Biplaw Rai has been selected as the Boston Ujima Project’s 2024-2025 Restaurant fellow.
The Boston Ujima Project is a Black-led, artist-led organization that works to build a cooperative business environment. This fellowship honors and supports restaurateurs within the Ujima network who are dedicated to innovative hospitality practices.
Rai is a Nepali-born restaurateur and managing partner at Comfort Kitchen, which was recently nominated for the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. The restaurant, in Dorchester’s Upham Corner, centers its menu around the concept of diaspora. The restaurant recently celebrated its first anniversary in addition to the esteemed award nomination. Rai harnesses his passion for food, culture, and community to create purposeful, collaborative spaces that bring together people from diverse backgrounds.
As the Restaurant Fellow, Rai will be provided with a supportive environment to further his efforts in reimagining Boston’s food and restaurant culture. During the fellowship, Rai will offer advisory services to businesses within the Ujima Fund portfolio, the Ujima Good Business Alliance and the Businesses We Love Pipeline. He will also engage in policy research and advocacy.
Rai attended college in Missouri and earned his undergraduate degree in political science in 2006, but found his way into the restaurant industry following the economic crash and time at an IT company.
Upon immigrating to the U.S. at 18 from Kathmandu, Rai found himself immersed in the restaurant business at places like Taco Bell and KFC. Through his experience working in several facets of the restaurant industry, Rai has developed a deep appreciation for the community aspect of the business.
Rai is a former managing partner of the Shanti Restaurant Group and is co-founder of Dudley Café in Roxbury, which opened in 2015.
