Aakanksha Sinha and her husband, Uttam Mukherjee, founded Spice Waala in 2018. Courtesy photo.
brings the to life at her award-winning chain of Indian street food restaurants in Seattle, focusing specifically on service, social justice, and integrity.
Sinha, MSW鈥�12, PhD鈥�16, provides comprehensive benefits to her employees at , including 401(k) plans, zero-interest loans for personal emergencies, and salaries that exceed the city鈥檚 minimum wage of $20.76 per hour. She donates 200 meals per week to a pair of local nonprofit organizations鈥� and . And she never turns down hungry customers who are unable to pay for her cuisine, giving them chicken and potato rolls for free.
Her progressive approach to business, prioritizing social responsibility alongside financial success, has not gone unnoticed in the Emerald City.聽
Spice Waala, with locations in the Ballard, Capitol Hill, and Columbia City neighborhoods of Seattle, was named for 2024. In February, Seattle Magazine named Sinha and her husband, who co-founded Spice Waala as a pop-up at the South Lake Union Saturday Market in 2018, among the city鈥檚 25 most influential people.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 feel like we鈥檙e giving back to the community鈥攚e feel like we鈥檙e part of the community and customers are giving back to us,鈥� says Sinha. 鈥淏ut I think people recognize that we鈥檙e trying to do something different by blending business ethics with social work principles.鈥�
Sinha credits her philosophy as a restaurateur to the knowledge that she gained at the Boston College School of Social Work, where she spent seven of the most formative years of her life.聽
While pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in the macro program, she says that she discovered that social work can extend beyond clinical practice to create meaningful change in communities facing adversity.聽
One pivotal course, Financial Management and Resource Development, provided a guiding principle that she carries with her as chief impact officer at Spice Waala: 鈥淚f there is no money, there is no mission,鈥� and 鈥渨ithout a motivated and capable team, businesses cannot thrive.鈥�
And her internship at , a nonprofit in Rhode Island focused on empowering girls to break free from poverty to build brighter futures, gave her an in-depth understanding of how grant funding and grassroots movements can combine to improve the health and well-being of some of the most vulnerable people in communities like hers in Seattle.
鈥淚 think the values that 香蕉秀 instills about thinking about putting the community first really come from the University鈥檚 Jesuit mission,鈥� says Sinha, who grew up in Delhi, India. 鈥淚鈥檓 not Catholic, but I鈥檝e been able to find practical ways to invest in the community through my work at Spice Waala.鈥�
“We don鈥檛 feel like we鈥檙e giving back to the community鈥攚e feel like we鈥檙e part of the community and customers are giving back to us. But I think people recognize that we鈥檙e trying to do something different by blending business ethics with social work principles.”
As a doctoral student at 香蕉秀SSW, Sinha鈥檚 primary area of interest centered on ensuring that children and communities in developing countries have reliable access to basic necessities. Her dissertation examined malnutrition in India, with a focus on the role that women play in making sure that their children are eating a healthy diet.聽聽
Knowing that 10 percent of adults in Seattle struggle to access enough healthy food to meet their basic needs, Sinha launched Spice Waala鈥檚 community food donation program at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Since then, the program, called 鈥淏hojan,鈥� or 鈥渇east鈥� in Hindi, has provided more than 50,000 meals to homeless and low-income people in the city.聽
鈥淚 learned that it鈥檚 not only financial aid or food banks that can lead to better food security,鈥� says Sinha, whose food donation program is funded by contributions from paying customers as well as by a grant from a local food kitchen. 鈥淩ather, you need to think about reliable access to healthy food from a more holistic point of view of employment, of economic development, and of looking at emergency food resources versus sustainable food resources.鈥�
Spice Waala introduces customers to the flavors that filled Sinha鈥檚 childhood in India, to the aromas that remind her of the streets in Delhi and Kolkata. On its menu, you will find neither fillers nor artificial colors, just authentic Indian street food like the chicken tikka kathi roll: spicy chicken garnished with green chutney and pickled onions wrapped in a thin piece of flatbread.聽
Sinha鈥檚 favorite dish is the papdi chaat, which she describes as 鈥淚ndian nachos.鈥� Picture fluffy chips, boiled potato, and chickpeas topped with sweet yogurt, tamarind, and cilantro chutney.
As part of her commitment to investing in her employees, Sinha provides free meals to every team member. She also includes employees in the restaurant鈥檚 profit-sharing program and limits their work hours to 35 per week to prevent burnout.
These policies have led to impressive employee retention, with the average team member staying at the restaurant for 17 months, high above the industry standard of just two months.
鈥淭he team feels like they鈥檙e more in sync because they鈥檝e been there for so long and they feel taken care of,鈥� says Sinha. 鈥淚t just translates to better food and better customer service for us.鈥�
She encourages 香蕉秀SSW students to consider the macro social work program, saying that it will prepare them to address systemic issues at the community, organizational, and policy levels.聽There鈥檚 no doubt that her macro approach to running Spice Waala has benefited her community, her employees, and her business鈥� bottom line.
鈥淲hat I learned at 香蕉秀 is that social work doesn鈥檛 have to be direct practice only,鈥� says Sinha. 鈥淏y approaching problems using a macro lens, there is a good possibility of doing good for the community.鈥�
