Prashant Issar

Prashant Issar is the Founder of Ishaara and Managing Director of Bellona Hospitality, the F&B arm of Phoenix Mills Ltd. Prashant began his career with The Indian Hotels Company, starting at The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, where he spent five years and rose to manage the Apollo Bar and Rendezvous. He then spent over 11 years in London, working on restaurant openings across Soho, Piccadilly and Chelsea.

His experience includes managing the Michelin-starred Amaya in Knightsbridge for over five years, as well as managing Chutney Mary and Veeraswamy and launching the first Masala Zone in Soho. He later earned an MBA from Henley Business School on a scholarship, specialising in entrepreneurship.

On returning to India, Prashant headed the India operations of leading hospitality brands, Hakkasan and Yauatcha, before pioneering an inclusive hospitality model through Mirchi & Mime and Madeira & Mime. He subsequently founded Ishaara in 2019 on the belief that inclusion should create sustainable careers, not simply employment.

The brand integrates people with Speech and Hearing Impairment (SHI) into mainstream hospitality roles, enabling them to build long-term careers across operations, training, supervision and management. Ishaara has since grown into a nine-outlet, multi-city restaurant brand across Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Ahmedabad, demonstrating that social inclusion and commercial performance can coexist and scale.

As Managing Director of Bellona Hospitality, Prashant has conceptualised, created and led the expansion of distinctive dining concepts including Dobaara, Eight, Allora Milano, Cha Hong Kong Eating House and Legume.

Building sustainable careers through mainstream hospitality while creating distinctive, commercially viable restaurant brands.