How pressure for marriage made this Jodhpur woman build her own cheesecake brand - clocked Rs 1.20 Cr in 2025, appeared on Shark Tank India

Imagine it's 2023 and you're a resident of Jodhpur, Rajasthan. 

Fancy desserts like cheesecakes and bomboloni haven't made their way to your city yet. 

You visit Jaipur for some work, end up discovering cheesecakes, and your entire life turns around. 

This is Pooja Balani’s story. In 2023, she was nearing the age of 25. Her family started asking her to get married, since she had recently quit her job. 

Little did she know that out of everything, cheesecakes would come to her rescue!

“I began making cheesecakes just like that. I had no formal experience or interest in baking. I had the dessert in Jaipur, came home to learn how it was made via YouTube and baking books, and somehow became obsessed with it,” Pooja Balani, co-founder of Miss Cheesecake, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in 2023, Miss Cheesecake is a Jodhpur-based dessert brand that began from Pooja Balani’s home kitchen. In 2025, it clocked an annual revenue of Rs 1.20 crore.

The dessert brand currently has two physical outlets across Jodhpur (a dessert store) and Jaipur (a cloud kitchen for deliveries).

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THE BACKGROUND: A CONSTANT ROLLERCOASTER 

Hailing from Jodhpur, Pooja Balani pursued her MCA in computer science.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit right when she graduated. The market was in a mess, and she found that job opportunities were very tough to secure. 

“In 2020, I started creating daily YouTube vlogs, but didn't get as many views. The traction was quite low,” she says.

In 2023, she worked in a marketing job for five to six months, but eventually quit that in the month of July. 

“In 2023, I was about to turn 25. My family started asking me to get married. I come from a very conventional household setup. They even gave me a deadline that by the end of 2023, my engagement would be conducted,” Pooja opens up. 

From July to November 2023, the Jodhpur woman went into a depressive state.

“I didn't know what to do or where life was taking me. My confidence had tanked too. Every day I would wake up and hope that I would find some direction,” she reflects. 

In 2023, Pooja went to Jaipur with Narpat Singh Rathore (a friend of hers) for an exam. There, they tried a cheesecake and were instantly impressed by the taste, texture, and layering. 

“I realized that, like me, so many people in Jodhpur had no idea that cheesecakes existed. I came home and tried learning how they're made. I used YouTube and baking books,” Pooja Balani tells Startup Pedia. 

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THE BEGINNING: RS 5,000 AND SOME ENCOURAGEMENT 

When Pooja began making cheesecakes from her home’s kitchen, she fell in love with the process. 

She used Rs 5,000 from her savings to buy raw materials and small 225-milliliters jars. 

“Initially, I didn't use an oven and only made no-bake cheesecakes. People around me liked the taste so much that they encouraged me to sell these jars,” Pooja Balani smiles. 

In 2023, Miss Cheesecake had officially begun.

Her friend Narpat Singh Rathore joined in to help her with the business side of things. 

At the time, he was working in a polo horse company in the heritage sports sector. 

“For me, Rathore sahab has been one of the very few voices of reason in my life,” Pooja mentions. 

In November 2023, Pooja Balani would make cheesecakes at home, package them into jars, and showcase them at weekend stalls held at a friend's local shop in Jodhpur. 

“I earned Rs 7,000 that month. Then in December 2023, I sold my cheesecakes at various exhibitions and even at a stall at a polo event. The Maharaja of Jaipur tasted the dessert. We shot some reels, posted them on Instagram, and they went viral. That month, my revenue doubled to Rs 15,000,” entrepreneur Pooja Balani shares. 

THE ACCIDENT: A MAJOR SETBACK

In January 2024, Pooja and Narpat met with a car accident outside Jodhpur. 

While Narpat was mostly fine, Pooja’s hand got fractured and there was a head injury as well. 

“I had to get many stitches on my head, and I was completely bedridden for the next two months. I couldn't operate the business at all,” startup founder Pooja Balani says. 

On the entrepreneur’s behalf, her mother and Narpat continued the cheesecake production and distribution at various stalls and offline events. 

From January to April 2024, Miss Cheesecake was averaging a monthly revenue of Rs 15,000. Close to 40 jars were sold every week.

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THE FIRST PHYSICAL OUTLET: NARPAT SINGH RATHORE’S PUSH

Around May 2024, Narpat Singh Rathore officially joined Miss Cheesecake as a co-founder. With him came an infusion of business acumen into Pooja’s dessert venture. 

