TIt is a rare phenomenon to meet someone who feels both instantly familiar and entirely refreshing. A man who carries the weight of a legacy while maintaining the restless energy of a startup founder.
Walking into Jharokha by Indus on a humid Bangkok afternoon, I’ll admit to a slight tremor of professional nerves. I was there to meet the man whose name has become shorthand for the city’s culinary evolution: Sid Sehgal.
But the tension dissolved the moment he spoke. Within minutes, the conversation transformed into something else entirely. I found myself sharing half-formed dreams and strange, midnight thoughts, realising only later that I was treating the conversation like a masterclass.
What followed was a three-hour odyssey that unfolded layer by layer, stretching into a narrative that felt like a prestige limited series, each episode pulling me deeper into a story of restlessness, refinement, and a relentless pursuit of the “next.”
Sid is a man of many faces: the visionary behind the award-winning Indus and Jharokha by Indus, the gritty co-founder of the health powerhouse getfresh, and now, the corporate titan serving as Managing Director at Asset World Corporation (AWC).
To understand how one man balances these three distinct, high-stakes lives, navigating the boardrooms of a multi-billion-baht empire while simultaneously tending to the creative embers of his own independent ventures, you have to look through the jharokha (the palace window) of his origins.
A Theatre of Hospitality
The story of Sid Sehgal doesn’t begin in a boardroom but in an Indian restaurant, Moghul Room, run by his grandfather in the 1970s. This gem in Soi 11 was more than just a business; it was a theatre of hospitality.
“I was at ISB in Soi 15,” Sid recalls, his eyes brightening. “Twice a week after school, I’d head to the restaurant. I’d watch my grandfather sit at the bar and welcome guests. He looked so cool, and I looked forward to those after-school visits. That was the first spark, seeing how food could be the bridge between cultures.”
That spark travelled with him to New York University (NYU). While most students were merely surviving finals, Sid and his DJ roommate were taking over bars and organising massive events for the NYU crowd.
It was here that the “entrepreneurial DNA” of the Sehgal family truly activated. NYU, as Sid puts it, “breeds you” for the high-stakes world of finance, but it also taught him to spot a void in the market.
“New York had these incredible Indian restaurants. Bangkok, where I grew up, had very few,” he explains.
“In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, Indian food in Thailand was largely misrepresented. In New York, I saw people going on dates and hosting clients at high-end Indian restaurants, shaping their perception of the cuisine. It made me realise there was an opportunity to change the narrative in Thailand regarding Indian cuisine through a refined dining experience. That was the seed that became Indus.”
Rebuilding from Ground Zero
In 2004, Sid returned from New York with an Economics degree and a plan to hit Wall Street. But life threw a “curve ball” that required a radical change of course.
His uncle asked him to help at the family publishing business, Lookeast, for just one summer.
“I came to work one day, and almost the entire staff didn’t show up,” Sid says, laughing at the sheer absurdity of the memory. “Laptops were missing. We found out a staff member had rounded everyone up to start their own rival publication. Only three staff members showed up. A 30-year-old business was on the brink of extinction.”
At just 22, Sid faced a choice: to head back to New York and pursue finance, or to stay back and reassemble Lookeast. He chose to stay.
For a year, he rebuilt the business from the ground up. It was this necessity rather than expectation that anchored him to the family business, teaching him the brutal, beautiful mechanics of survival.
“In that process, I had an itch to open an Indian restaurant, just like my plan in New York,” Sid explains.
“I have a trusted mentor and friend, Lalit Bakshi, who’s still my business partner today. He told me, ‘Let’s start a restaurant together—it will be a hit!’ I told him honestly that I have zero experience, and I don’t know how to open a restaurant. He simply said, ‘You can do it. I’ll help you.’”
After extensive research, they found a restaurant called Whole Earth. Once a beloved family favourite, it had become rundown and was on the verge of shutting down. Seeing the opportunity, Sid took it over.
“Starting out, I used to work on Lookeast in the morning and then head to the restaurant every night after 5 PM. I learned everything from the staff, people like Chef Jimmy and Niyom (head bartender at Indus), who are still with us.”
“They taught me about service, cashiering, purchasing, cooking, and cleaning. I brought in successful consultants to give me advice, and I used every lesson to rebuild and rebrand. In 2005, Indus was born.”
The early days were defined by a “fake it till you make it” bravado. Sid recounts a massive catering job for 700 people on a boat for the Indian automotive giant TVS.
“We had no idea how to cater, but we said yes. I remember the chairman looking upset, saying that the Tom Yum soup wasn’t as spicy as he remembered. I went back to the kitchen, told the team to make the exact same soup but with twice the chilli.”
“I took it back, he took a gulp, and shouted, ‘That’s the soup I’m talking about!’ It was a lesson in the psychology of hospitality: sometimes, it’s about listening to the guest’s memory of a dish more than the recipe itself.”
