'Sarangi Veg' Community Restaurant

Sarangi started it's first project in May 2014, when a group of committed local musicians from the Gandharba ‘caste’, befriended Sandra Fiedeldy, an Australian, who had come to Nepal to research social enterprise opportunities.   These particular Gandharba had been lucky to receive a good education and were committed to uplifting their community, one of the poorest in Nepal.   A community restaurant in Thamel, the tourist district of Kathmandu,  seemed to be the perfect opportunity for both the boys and Sandra to achieve their goals.   And so, ‘Sarangi Veg’ was born.

After much deliberation, they decided that ‘Sarangi Food. Music. Life.’ would be registered as a regular profit making company with an internal agreement by the shareholders not distribute the profits.  This would strengthen the integrity of the project and ensure that the profits would be spent on its real purpose, community development.

Since those early days Sarangi Veg has become a meeting place for individuals and organisations committed to community development.  

"Creating connections and strong partnerships was always our main goal and we are proud of our success in this area.   We gain even more satisfaction when we see that we have become a conduit for others to connect and empower their projects as well".

Sarangi Veg is now a truly successful community restaurant, being consistently rated in the top 10 out of 735 restaurants on TripAdvisor since mid 2017 an has received a 'Certificate of Excellence' for overall high performance throughout 2017. 

"Our guests are inspired by our commitment and the unique and friendly space that we have worked very hard to create.  The staff are more like family and this shows profoundly.  A feeling of 'ownership' plays a big part in the attitude of the staff. " 

What makes this achievement all the more remarkable, is that it was against overwhelming odds including a major earthquake in 2015 which was followed by a five month fuel blockade.