Born in Karachi, India (now Pakistan) in 1940, Arjun Waney moved to the US and attended the University of California, Berkeley in 1957. He began importing Indian goods into the US to support his education. In 1965, he borrowed $80,000 and founded Import Cargo Inc, a speciality retail concept, in New York. He then sold two stores to Pier 1 Imports for $300,000 in 1968 and moved to San Diego, where he opened the Cost Less Imports chain of specialty import stores. It expanded to 17 stores in the US. In 1970, he sold the business again to Pier 1 Imports, then the largest import retailer in the US.
Following the sale of Cost Less Imports, he decided to take his specialty retail concept to Europe and opened a multi-store operation (which grew to eleven stores) in England and on the continent.
In 1973, he sold the business again to Pier 1 Imports and moved back to California. Waney then founded San Diego based Beeba's Creations, Inc., an apparel importer and wholesale distributor.
From 1982- 1986, Waney took Beeba's Creations through two successful public offerings and established Beeba's as one of the leading speciality apparel import distributors in the US. (See Business Week May 25, 1987).
In 1991, Body Drama, a spin off from Beeba's Creations was launched as a Public Company. After 4 years, Waney retired as President and CEO and moved back to London where he established Argent Fund Management Ltd., having had 30 years' experience in the US capital markets. He is Chairman, Managing Director and principal shareholder. By 1999, his investments yielded, on average, a net annual return of 31%.
Arjun Waney decided he wanted to help others after his own phenomenal success and so, in 2001, he founded the Savitri Waney Charitable Trust through which he and his daughter support and monitor projects in India on a committed, long term basis. A commitment which is very personal and close to his heart.
In 2002, tired of not being able to get a table at Nobu, he decided to invest in a Japanese restaurant. Mr Waney and Rainer Becker were introduced and then opened Zuma restaurant in London. The rest is history. Zuma flourished and now has a total of 11 sites globally, from Hong Kong to New York, Rome, Dubai and Turkey. A second brand, ROKA, was born in 2004 after the huge success of Zuma, focussing on the popular robata grill.
In 2011, Arjun relaunched the Arts Club in Mayfair with Gary Landesberg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Raphael Duntoye, Jai Waney and Pritam Waney to great critical success.
Coya Restaurant London launched in 2012 and quickly became one of the best restaurants in town shortly after the opening.
Arjun Waney has been successful in launching other restaurant brands too such as La Petite Maison, in London and abroad.
