History of Saffron Nola

Arvinder and Pardeep Vilkhu came to New Orleans from India in 1984. Arvinder,
or as most people call him, “Dickey,” began his career in the states in hotel management,
but later specialized in country club management. Pardeep, or as friends like to call her
“Deepi,” had a degree in psychology and started her career in the field of developmental
disabilities. They both enjoyed their jobs, but they had a strong passion for something
else.

Cooking was something both Deepi and Dickey loved to do starting at a very
young age. After settling into their home in Gretna, Louisiana, they developed a circle of
friends and enjoyed entertaining them with their home-style gourmet dishes. In early
1991, while Deepi was pregnant with their second child, one of their close friends asked
them to cook for their daughter’s first birthday party. They figured they would only be
cooking for twenty to thirty people. However, the close friends told them it would be two
hundred guests. Dickey and Deepi wondered how they could cook for so many people as
they did not have any resources such as large pots and pans, refrigeration, etc.
Fortunately, Dickey was able to borrow cooking equipment from different resources. All
the cooking was done in their garage, where there was more room than the kitchen, and
they were able to pull off the party with great success! The Indian community had never
experienced such wonderful and unique food presentation and taste.

From then on they started doing around two parties a year just for close friends.
Their popularity grew tremendously as time went on. Ultimately they formed a
corporation, Ashwin, Inc. in 1996 (?). Having strong values for family, they named the
corporation after their son, who basically went through the whole process with them,
starting with the move from India. The two of them did everything themselves; they did
the shopping, cleaning, prep work, serving, and cooking all without hiring any staff. As
the business grew, it became difficult to manage cooking out of a garage. Ashwin, Inc.
needed warehousing, refrigeration, freezing, and other equipment in order to create the
quality they wanted to. Hence, in 2003, they leased a twelve hundred square feet
commercial space in Gretna and developed a state of the art kitchen from scratch. The
number of catering opportunities increased significantly, as well as their reputation.
When they leased the new place, they decided to do business as, or “DBA,” Saffron
Caterers. ‘Saffron’ is a spice used by most cuisines of the world. Dickey and Deepi
picked this name because of the philosophy and nature of their company – to do custom
engineered menus, covering any type of cuisine the client would like. Of course, in any
business, there can be set backs.

After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the business suffered a
temporary blow, and did not cater any events for about three months. As New Orleans
started to improve, so did Saffron Caterers. They started to provide meals on Saturdays,
as there was not much selection in food during the time. Every Saturday there was a
different menu with a wide variety of cuisine. Dickey and Deepi kept up with catering
events, while still maintaining their careers. Every year they purchased more equipment,
such as steamers, grills, and ovens, so as to enhance their efficiency in the production
process.

In July 2010 Deepi retired from her state job as a psychologist in order to focus
more on Saffron. The following month they signed a lease for another twelve hundred
square feet space, which was right next to the original. The reason for this expansion was
to develop into a restaurant. The restaurant would only be open to the public on Friday
nights. It is unusual for a restaurant to only open one day a week, but their focus is on in
house catered events. With the extension they decided to do business as Saffron Nola. For
the construction, they hired an architect to lay down the design, bringing alive the vision
Deepi and Dickey had for their company. All while making these preparations, Deepi
started her own product line of chutneys and pickles, which are increasingly becoming
very popular. On January 30, 2011, Saffron Nola had their open house for guests to
come and try the unique style and exotic cuisine. Over four hundred people attended this
function and responded with nothing but compliments and praise.