A 25-year-old entrepreneur from India has reached out to the online community for urgent financial guidance after his restaurant venture collapsed, leaving him with a staggering ₹70 lakh debt. What began as a modest cloud kitchen grew rapidly, but aggressive expansion funded by high-interest private lenders quickly snowballed out of control. Now facing a damaged credit score and a steep monthly mortgage EMI that vastly exceeds his family’s income, the man is torn between getting a job to pay off the liabilities or borrowing even more money to restart a smaller food business.The entrepreneur shared in a Reddit post how he incurred such a huge debt. (Representative image). (Pexels)The man shared that he had been working at a BPO but left in 2023 to start a small cloud kitchen with “ ₹2 lakh borrowed from extended family”. Initially, his business did well, and he even expanded, but incurred more debt in the process.Also Read: NRI urges Indian students to avoid ‘scammy’ private universities in Germany: 'Don't sell family land to fall for a scam'“Debt breakdown (approximate): Mortgage loan: ₹45 lakh. Private lenders: ₹40-45 lakh. Total peak debt: ₹1 crore,” he wrote, adding that after some time, the debt became unsustainable.The stress got to him, and he even lost over 25 kg in a short period. That is when his family stepped in and paid ₹30 lakh of his loan. However, he still has ₹70 lakh in loans.Giving a breakdown of his present financial situation, he wrote, “Mortgage EMI: ₹67,000/month. Mother’s income: ₹15,000/month. Sister’s income: ₹36,000/month. My CIBIL score is badly damaged. I have some kitchen equipment that wasn’t sold.”The man continued, “My current thought is to start very small: Small cafe/fast-food outlet. Around ₹2 lakh startup requirement. Possibly combine it with a thrift store concept for additional income and lower interior costs. The issue is that I don’t have access to easy funding anymore. I’ve already borrowed from almost everyone I could while trying to keep the previous business alive.”He asked Reddit users if he should take out more loans to start this new venture or look for a job. “If you were in my position, what would be your path to rebuilding income while carrying ₹70 lakh of debt?”How did social media react?An individual reminded, “There's a saying, don't make the same mistake twice’.” The Op responded, “I genuinely am not rooting to go for it, but given the circumstances, I don’t see another way out. I can land a job of hardly 15-20K, which won’t cover the outflow, if I start something new apart from the F&B learning from the scratch will bring cost that I don't have, so the only option I could hang on seemed to be this since I already have almost all kitchen equipment mandatorily required.”Also Read: Bankruptcy to ₹29 crore: Delhi-born entrepreneur, 29, shares how he rebuilt life after hitting rock bottomAnother expressed, “I'll be blunt here. Extremely stupid financial planning on your behalf. At this point, I have no recommendation. Do not start another cafe or restaurant because those are heavily competitive.” A third posted, “Take a break, OP. You are pushing your entire family into an unending debt spiral. Restart your career. Pay off debts. Start small, grow slowly, but never take loans at an interest rate above 10% as a thumb rule. Have equity deals, not debt. All the best - you are young, and you have a long way to go. Join a job, put your skills to use, and you'll grow fast.”A fourth wrote, “Considering your past extremely stupid decisions, you need to stop going into another business until you can get some basic solvency. You have already caused enough issues for your immediate family and ruined their own financial plans and security that they had. Wake up, dude.”(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Hindustantimes.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)