Fire consumes home and life of budding entrepreneur Tanya Bathija

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It was just this April that Tanya Bathija held a party in Bellport to inaugurate the 8^th Dunkin Donut franchise of her family in Long Island, New York. But on Dec. 14, 2022, her life was cut short by an uncontrollable fire that could not be put out by numerous firefighters trying to save her life. Her beloved dog Xena was also killed in the fire, news reports said.

Earlier this year, on April 12, 2022, the Long Island Advance reporting on Tanya Bathija’s inaugural party attended by friends, supporters and local elected officials, at the Bellport Dunkin’ Donuts, carried the following headline – “Young businesswoman opens eighth Dunkin’ location: Hopes to inspire young women as her father inspired her.”

Upon her death, Long Island Advance, said, “Like her father before her, Tanya Bathija hoped to build an empire,” in its Dec. 14 report on the tragedy.

A message from a Carl MacGowan on Twitter displayed on the Newsday story on Bathija noted, “Tanya Bathija, who died in the fire, had opened a doughnut shop in #Bellport earlier this year and was a member of the #Patchogue chamber of commerce.”

Investigators are still to determine the cause of the deadly early morning blaze that killed Tanya Indrani Bathija, 32, and her dog, at her Dix Hills home.

Bathija’s funeral was held Sunday Dec. 18, 2022.

The young woman, whose parents own several Dunkin’ Donut franchises, lived in a cottage at the back of the home where the parents resided, according to news reports. Her father Gobind Bathija called 911, when he woke very early to see the fire blazing.

Going by his Linkedin profile, her father Gobind Bathija and mother Sonia Bathija, own QSR Restaurants and have a string of Dunkin’ Donut franchises, having been associated with that chain since 2002.

According to Long Island Advance, with the impending retirement of her father and mother, Tanya Bathija was “poised’ to take over the business built by them.