Healthy Food, High Stakes
While Indus was a cultural mission, getfresh was a personal one.
The seed was actually planted years prior, back at NYU, when Sid found himself falling into the trap of university dining—late-night junk food and a sedentary lifestyle.
“It took just one person to tell me I was getting a little chubby for me to realise I needed a change,” he laughs.
He discovered a campus salad bar where he could customise his own grab-and-go salads. The salads were fresh, delicious, convenient, guilt-free, and affordable. (These later became the brand pillars of Dressed and getfresh.)
He ate there five days a week and lost several kilos in three months. The lesson stayed with him: healthy food didn’t have to be boring, and it didn’t have to be slow.
Fast forward to 2013. With Indus firmly established as a Bangkok institution, Sid felt the restless urge to innovate again.
Partnering with his close friend, Anchit Sachdev, they launched Dressed, an American franchise. It was a bold move into a niche market that hadn’t yet hit the mainstream in Thailand.
However, when the global parent company went bankrupt, they were left with five stores and a choice to either fold or innovate.
Of course, they chose the latter, reclaiming their independence and rebranding to getfresh in early 2020… just as the pandemic hit.
“All the other franchisees in the region closed down one by one, and one of the key reasons is that they didn’t adapt to local markets. They didn’t innovate and take proactive approaches.”
“We forced the franchisor to agree to our demands and make changes in order to survive. They eventually agreed and as a result we persevered.”
“Rebranding during COVID was a kick in the stomach,” Sid admits. “But it was our most productive period. We opened cloud kitchens and delivery-only brands, such as BOGO Pasta. We adapted in days.”
The business underwent several structural shifts, including a period with an external CEO, but ultimately, the founders took the reins back.
Today, the business is streamlined and professional, with Anchit Sachdev running the daily operations as Managing Director.
This allowed Sid to step back from the granular day-to-day, moving to a monthly and quarterly board-level oversight to focus on the brand’s expansive new missions.
“Anchit and I have navigated every pivot together,” Sid explains.
“By streamlining our leadership, we’ve been able to focus on the long-term vision. The idea is to serve as many kids as possible with healthy food. Nutrition became vital to me after my son was born, and that mission is what keeps us moving forward.”
Rajasthan, Polo, and Rustic Sou
With getfresh stabilised under Anchit’s leadership, Sid found the creative bandwidth for a new venture.
The inspiration for Jharokha arrived during a moment of total stillness. Sid’s passion for polo and horses is a shared love that originally brought him and his wife, Narisa, together.
They took a trip to the rugged landscapes of Rajasthan for a horse safari, where they resided in ancient military forts with bullet holes scarring the walls. This soon inspired Jharokha’s concept.
“We were eating meat cooked over open wood fires under the stars,” Sid recounts. “It was raw, authentic, and royal in its simplicity. I realised there was a gap in Bangkok for that specific kind of soul and rustic flavours of the frontier.”
Jharokha was designed to be that window into a different side of India.
Today, it serves as Indus 2.0 with great cocktails, creatively presented Indian classics, and bold open-flame flavours. The success has been so pronounced that international expansion is now a genuine conversation.
“Jharokha and Indus have become staples for the hospitality scene,” Sid says.
“Many hotels are working exclusively with Indus for their catering, and we’ve had multiple offers to take the brands overseas. If the opportunity to open Jharokha or Indus abroad comes up, that would really excite me.”
From Entrepreneur to Managing Director
Perhaps the most surprising turn in Sid’s narrative is his move into the corporate stratosphere.
After two decades of being an entrepreneur, launching Indus, getfresh, and Jharokha, Sid did something no one expected: he got a “job.”
“I got my first job at the age of 41,” he says.
Through a connection, he was brought in as a consultant for Asset World Corporation (AWC), part of the massive TCC Group.
The project was monumental: delivering the EA Rooftop at Empire Tower, home to the legendary Nobu Bangkok, Ledukaan (in collaboration with Chef Ton), K by Vicky Cheng, and Sartoria by Paulo Airaudo.
“Nobu was a restaurant I ate at only once in New York as a student because it was very difficult to book and was very expensive.”
“To be asked to lead the project, bringing it to Thailand, was an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
His consultancy quickly turned into a full-time role as Group Head of F&B, and eventually, he was promoted to Managing Director of Project Group 1.
In the corporate world, Sid found a new kind of complexity. His role is now focused on overseeing the development and operation of AWC’s hospitality portfolio in Bangkok, including the upcoming Fairmont Bangkok Sukhumvit, set to be the most luxurious hotel in the area.
“AWC values ownership spirit,” Sid explains.
