A few years ago, Vishal Patel and Hiren Dayaramani found themselves outside of the United States, dreaming of owning a business together one day.
Six years later and those aspirations have finally turned into a reality.
The friends opened the doors on Thursday to their new Teriyaki Madness franchise in Brentwood.
The restaurant specializes in serving healthy and made-to-order Japanese dishes and appetizers like chicken, steak and salmon teriyaki, orange chicken, spicy tofu and more.
Much like the food that Teriyaki Madness serves, Patel’s and Dayaramani’s journey to becoming business owners is bold and equal parts passion, care and dedication.
It begins in Gujarat, India, where both grew up in business-oriented families.
Dayaramani’s family owned a gift shop, while Patel’s father owned multiple businesses in the supply and catering industry.
It served as their motivation to get into the business world.
“We have always had this background growing up, and it led us to chase our dreams here in the United States,” Dayaramani said.
The duo moved to Nashville in 2015.
Dayaramani found a job at Nashville’s Country Inn and Patel took a corporate job as a recruiter before working at a Best Western Plus in the city.
Over the next three years, Dayaramani and Patel would become well-versed in the hospitality industry, but their dreams of owning a business together never faded.
In 2018, Dayaramani attended a hotel convention in Las Vegas where he would stumble upon Teriyaki Madness.
Hooked by their striking design and marketing, he decided to try one of the meals for himself.
“I took one bite and found myself coming back to eat here for the next 10 days,” Dayaramani said. “Its freshness was what really stood out to me.”
The food Teriyaki Madness serves is all made to order.
It is a feature that led Patel to jump on board with Dayaramani, explaining the fresh ingredients resonate with meals in Indian households.
“In a traditional Indian home, you have families cooking meals with nothing but fresh ingredients,” he said. “We didn’t want to do anything like buffets, where the food is sitting out for hours at a time. We wanted to keep it fresh like our homes.”
Patel said Teriyaki Madness’ menu consists of zero monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer commonly used in Japanese and Chinese food.
It is also gluten-friendly, as many dishes can be prepared vegan or gluten-free by request.
“They are some of the rare meals that are both healthy and tasty,” Patel said chuckling. “We each ate it for 10 straight days during our training and we are still in love with it.”
Teriyaki Madness’ menu is also consumer friendly, with bowls ranging from around $8 to $12.
Although the two are excited to serve these newly styled cuisines to Middle Tennesseans, they are eager to bring something else.
“We’re always looking to add more talent to the team,” Patel said. “I’d say at this time, we have about 10 open spots here to work for Teriyaki Madness.”
They also have multiple future locations in mind, sharing that they plan to open more locations closer to Nashville in 2022.
Brentwood’s first Teriyaki Madness is located at 7115 Southpoint Parkway, Suite 2.
The restaurant’s hours are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.