six disciplines, planned together because each decision changes the next:
- Concept & Strategy: concept, positioning and feasibility
- Brand Identity & Storytelling: naming, story, identity and voice
- Restaurant Design & Build: interiors, kitchen planning, technical coordination and execution support
- Food & Beverage Development: menus, recipes and F&B programmes
- Operations, Training & Launch: operational systems, staffing frameworks, training and pre-opening
- Brand Activation & Growth: marketing, photography and content, CRM and team handover
Bars and breweries are a specialist area alongside them.
The menu changes the kitchen. The kitchen shapes the space. The layout affects covers. Each discipline is set out in detail in the expertise section.
Where the studio works
The studio takes on projects across Delhi NCR, including Gurugram, Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad, and selected projects elsewhere in India. Each site is planned on its own terms, starting with the business it can support.
Start a conversation
Every engagement starts with the business you want to build. To talk through a site or a venue in Gurgaon or elsewhere in Delhi NCR, call +91 98187 00006 or tell BDS about the project.
Frequently asked questions
Is BDS a restaurant consultant or an interior designer?
Both kinds of work sit in one studio. BDS is an operator-led hospitality concept, design and development studio: it designs restaurants, bars and cafés, and it also works on the concept, menu, operations and brand. Every design decision is tested against the business the room has to support.
Does BDS work on bars and breweries as well as restaurants?
Yes. Bars & Breweries is a specialist area of the studio’s work: the drinks list, the bar and the route from order to glass are planned with the room rather than fitted in afterwards. In Delhi NCR, Rish designed the Underdoggs sports bars at Cyber Hub and Aerocity.
Can BDS help with a restaurant or bar that is already open?
Yes. For an existing venue the work starts with diagnosis: what is working, what is not and what has changed. That can lead to a renovation, a repositioning, or changes to the menu, bar, layout and systems without major building work.
Does a project have to run from concept to opening?
No. Some projects need one discipline, such as a concept and feasibility study, a design, or a menu and bar programme; others need all six. Each decision is still checked against the ones it affects.
Who works on the project?
Clients work with Rish Saini through Breakthrough Design Studio, the practice he founded and leads. Alongside BDS he is Founder & Director of Underdoggs and Director of Mrs Kaur’s Bakery & Cafe, so the advice comes from running hospitality businesses as well as designing them.
How does a project start?
With a conversation about the business: where it is, what stage it has reached and what you need to decide. Call +91 98187 00006 or send an enquiry through Work With BDS.
Building or transforming a hospitality business?
Whether starting with an idea, repositioning an existing restaurant or developing a scalable hospitality brand, begin with the business you want to build.
Or call +91 98187 00006