A hotel management graduate from the Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad (IIHM-A, Taj catering college). Kushagra Nagrath began his career as a management trainee with the Taj Group of Hotels in 1996. Nagrath went back to college to complete his Post Graduation from IMI, Switzerland. In Switzerland, he worked as a Grill master Chef at Planet Hollywood, Zurich. Upon his return to India in 1999, Nagrath joined the pre-opening team of Grand Hyatt, Delhi. Where he was instrumental in developing and opening the award-wining “Brix” and was conferred by H&FS as Restaurant Manager of the year in 2000. Nagrath has been a part of the pre-opening team at Taj Exotica, Maldives as the HOD F&B. Subsequently, he had a distinguished tenure with The Imperial, New Delhi, setting up the brand-new Banqueting department, after its renovation and was part of the re-development and positioning of the hotel. In 2003, Nagrath partnered with his friends & formed a venture named Mahima Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. During the entrepreneurial stint he was instrumental in creating and managing award-winning and highly acclaimed restaurants like Shalom, Laidbackwaters, Line Of No control, Italic & 6 Month Story. In 2007 Nagrath was inducted as COO for Alchemist Ltd. Where he created 2 separate verticals AHRL for hotels where he was instrumental in the acquisition, redevelopment, and operations of Kufri Holiday ResortKufri, Holiday Inn, Chicago, Crowne Piazza, Phoenix (U.S.), and many other acquisitions. The other was a restaurant vertical AFBL – under which he opened many award-winning brands namely Zazen, Kebab Khan, Kink, Spicewatertrail, Manre, Second Sin, Café Amor. From 2012 to 2016 he became a consultant & entrepreneur where he set up ventures like Firefly, Chamanganj, Aquifer, Café Nirvana, Café O. He also consulted Saudi Shada, a hospitality company in Saudi Arabia (where he stayed for 2 years) to redevelop their entire hotel offerings and create their vision 2020, including mentoring of the second generation for the business. In 2017 he joined Phoenix Mills as Senior Vice President, looking after Bellona Hospitality a part of Phoenix Mills, and handled the mix and leasing of F&B at the malls. In 2018 December, when Lite Bite Foods Pvt Ltd. acquired the business interests of Bellona, Nagrath transitioned to LBF as Vice President looking after You Mee, Shizusan, Tappa, All Good Deli, and Bar Bar -- in charge of the expansion and all new development. LBF has more than 264 operating units across India. He left LBF in March 2020, to peruse a role in Saudi Arabia, but unfortunately due to the lockdown, he couldn’t board the flight so in April 2020 he set up The Amazin Graze with his wife and has been running this brand since In a career spanning more than 24 years Nagrath has opened more than 52 restaurants (this is not including QSR formats, only CDR & FDR’s) and 9 hotels. He has also authored a book “Banqueting & Catering Management: The Basic Concept”, he has been conferred with many awards and recognitions during his tenure including “Bharat Jyoti Award” for outstanding services. Nagrath brings with him an entrepreneurial foresight combined with an extensive hands-on operational & corporate experience underlined with a strong conceptual & project development capability. He specializes in concept development, ideation and operations with a keen sense of project development and identifying new opportunities.