Sheena Maini is 27, but she’s already worked in the restaurant business for more than half her life. Maini, who grew up in Sarasota, co-owns and operates Tandoor Indian Cuisine with her mom, Poonam, and is launching a side business taking groups of travelers to experience India.

Through their family-run restaurant, the Maini’s have become cultural ambassadors to Sarasota, and plan to do even more this year to share Indian culture in the region.

How would you describe growing up here?

I’m very family oriented, so not having a big nightlife didn’t bother me. I really love Sarasota. My mom jokes, ‘even when you get married, you’d better not leave Sarasota.’ I like that there’s so much to do at the the beach, and then I get to be close to my family. My brother, Shubi, is 18 and going off to college soon, and my sister, Shamini, is 25 and works as a nurse in Orlando.  

Why did your family decide to open a restaurant in Sarasota?

When we opened in 2001, I was only 11. It was opened on a whim. We thought Sarasota was lacking a good Indian restaurant, and my mom said, ‘I could do this.’ We found a spot and 14 days later, we were opened. Little did we know at the time that the restaurant would be our only source of survival. At the time, it was just fun.

Why did you decide to stick with the family business?

Honestly, I never wanted to do the restaurant business, but when I was 16, I had to do it on the weekends and every day after school.

This was because my mom and dad got divorced, and at that time we had five business in town–four gas stations and the restaurant.  When my father left us, he sold all four gas stations, took the income from them and left the country. At that time, my brother and sister were young, and my mom was a single mom with only a restaurant to support the family.

I had to be her right hand, so I devoted myself to helping my mom and bringing my family back up again, like where we were before my father left.

It took us seven years to build back up, and I worked quite hard every day after school. I never got the opportunity to live away from home for college because I commuted to Tampa every day for school. This restaurant was everything for us.

I learned more than you can imagine. I was 16 and I was already the manager. I had to be.

Despite working so hard in the restaurant, you still found time for college (wow!). Where did you go and what did you study?

I have a degree in finance and marketing from USF. I did a lot of volunteering with USF Sarasota. I was a USF ambassador, so any charity events that USF Sarasota held, I would volunteer for them.

Just this past April, now that we’re in a place where we can give back to the community, we threw a very large Bollywood event in Sarasota, called Tales of India, and raised money for USF Sarasota. I wanted to give back for scholarships. My mom was very supportive. If I throw another event, they’ll be a part of it.

In addition to the Tales of India celebration, you’re also taking tours of people to India starting this spring. How did you decide to start the side business?

I know everything there is to know about the restaurant, and to be honest, I’m a little bored. So I thought to myself, what do I love to do? I love people, I love to travel, and I thought, ‘I was born in India, I go back there every year, and a lot of my customers have showed interest in going there with me.’

I thought this would be a great idea to take people with me, and they want to go with someone they trust. It is marketed as a luxury tour, so I arrange high-quality accommodations and tours, and I have had great interest in the trips already. The plan is to do two or three trips a year to north and south India. Our first trip leaves in March 2016.

It seems like your family has taken on a mission to educate the community about Indian culture. Why did you decide to take that on?

It is true. All of our guests ask us questions about Indian culture.  They’re interested in Bollywood and music, the way we dress with the saris.

When we see that interest from our customers, we want to show them what it’s like to go to an Indian party. With this most recent event in April, we found that while we’re sharing our culture, we can do it for charity. We mash everything together and everyone had a great time. We had over 250 people come and everyone keeps asking when is the next one, so we’re working on it.

How would you describe being a young professional working in a family business in Sarasota?

After working in the family business, I don’t think I can do it any other way. I have a very strong entrepreneurial instinct and I can’t imagine myself working under someone.

I’ve been helping my mom as an owner and a manager and now I know how to lead people and how to show them how to do things and it’s definitely the only way that I see myself going.

I love working for myself. Even though I can work up to 80 hours per week, it’s very fulfilling for me. I always say, ‘I work 80 hours a week so I don’t have to work 40 hours a week.’

This is what I love. I’m spending all my time with the people I love here, and they’ve seen me grow up in the restaurant and working alongside my family. Nothing beats that for me.