New Delhi, Aug. 30 -- When pastry whiz Vinesh Johny's ice cream parlour, LICK, opened in February last year in Bengaluru, long lines snaked across the block in Indiranagar. With queue managers, velvet ropes and hip-hop booming through speakers, the launch seemed more like the opening of a nightclub than an ice-cream store.

"Those lines gave me most of my grey hair," jokes Johny. "The level of expectation that comes with waiting in line for 45 minutes for ice cream puts an unreal pressure on the team."

Akhil Iyer, of the much-loved and viral Benne chain of restaurants, shares a similar sentiment. "Shriya (his wife and co-founder) and I were white with fear when we saw the long line outside our first outlet in Bandra (Mumbai). We had no i...