The Indian Italian fusion restaurant, located on Stafford Road in Wallington, was founded during the pandemic and has since experienced a surge in popularity following her appearance on the BBC business reality show.
The local pizzeria, known for its bold flavours that combine traditional curries with freshly made pizzas, is now facing a much bigger stage.
She told Your Local Guardian: “We have 17 people working for us now, which is amazing.
“It’s been difficult, in terms of managing it and meeting the demand.
“Queues were forming out the door, but it’s calmed down a little bit – there aren’t instant queues during the weekdays, but it’s been busy.
Much of the attention came after a visit from Mike Soutar, one of Lord Sugar’s trusted advisers on The Apprentice.
Anisa explained: “Mike took a video outside [the restaurant], tried the pizzas, and then he said it was five stars.
“And then from that, everything just blew up.”
Her time on the show helped validate what she’d known all along – but many viewers hadn’t yet realised.
Anisa added: “I guess up until that point on the show, you wouldn’t really know that my pizza place is a good one.
“I think it’s because I was describing the pizzas and talking about it, and Mike is known as someone who’s quite critical, so when he gave out the five star review, then it blew up.”
Bombay Pizza’s signature offering – a fresh, curried pizza made entirely from scratch – has since become a viral hit.
Anisa told Your Local Guardian: “It’s a lot of effort making a fresh, curried pizza – we make everything from scratch, even the pizza dough.
“Things like marinating, grilling and the curries take a lot of time and manpower, especially when we’re busy as we’re making more and more.”
Now operating with a dedicated team of full- and part-time staff, the kitchen alone employs more than ten people, and Anisa has previously had to “put a pause” on her social media accounts due to the overwhelming demand.
Bombay Pizza has since increased its capacity with new equipment.
“We’ve got a brand-new oven now, and we’ve increased our capacity so we can take on more people,” she said.
With her team working around the clock, Anisa said it’s not just Sutton locals enjoying the flavours.
She explained: “We post our pizzas out as well, so during the day we’re shipping out nationwide, and in the evening we’re open for dine in and take away.
“Over 100 pizzas get shipped out every day and we’re selling out most days.”
That demand has pushed the small business to its limits.
“I’ve really maxed out our kitchen, ideally, the next step would be getting a bigger kitchen,” Anisa added.
In-person collection is still the preferred option, though Bombay Pizza also delivers to nearby areas.
Anisa said: “We prefer people to collect as delivery is hard to manage, but we do delivery between Carshalton, Purley, Wallington and locations near the restaurant.
“If we do too far, everything becomes late.”
The restaurant has also made changes to opening hours to keep up with footfall.
“We’re closed on Monday’s, but we now open during lunch time at the weekend,” Khan said. “I’m in the restaurant almost every day.”
Even as operations have scaled, popularity has remained strong.
“In the first week we sold out by 7pm, but now we’re not selling out as quick but we’re still selling out,” she said, “someone asked for a pizza at 10pm and we were sold out.”
Anisa’s entrepreneurial journey began four years ago as a “side hustle” during the COVID-19 outbreak, while she was working in corporate and living in Japan.
She soon took up the business full-time and went on The Apprentice in the hopes of securing investment from Lord Sugar.
Since the show’s finale, Bombay Pizza has continued its upward trajectory.
“After the final, we’ve grown between 10 to 20 per cent every week,” Anisa said. “We’re able to serve more people now.”
Franchising and expansion options are also on the table.
“I have a lot of people interested in franchising with me and looking at the ‘dark kitchen’ model which is mentioned in the show,” she said.
Although she narrowly missed out on the £250,000 investment, Anisa says she remains in contact with her fellow contestants – and even Lord Sugar himself.
“I still speak with some of the contestants – I speak with Chisola and Max, and Lord Sugar,” she said.
“Lord Sugar is the same person as he seems on the TV.
“He’s very to the point and knows what he’s talking about.”
