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How a back injury redirected Kainaz Messman’s career
In a 2019 excerpt from Baking a Dream: The Theobroma Story, Kainaz Messman Harchandrai recounts that a fall and the strain of carrying heavy loads in a hotel kitchen left her resting with a bulging disc in her spine. Her doctor suggested she consider a different career. She says she did not want a desk job, and left her position at the Oberoi in September 2003.
This is Kainaz’s retrospective account of her career and injury, rather than an independently verified employment record. It describes a practical turning point, not a long-planned move to build a bakery chain.
Why the first shop was in a former clinic
The following year, Kainaz says, her family heard that a doctor’s clinic in Cusrow Baug was for sale. The property was close to the family home, and they acquired it as the site for a small patisserie. Her account says her father covered the initial costs, including the premises, equipment, flooring and serving items.
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The family’s arrangement is easy to misread: the former clinic became the customer-facing shop, while Kainaz’s grandparents’ nearby flat became the kitchen. The flat let the family begin making food at a larger scale than they had at home without treating the clinic itself as the place where everything was baked.
From a family kitchen to a four-table patisserie
The first outlet opened in October 2004. Theobroma’s current About page independently places its first pastry store in 2004 at Cusrow Baug on Colaba Causeway in Mumbai. Kainaz describes the original shop as having four small tables and says the family had no detailed plan for expansion: they expected to make the foods they liked, only in greater quantities.
She recalls a disorderly opening day, with shelves selling out and family members sending more desserts from the nearby kitchen. In her account, the early rush was “sweet chaos”—a memoir description, not a separately documented operating record. Kainaz captures the founders’ guiding idea this way: “We set out on this journey agreeing to make only what we liked to eat ourselves. We promised to make it well, and to keep it simple.”
Who helped start Theobroma
Kainaz is identified by Theobroma as its founder and creative director. Her sister Tina Messman Wykes is described as a co-founder and co-author of the founders’ book. Kainaz’s account also credits their parents with helping fund and launch the business, and her friend Dilshad with discussing products and testing them before they reached the menu.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsThe name came through Tina, who was working in London. Kainaz recounts that Tina discussed the plan with Michael Dann, a sugar broker and Head of Commodities Trading, who suggested “Theobroma.” The excerpt explains the name through Greek roots glossed as “god” and “food,” and notes that Theobroma is also the botanical name of the cocoa plant. The company’s About page gives the name’s meaning as “Food of the Gods.”
What the early menu became
Kainaz’s recollections describe a home-based operation making chocolates, cakes, desserts and brownies before and around the shop’s opening. Among the early menu items she names are truffle cake, chocolate-chip brownie, walnut brownie, mawa cake and chocolate-orange mousse cake.
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Theobroma’s current website describes a broader range that includes brownies, cakes, desserts, chocolates, breads and savouries. It also says the company now has stores in over 30 cities. Those are present-day company statements, not details of the four-table shop in 2004; the company does not date that footprint figure on the About page.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the founding story does—and does not—establish
The most useful distinction is between the two places: Cusrow Baug’s former clinic was the first retail outlet, while the grandparents’ nearby flat served as the kitchen. The opening date, family roles, opening-day scenes and early financial calculations come from Kainaz’s retrospective account; the company independently confirms the first store’s location and year.
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The story is not one of an established chain launching with a detailed scale-up plan. In Kainaz’s telling, it began with a career interruption, a family’s available property and support, a small shop, and a menu built around foods the founders wanted to make well.
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