“A lot of people in corporate are specialists, but my background as an entrepreneur allows me to look at a project and solve problems from an owner’s perspective. It’s a massive ship, and I love the challenge of steering it.”
7 AM Curtains and Maternal Wisdom
While his business acumen is often the focus, the backbone of Sid Sehgal is undoubtedly his mother. A former editor of Lookeast, she was a force of nature.
“I learned so much from observing her,” Sid says. “She gave so much importance to etiquette, to being polite, and to the power of a network. But most of all, she taught me the value of time.”
He shares a poignant memory of his childhood:
“When we were younger, my mother would wake my brother and me up at 7 AM or 8 AM on Saturdays and Sundays. She’d draw the curtains, turn on the lights, and just say, ‘Get up!’”
“Even if we had nothing planned, she wouldn’t let us sleep past 9 AM. She’d say, ‘Don’t waste your day! Go play soccer, go swim. Just do something!’”
That maternal discipline is what enables Sid to juggle his current, gruelling schedule.
His Mondays through Fridays are 100 percent AWC, often from 8 AM to 8 PM. Saturdays are dedicated to the half-day oversight of Indus and Jharokha, and Sundays are sacred, reserved exclusively for his wife, Narisa, and their three-year-old son, Akira.
“I don’t think of legacy in terms of business names,” Sid reflects.
“Lookeast had its time, and it reached the end of its lifecycle. My priority isn’t continuing a family business just for the sake of it. My priority is passing on the values my mother gave me to my son. That is the real legacy.”
This focus on values is mirrored in his relationship with his brother, Gaurav Sehgal.
While Sid climbed the corporate and culinary ladder, his brother saw an opportunity in the shifting legal landscape of Thailand.
“He went to university in San Francisco, one of the first places to legalise cannabis. He took a bet early on, and today he runs a very professional operation with five stores and more in development.”
“He still jokes that he’s in ‘organic agriculture’, a nod to his initial career of working in organic foods.”
The Future is Transparent
When you ask a man who constantly asks “What’s next?” about the future of Thai hospitality, the answer is nuanced.
Sid sees three major shifts on the horizon:
The Wellness Mandate: “Health, organic, and natural foods will see the largest growth. It’s not just brands like getfresh; it’s every restaurant being forced to prioritise quality ingredients.”
The Death of Labels: The lines between “Indian” and “Chinese” restaurants are blurring. “We are moving toward conceptual and ingredient-based dining rather than strictly ethnic categories.”
The Demand for Transparency: “Consumers want the backstory. If you say you’re organic or authentic, they will ask for proof. This is forcing the industry to be more honest.”
Perhaps the most “Sid” part of his current journey is how he’s leveraging his past successes to impact the future of the next generation.
getfresh is currently undergoing a phenomenal transformation into school catering.
“Nutrition has always been a priority but became even more important the moment Akira was born,” he admits.
“getfresh has taken over catering for two St. Andrews campuses, and are expanding to schools in Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, and Phuket.”
“It’s a movement similar to Jamie Oliver’s in the UK. We’re currently at five schools; in 10 years, I want that number to be 50. Enabling thousands of students to eat healthy food daily. That’s the goal that excites me most.”
Lifting the Benchmarks
Despite a schedule that would exhaust most, Sid remains remarkably grounded.
He credits this to a regular practice of Vipassana meditation—a habit introduced by his wife, Narisa. “It provides the clarity needed to navigate the chaos,” he says.
It is this mental discipline that allows him to pivot seamlessly from a high-stakes AWC boardroom to a Saturday afternoon at his restaurants.
As our conversation at Jharokha wound down, the focus shifted to the future.
For Sid, the next decade isn’t just about expanding a corporate portfolio or opening more branches; it’s about the tangible impact of his ventures.
Whether it is the Fairmont Bangkok defining a new standard for luxury weddings in the Indian community, or getfresh providing nutritious meals to thousands of students across Thailand’s international schools, the goal is consistent: lifting the benchmark.
The “Triple-Life” of Sid Sehgal is a study in evolution.
He has successfully transitioned from the grit of a family publishing house to the forefront of a multi-billion-baht real estate empire, all while maintaining the entrepreneurial heart of a restaurateur.
He is no longer just the student watching his grandfather on Soi 11; he is now the one shaping the very skyline he once observed.
As he prepares for his next appointment, a routine part of his 12-hour workday, Sid remains characteristically focused on the horizon.
He isn’t interested in resting on the laurels of Indus or the success of EA Rooftop.
For a man who built a career on spotting the next opportunity, the drive to innovate remains his primary compass.
As our conversation ended and he headed back toward the heart of the city’s business district, one thing was certain: whatever the hospitality scene in Bangkok looks like in 2030, Sid Sehgal will have had a hand in building it.
And for him, the most important question remains the one that started it all:
“What’s next?”