Executive Chef, Chief Chaiwalla & Founder

Meherwan Irani is a chef and restaurateur changing the perception of Indian food in America through his growing restaurant and spice empire in the South’s most essential culinary cities. He is a leading voice in the industry’s conversation around diversity and cultural exchange. In 2022, Meherwan’s flagship restaurant in Asheville, Chai Pani, was named Outstanding Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation. Meherwan was named by TIME Magazine as one of the “31 People Changing The South” and is a five-time James Beard Foundation Awards semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast.

Meherwan leads a team of more than 300 as Co-Founder, Chef and CEO of Chai Pani Restaurant Group, which includes nine locations: Chai Pani Asheville, Chai Pani Decatur, Botiwalla Atlanta, Botiwalla Charlotte, Buxton Hall Barbecue, Buxton Chicken Palace, and spice brand Spicewalla, which has two outposts in Asheville and Atlanta.

Meherwan grew up in Ahmednagar, in the midwestern state of Maharashtra in India, and he came to the U.S. at age 20. In 2009, he and his wife and business partner, Molly, introduced Asheville, North Carolina, to the colors, flavors and faces of India with Chai Pani.

Hospitality Director & Co-Founder

Molly Irani is the Co-founder and Chief Hospitality Officer of the James Beard Award–winning Chai Pani Restaurant Group in Asheville, NC. She manages a team of more

than 300 people across seven restaurants and a spice company and is responsible for Chai Pani's groundbreaking culture, management style, and "mindblasting" hospitality.

From the very beginning Molly set out to change what a restaurant can be by extending the hospitality environment to not only care for the guests, but for everyone — including the whole team, and the community at large. With a foundational belief that to be in the service industry is to be "of service" to humanity, she set up give back programs in all of the restaurants that support the local communities they are in.

Molly also oversees the design of their restaurant spaces, ensuring that they tell vibrant stories reflective of the culture of the food they serve. Molly grew up in the restaurant business with parents who owned a restaurant on the Carolina coast. Molly and Meherwan, her husband and business partner, call Asheville home where they've raised their daughter, Aria, and her two siblings (aka Goldendoodles) Rosie and Teddy.

Chief Operating Officer / Partner

Alongside owners Meherwan and Molly Irani, Charlotte has grown CPRG into a restaurant empire, today overseeing more than 300 employees across the South's most essential culinary cities. Charlotte has worked in restaurants her whole life and began with the Chai Pani team as a server 12 years ago. Charlotte became the Iranis' first office employee, opened Chai Pani Decatur in 2013, served as General Manager at Buxton Hall Barbecue, became VP of Operations, and today she is COO — one of the company's most essential leaders. Her main priority is to keep every Chai Pani Restaurant Group employee connected to each other, focused on our mission, and oriented to the future. In addition to her operational skills, Charlotte spearheads the company's give back initiatives, namely Chai Pani's partnership with Dharavi Diary, a community center for students in one of the world's largest slums in India. Charlotte is from Athens, Georgia, and lives in Asheville with her husband, son and two dogs.

Director of Growth / Partner

In 2009, Meherwan, a high-end real estate salesman with no experience in the restaurant industry, somehow convinced a young school teacher named Isaac to invest his life savings in the idea of opening an Indian street food restaurant in a small mountain town in the South. Crazy as that seemed back then, things seem to be working out OK for the both of them. Isaac has traveled to India his whole life and has a deep love for Indian food and its people. Prior to helping open Chai Pani, he spent years leading groups of gap-year students on long and immersive journeys to India. Isaac is admired by his staff for his gracious leadership and "island of calm" sensibility, even in the face of all the madness the restaurant world can throw at you.

Director of Restaurant Operations

As an Asheville native, Ellis spent many of his early adult years cooking in several restaurants in the Asheville area before joining Chai Pani as a prep cook in 2012. Since then, Ellis has been Kitchen Manager or General Manager for many of CPRG's first restaurants in the Asheville and Atlanta areas as well as managing Spicewalla during the pandemic. Ellis now uses his experience in the restaurants to oversee the finances and operations of all CPRG kitchens. When not worrying about food costs and staffing, Ellis enjoys playing golf and spending time at his childhood home in the mountains.

Culinary & BOH Operations Director

Most people who meet him would say there's no one quite like Daniel Peach. He's blond-haired, blue-eyed, but basically an Indian at his core. Daniel moved to Asheville when he was 19 and was one of the first four people hired to open the kitchen at Chai Pani Asheville. Driven by a love for the food, people, and spirituality of India, Daniel has traveled on his own to India for long stints multiple times. In the process, he's taught himself to read and write Hindi, and cooked in scores of home kitchens. Daniel headed up the opening of the kitchen at Chai Pani Decatur, and continues to earn accolades for the food his diverse team of cooks produces.

Service & FOH Operations Director

Teddy left bartending in New England to attend a graduate program in sustainable development in Boone, NC. Grad school was dumb and he was soon back in the service industry. He worked as a bartender and Front of House Manager at Buxton Hall Barbecue and Chai Pani Asheville before transitioning to the Administrative team. After an extended paternity leave during the pandemic, he spent time working on customer experience at Spicewalla. In his current role, Teddy oversees new hire training programs, ongoing professional development and leadership coaching with our restaurant managers, but he’s always game to pick up a dish or bar shift when Chai Pani is short-staffed. Teddy lives in Weaverville with his wife, twin daughters and stinky old dog.

Marketing Director

Kat joined the CPRG team in the summer of 2021 after spending four years as Communications Director for Heritage Radio Network (HRN). While at HRN, she produced hundreds of hours of food-centric podcasts and traveled all over the country to interview chefs, farmers, cookbook authors, and thought leaders. (In fact, she first met Meherwan during an interview at Charleston Wine + Food way back in 2017!) Prior to her days as a 'podcaster,' Kat worked in restaurants (Momofuku, Unsukay) and television (Zero Point Zero, NBC). As CPRG's Marketing Director, she oversees marketing & storytelling strategy, give back initiatives, communications, and events.