Meet 18-YO Boy From Lucknow Who Sold His PS4 To Start An Authentic Idli Stall – Now Achieves Sales Worth Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 Every Day

If you live anywhere in North India, you would know how cold it is right now. 

And by cold, we mean biting cold. 

With temperatures as low as 5 degrees, most people find it difficult to navigate everyday life. Especially mornings. 

However, Razia Khan, a single mother from Lucknow, is waking up at 4 AM every day to make fresh idlis, medu vadas, sambar, and chutneys.

Why? Because one of her four sons, an 18-year-old Honey Khan, sets up his authentic idli stall called ‘Idli Street’ at 11:30 AM outside Lucknow University. 

The family is trying their hand at a small food business, serving hot and authentic South Indian food to the people of Lucknow. 

“So far, I've only been setting up the stall from 11:30 to 3 PM in the afternoon. My stock gets finished by then and I wrap up and go home. People have been absolutely loving the taste we are offering, with many South Indians also coming, tasting, and approving it,” Honey Khan, founder of Idli Street, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in 2025, Idli Street is a small food business venture started by the 18-year-old Honey Khan in Lucknow. Currently, it averages a daily sale of Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000.

THE BACKGROUND: A PS4 AND A DREAM

Hailing from Lucknow, Razia Khan is a housewife and a single mother of four sons. 

Honey Khan, one of her sons, is currently 18 years old and is pursuing his schooling under the private board. 

“This means I don't necessarily have to go to school every day. I do have my 12th boards this year in a few months, by the way,” Honey tells Startup Pedia. 

Around July 2025, he was scrolling through Instagram reels when he saw something that caught his eye: a person was selling food items on the street. But the catch was that his entire setup was on a bike. 

Always wanting to do something of his own, he decided to replicate the same bike-based model to sell fresh idlis made by his mother. 

For the initial capital to start this, Honey decided to sell off a PS4 that he owned. 

“I got Rs 14,000 for it, and that became the amount that I bootstrapped Idli Street with,” the small business founder says.

By August 2025, Honey got a square metal box designed for keeping the idlis, set it up on a bike that his family owned, and took it outside Lucknow University.

For four days, he sold fresh and delicious idlis, medu vadas, and podis via this model. 

Honey Khan also revealed the breakdown of the bootstrapped amount that he put into Idli Street:

• Out of Rs 14,000, Rs 2,500 was spent on obtaining and designing the metal square box.

• Approximately Rs 7,000 was spent on getting one week's worth of ingredients for the idlis, medu vadas, sambar, and podis.

• The remaining went into getting the packaging material.

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JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES

To design the Idli Street logo and other branding elements, he used ChatGPT and Gemini. He printed out the elements and pasted them on the sturdy box on the bike.

Beginnings are supposed to be slow, and it was the same with Honey. In August, customers barely came to Honey. A lot of food would get wasted. People threatened him to remove his setup from outside the university. Eventually, that conflict was solved as well. 

“During this month, hardly 15-20 customers came everyday,” the small business founder says.

But the end of August, his bike setup caught the attention of Satyam Nishad, an Instagram blogger from Lucknow who operates under the username of lucknow_khabare. He came to cover Honey’s story, and it instantly went viral on Instagram.

Over the next few days, there was a surge in customers coming to his bike setup to get their hands on the idlis, medu vadas, and podis that he was selling.

“The demand was so much that I wasn’t able to cater it from the small square box on the bike. So I had to shift to a table, but that didn’t work out either. Ultimately, I set up a food cart. It’s more like a stall right now that I set up outside Lucknow University,” Honey Khan shares.

By October 2025, Idli Street had started operating out of a stall.

The timings? Just three hours. 11:30 AM to 3 PM.

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IDLI STREET: AUTHENTIC AND AFFORDABLE SOUTH INDIAN FOOD IN LUCKNOW-

Currently, located outside Lucknow University, Idli Street offers steamy and fresh idli sambar, medu vadas, and idli podis.

Every day at 11:30 AM, Honey gets his food stall transported via an e-rickshaw to the location and starts serving hundreds of customers.

What people have especially liked about Idli Street’s offerings is that they are purely South Indian in feel, texture, preparation, and taste. Many customers coming from the South of the country have approved the taste and certified it as “authentic.”

“I know I set up the stall for only three hours now, but that is because my stock gets finished by then. Also, South Indian food always has to be served completely fresh. Otherwise, it gets soggy or hardened. Three hours is the maximum that my stock can last in terms of freshness. Luckily, I am always getting sold out now,” the small business founder mentions.

The price at Idli Street has been kept fairly affordable:

• One plate of two idlis, sambar, and chutney costs Rs 20.

• One plate of medu vada, which has two vadas, costs Rs 30.

• One plate of idli podi that comes with chutney and ghee costs Rs 30.

Honey’s mother, Razia Khan, wakes up at 4 AM every day and begins preparing fresh idlis, medu vadas, podis, chutney, and sambar. She works till around 10 AM.

After that, Honey begins packaging the stock and getting his stall transported to the location.

“I am very grateful for my mother. She loves cooking and is very touched by how much people appreciate her cooking. Even customers who have come from Goa and Kerala have said that our food tastes exactly like how it does in South India,” Honey smiles.

Presently, Honey Khan’s Idli Street is recording daily sales worth Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000.

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THE UNIT ECONOMICS BREAKDOWN OF THE SMALL BUSINESS

The small business founder revealed his unit economics breakdown, considering an average of Rs 5,000 worth of daily sales:

• Every day, Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,600 is spent on getting the ingredients.

• Rs 400 goes into the packaging materials, such as bowls and spoons.

• Rs 300 is the e-rickshaw fee for transporting the stall outside Lucknow University.

• The remaining is the take-home amount that is getting reinvested into the business. Honey and his mother are also regularly upgrading their cooking equipment.

GROWTH OF IDLI STREET

Idli Street’s growth has been fairly steady, with a lot of support coming in from social media virality. Honey Khan also runs his own Instagram brand page of Idli Street and has more than 2,700 followers there.

In August, when the small business founder had just setup his bike food model, he would serve roughly 15-20 customers every day.

In September, this number surged to 50-100 customers every single day.

In October, the food stall went extremely viral, and the crowd became close to uncontrollable. Every day, 200-300 people would assemble outside Honey’s stall and wait for their share of fresh, steamy idlis and tangy sambar.

“The police had spoken to me and asked me to control the crowd. So I started taking advance orders, getting them packed beforehand, and giving them away as soon as the customer came. I also made it a point to serve college students from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Then the slot after that was reserved for other people, from offices, nearby shops, and general visitors,” Honey Khan tells Startup Pedia.

Since November 2025, Honey Khan has been catering to close to 200-300 customers every single day.

Around 3:30 PM, he reaches home after wrapping up everything and starts focusing on his academics. He has his 12th boards coming up very soon.

“My goal is simple: to scale Idli Street into a restaurant setup. When I got the validation of South Indians, I knew my mom and I were onto something. This is something we love - making people smile while feeding them with fresh food made hygienically and sold at very, very affordable prices. I am grateful to my 2025 self who decided to sell that PS4 to start something of his own,” Honey Khan concludes.

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