“I decided that it was the right time to scale Miss Cheesecake’s visibility and take it outside Pooja’s home kitchen,” entrepreneur Narpat Singh Rathore says.

“He invested roughly Rs 5 lakh to build the first Miss Cheesecake physical outlet. It is a 100 square feet rented space,” Pooja adds. 

Even though Pooja Balani’s family opposed the outlet decision citing financial risks, her father came to cut the ribbon on the opening day. 

Throughout the process of converting the space into the Miss Cheesecake outlet, startup founders Pooja and Narpat documented their journey, hustle, and learnings, and posted it as reels on Instagram.

“Our sixth video suddenly went viral, and it has 61 million views today. Then many videos started crossing the 10 million views mark. By the time our outlet opened, we had more than one lakh followers on Instagram,” Pooja beams. 

“I remember we had prepared 300-400 cheesecakes at home for the opening day. The stock was sold out within 3 hours,” Narpat smiles. 

Eventually, Miss Cheesecake started seeing a significant influx of customers, with most of its sales coming from the offline outlet. 

The founders integrated Zomato and Swiggy at a later stage. 

THE SHARK TANK INDIA EXPERIENCE 

During July-August 2024, Narpat Singh Rathore applied to the fourth season of Shark Tank India. 

“Our third audition happened in September 2024, the shoot happened in October 2024, and the episode was telecast on national television in January 2025,” entrepreneur Narpat tells Startup Pedia.

The startup founder duo asked for Rs 30 lakh in exchange for 5% equity in Miss Cheesecake, but it didn't work out. 

Post-shoot, Ritesh Agarwal (OYO) verbally agreed to invest in the startup, but the due diligence and negotiation that followed was so time-consuming that Pooja and Narpat decided to call the whole thing off. 

“We realized that we shouldn't give away our equity that easily,” Pooja says. 

MISS CHEESECAKE: FROM A COZY KITCHEN TO PHYSICAL OUTLETS 

Today, Miss Cheesecake operates as a Jodhpur-based dessert brand that began from Pooja Balani’s home kitchen. 

The dessert brand currently has two physical outlets across Jodhpur (a dessert store) and Jaipur (a cloud kitchen for deliveries).

Pooja Balani and Narpat Singh Rathore have adopted a chef-less model for Miss Cheesecake, where Pooja works in the kitchen herself and prepares the cheesecakes with a small team.

Every cheesecake is eggless, vegetarian, and contains no gelatin. 

“We offer more than six flavours right now and have no-bake cheesecakes as well as baked cheesecakes. They're all rich and creamy, but do not feel heavy or leave an after-taste,” startup founder Pooja Balani mentions. 

With a fairly affordable pricing policy, the price for a 225-milliliter cheesecake jar ranges from Rs 140 to Rs 180.

Currently, Miss Cheesecake has a team of six people in Jodhpur, one person in Jaipur, and one person in Ahmedabad. 

The Jodhpur-based dessert brand has a female-focused hiring policy.

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THE UNIT ECONOMICS BREAKDOWN

The average order value for the Jodhpur-based dessert brand is Rs 300. 

The founders revealed the unit economics breakdown of the same:

• Approximately 55-60% of the amount goes into obtaining the raw materials, baking, and packaging.

• 10% goes towards fixed costs.

• The remaining is the net profit before tax.

GROWTH AND MOMENTUM OF MISS CHEESECAKE

With raw, organic content on Instagram being the primary driver of Miss Cheesecake’s visibility wave, the Jodhpur-based dessert brand has seen a consistent increase in its revenue over the years. 

Currently, it claims to have an order split of:

• 70% offline orders.

• 30% online orders via Zomato and other food applications.

From May 2024 (the opening of the first outlet) to December 2024, Miss Cheesecake recorded a revenue of Rs 48 lakh. 

From January 2025 to December 2025, the figure surged to Rs 1.20 crore. 

“For 2026, we are projecting an annual revenue of Rs 3 crore,” Narpat affirms. 

To date, Miss Cheesecake has served more than 2 lakh customers across Jodhpur and Jaipur. 

“It's been years, and now my family is no longer pressed about marriage. The thing is, and it's just how it is, women need to prove themselves a bit more than men. I am very grateful that everyone agreed with my entrepreneurial decision, and I got a co-founder who has worked day and night to build Miss Cheesecake from scratch. The aim is to scale, always,” Pooja Balani smiles and signs off.