New flavors add culinary Twist to Milford

Priyank Patel and Dhrupal Patel celebrate the opening of The Twist Indian Grill in Milford. l PHOTO BY JENNIFER ANTONIK

MILFORD – Dhrupal Patel is adding a Twist to restaurant options in Milford – The Twist Indian Grill, in fact.

The Twist Indian Grill officially opened in the twin-county city in mid-June, bringing with it a unique mix of Indian and Mexican foods in a fast-food setting.

Founded by Maulin and Pretiksha Patel who live in Ohio and Maulin’s sister and brother-in-law Priyanka and Priyank Patel who live in Salisbury, Md., the first location opened in 2022 in Dayton, Ohio. Drupal Patel said opening the new location in Milford, the second for the company, brought an entirely new palate to locals.

“The concept was so good, we started working on bringing it here about two months after they opened up [in Ohio]. At that time, we didn’t know it would be as popular as it is right now,” he told Delaware Business Times.

“Milford is the second highest growing town [in Delaware] other than Middletown. I live in Dover and I have a business in Harrington. I wanted to pick somewhere closer because when you have a restaurant, you have to be there a lot. Milford is a good spot,” he added. “There is no Indian-Mexican spot here and coupled with the fact that there is no Indian restaurant at all in Milford, I wanted to put this here.

Patel is no stranger to the needs of running a business; he also owns Bridle Bit Liquors in Harrington. But he said he is glad to have the support of The Twist Indian Grill founders who visited Milford to help open the new location.

Maulin Patel told DBT that they have been “jam-packed every day for a week and it hasn’t slowed down. They’re overwhelmed but they’re doing great.”

Each location needs about 12 to 15 employees, he added, bringing new job opportunities to Milford along with the new tastes.  

“We cook everything fresh. It took a while to get it right while developing the business and to find good suppliers who can send us the Indian ingredients we need. But we have worked that out and now we can get your order out in ten minutes. It’s an even easier experience when customers use our app. It’s exciting because we’re creating a new category in this food industry: Indo-mex, or Indo-tex-mex,” he said.

While franchise paperwork is still pending, the Ohio-based restaurateur said another six restaurants are already in the works for when that paperwork is finalized, not including the location that just began operations in Milford. Maryland will house the next closest Twist Indian Grill when the company is ready to expand.

“This concept was never done by anybody out there before. It was hard to find suppliers, that was the biggest issue, finding those Indian spices and getting it from our Indian suppliers. But now that that’s settled, I think we’re on to something big,” Patel told DBT.  “I do want to thank Milford. The people are so welcoming and accepted us with open arms. I can sleep tonight just thinking about how much love we’ve got. It was hard work and it paid off.”

Maulin Patel is one of the founders behind the new The Twist Indian Grill. l PHOTO BY JENNIFER ANTONIK