Founders' Story

We believe our journey to be a transformational one. One that can be rightly divided into a Bombay (India) chapter and a Vienna (Austria) chapter.

Chapter: Bombay/Mumbai, India

Both of us were born and brought up in Bombay/ Mumbai in India. A factor in itself that qualifies one to embrace pace, chaos and any challenge that comes your way.

Parichay graduated with an MA in Industrial Psychology and Organizational Behaviors. In addition, he pursued numerous certifications in Digital Marketing, Yoga Teachers Training, Hypnotherapy over the years. Over the years, Parichay founded numerous digital ventures, including India's first humor page, ROFL India with a community of over 500000 on Facebook. His other ventures included Cinemawali Twist, Ready For TV, MythoWorld to name a few. From 2017, Parichay also started offering travel consultancy services to help individuals and families travel independently on their own terms.

Parampara graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Mass Media, specializing in Advertising. While she explored numerous opportunities in Digital Media including starting her blog brands- Cinemawaali and Cinemawali Twist, digital journalism for websites like Filmfare, JAM Magazine and more, she found her calling in Digital Marketing and branding over the years. Parampara built a career as a Digital Marketing Consultant for Bollywood movies, production companies and celebrities working with reputed names such as Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, YRF, Dharma Productions, T Series, Red Chillies Entertainment and more. 

2016 opened new doors & opportunities with an entry into the world of tourism and hospitality content creation and marketing. Parichay and Parampara ventured in digital content production, starting their travel blog Awara Diaries and their digital video venture, World Culture Network. These ventures took them across 32 countries across Europe, Middle-East, Asia and New Zealand. Their collaborations included prestigious brands such as New Zealand Tourism, Spain Tourism, Visit Czech Republic, Vienna Tourism Board, Amsterdam Tourism, Rail Europe, Accor Hotels, Club Med, Emaar Group, Yas Group  to name a few.

The pandemic brought things to a stand still, and a good reason to re:flect, re:think  and re:start  in a direction filled with purpose, focussing on connection and being present in the moment.

Chapter:  Vienna/Wien, Austria 

The Vienna chapter is the one of re:direction, filled with some crazy of two passionate people in their thirties, leaving the comfort of everything they've known and built for themselves, immigrating to a country with a very different culture, climate, pace and even language wanting to build something that connects with people, building a community.

We moved to Vienna in March 2022, to pursue the dream of starting a backpackers hostel in the heart of this European haven. Parampara was pursuing her MSc in Sustainable Development, Management and Policy. Parichay pursued the logistics and legalities of starting a travel hostel. In July, 2023 when Parampara graduated, two things were clear, starting a hostel with all the licensing requirements was tedious and uninspiring. A new idea, with the essence of the hostel project- a melting part of cultures had already been conceptualized and seemed like the perfect pivot to get started.

In September, 2023, Re Kompany by Parichay GmbH was founded with the intention of starting Vienna's first art and wellness café. For an immigrant founded company, even then this was an uphill task. It took us months to clear the bureaucratic processes and find an appropriate location to bring our ideas to life. Through the many rejections, financial set-backs, and new curve balls thrown at us, these 9 months were perhaps the most enriching in a while, as we learned new skills such as painting the high-ceiling studio, planning and putting together furniture and basically doing every thing required to plan, execute and run a business through delays and drawbacks (all with limited German skills).

On 30th May, 2024 we opened doors to our art & wellness café on Schönburgstraße 36/8-9, 1040 Vienna. Located in close proximity to the Vienna Central  Station and just a stone's throw-away from the Alois-Drasche-Park, this turned out to be a strategically advantageous location, helping more people discover us in this bustling residential neighborhood.

In over 15 months of operations, we have grown from strength-to-strength, picked up new skills and improved our Deutsch sprechen skills. Not all our plans worked, but so much did. Most importantly, we built a community that showers with so much love, kindness, support and appreciation, making all the effort extremely rewarding. Keeping us motivated, come rain- come sun, to show up, experiment and deliver our best.

Looking back, does this feel like the purpose, the transformation that we were looking for ourselves?

To be honest, we weren't sure what we were chasing! But this, felt so right since the very beginning. Ditching our screen life, living in the moment, experimenting, learning, connecting with people through coffee, food, art, conversations and our Indian roots at the core of it all helped us integrate into this life, find a calm and belongingness that we could perhaps only dream of.

Sure, there are crazy days, bad ones too! But you know, who saves us from drowning into anxiety? In the calm and chaos of it, it's the colors that bring joy and the very community that we have built, shows up with kindness, conversations and reassurance that it will all work out!