Background Story Growing up in India Deepak Ballaney a true hospitality veteran is the man behind today’s renowned International Wings Factory aka IWF. An alumni of world’s number one “The Culinary Institute Of America” and soon to be a part of “Columbia University’s” Alumni comes from a middle class family in his native country, He still remembers his childhood days where he was only allowed to indulge in his favorite kind of food which is chicken, on weekends or on special occasions. Since the best considered parts of chicken such as leg, thigh, or breast piece were for the head of the family and the pampered younger ones, he was invariably left with “Wings” and other organs. This is when he developed an utmost liking for chicken wings. Soon there was a time when he would pick on Chicken Wings only leaving the rest in the pot.
Being a chemistry major and working in IBM for a good one year, Deepak never thought that he’ll be able to pursue his dream career in hospitality & culinary arts as his family wanted him to be a doctor or an engineer. But as soon as he got hired as a management trainee at the world famous Taj group of Hotels, a chain of five-star luxury hotels, he found his calling. Long working hours, didn’t feel long enough while he was cooking and serving. He learnt from the best in the industry and his hospitality upbringing took a start here. At Taj he was exposed to world of international flavors and elegance in service. He served high profile dignitaries, corporate and celebs such as Bill Clinton Former President, Atal Bihari Vajpayee former PM of India, Jacques Chirac Former French President, Tatas, Ambanis, Bill Gates and Cindy Crawford to name the few.
He worked very hard to achieve success and got the opportunity to come to America in 2003. To him, America was all about the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, opening a small business in NYC and living an American Dream. Here he developed a unique skill of working on distressed food and beverage outlets to revive their reputation and be more profitable. As it is believed the dreams that are desired from the core of heart, chase the person themselves and that is what happened with Deepak. He was able to save enough money by 2008 to get enrolled in the famous culinary institution and with a strong support from his family, he did it. After schooling, he started saving money by taking up assignments from distressed restaurants that needed help in stabilizing financially. Now the question was would it be possible to continue with the restaurant dream? Fine dining was nowhere near his budget so he narrowed his options and started out with New York style Wings with sauces with global influence.
