Pooja Bavishi still owns and runs Malai, which she started as a market stall in 2015 before opening storefronts in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. A small group of investors and lenders has put in roughly $1.4 million since 2023, but Bavishi has stayed the company's only officer and director throughout. The wages Malai advertises for hourly staff beat the region's typical food-service pay, and no labor or environmental record turns up under its name.