Most operators spend a first restaurant’s opening year just trying to keep the lights steady. Chef Aarthi Sampath used hers to open a second concept — downstairs.
Just four months after debuting her first NYC restaurant, Drāvida, the Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay winner is officially opening Jam & Jaggery, the restaurant’s downstairs speakeasy, on September 18th. It’s a fast-follow move that says a lot about how ambitious independent chefs are stretching a single lease into multiple revenue streams.
What Is Jam & Jaggery?
Jam & Jaggery is a speakeasy-style cocktail lounge and private events space tucked into the lower level of Drāvida’s restored, two-floor, 100-year-old building. Sampath frames it as a natural extension of the restaurant upstairs — same regional Indian flavors, same global influences, same overriding mission — reimagined for a late-night, drinks-forward crowd.
The name carries the concept. “Jaggery” — an unrefined South Asian sugar prized for its depth, character, and complexity — represents the space itself: warm, soulful, and beautifully unrefined. “Jam” brings the sweetness, fun, and energy. Together, as the team puts it, Jam & Jaggery is “a sweet little late-night space for great food, thoughtful drinks, and a relaxed time.”
A Cocktail Program Filtered Through the South Indian Diaspora
The bar program is where the concept earns its keep. Filtered through the lens of the South Indian diaspora, it draws on Spanish cocktail craft and tropical drinking culture — classic techniques paired with flavors from around the world. Expect ingredients you rarely see behind a bar rail: tamarind, curry leaf, chickpeas, mango, and cardamom.
A few signature pours signal the direction:
Double Trouble — Angostura, Chana, Lustau PX sherry, scotch bonnet, cucumber, lime
Badak Old Fashioned — Lustau Cream Sherry, shochu, duck fat, cardamom bitters, jaggery
Dirty Currytini — Lustau Fino sherry, sake vermouth, olive vermouth, curry leaves
The menu also leans on unique bites — including an Indian-inspired burger built as a savory counterpoint to the drinks.
The Chef Behind the Concept
Originally from Mumbai, Aarthi Sampath has built a career that spans fine dining and high-volume operations. She’s worked in Michelin-starred kitchens, built a successful food truck (39 Kukree), and scaled a meal program with CookUnity from 10,000 to more than 50,000 meals per week.
She competed in the first-ever Guy’s Grocery Games Global Games Tournament, bringing her South Asian flavors into Guy Fieri’s kitchen, and self-funded Drāvida independently — crafting a concept that represents a new generation of chefs celebrating and elevating Indian cuisine. Drāvida’s opening was covered by outlets including The New York Times and Eater NY. Sampath is also slated to participate in the 2026 Food Network NYC Wine & Food Festival at the Flavors of Bollywood event on October 16th.
Why It Matters
For restaurant owners and operators, Jam & Jaggery is a case study in extracting more value from real estate you already control. Layering a second concept into an underused lower level lets an independent chef add a bar-driven daypart, a private-events revenue line, and a distinct brand — without signing a second lease or absorbing a second build-out from scratch.
Two takeaways worth banking for your own playbook:
Concept stacking within one footprint. A speakeasy beneath a restaurant shares kitchen, staff, and back-of-house infrastructure while opening a higher-margin beverage program and an events channel. That’s operating leverage, not just a vibe.
Differentiated flavor sells the drink. A cocktail list built on tamarind, curry leaf, cardamom, and sherry is inherently hard to copy and inherently press-worthy. For operators fighting cocktail-menu sameness, a clear cultural point of view is the moat.
The broader signal for the foodservice and hospitality industry: momentum compounds. A chef who parlays media wins and a debut restaurant into a second concept in four months is running a brand, not just a room — and that’s the model more independents are chasing.
Planning your own bar program refresh or second-concept play? Explore our related coverage on how Lazy Betty is layering a tasting menu, wine club and collab dinners, and how Salvage City Supper Club brings immersive dining theater to Manhattan. Then tell us in the comments: is concept stacking the smartest growth move for independents right now?
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” for founding American Wholesale Floral. Politz is also the founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
