Homemakerz: A Year of Resilience & Reinvention
The pandemic saw several small ready-to-cook brands flourish against all odds: a global economic slump, a devastating loss all around, and almost zero marketing budget. But their market found them, and they blossomed.
A new generation cooking at home (and forced to cook for themselves) was looking for food that was healthy, while also quick and convenient — a demand that Homemakerz stepped up to answer beautifully. The brand already had a line of products featuring Italian and Asian sauces, spice mixes, and flavoured salts. Their most recent introduction, a line of noodles (gluten-free, made with grain, millets, or vegetables) was the cherry on a range of unique offerings — small batch, and handmade, chemical-free, using only natural preservatives. Slightly more expensive than similar offerings in the market, with a comparatively shorter shelf life, the brand made a conscious trade-in to keep the focus on being preservative-free and nutritious.
India is home to the 3rd largest start up eco-system in the world, and its food industry is listed as 6th largest in the world. But success is also notoriously elusive. However, Homemakerz has made it to their 3-year anniversary this month, driven by the grit of its two founders, Varsha Rajan Berry & Anuradha Chandra. Today, they operate out of a 650-sq-ft unit in Jogeshwari, employing women in the basti. Their products are listed on 12 e-commerce platforms, and stocked in 40 gourmet stores across Mumbai. They sell close to 1,000 units a month. A small, beautiful, tight, profitable establishment, is how they describe their company.
Varsha sees Homemakerz as a chance at second innings. “Anuradha & I started the business in our 40s; we’d raised families and realised successful careers.” Varsha previously worked in the social space, speaking frequently on subjects of immigration and refugee rights, peace democracy and justice. She set up (and still runs) the Mrinal Gore Centre, in honour of her mentor. Anuradha worked in hospitality and airlines, as a corporate trainer.
When they decided to take the plunge and start something born of shared passion, Anuradha went back to school, signing up at Dadar Catering College. “Every day from 2-5 in the afternoon, I would attend school with 17- and 18-year-olds. I enjoyed every minute of it, especially the craft cookery course.” Anuradha heads product development for the business, working on recipes and testing product stability. “Developing a new product from start to finish can take up to eight months — we do everything ourselves. We use natural preservatives like oil, salt and vinegar, and our products typically have a shelf life of not more than 12 months.”
Their first range of products, Asian and Italian sauces, and flavoured salts, were met with enthusiastic customer response. When they slowly moved into noodles — made from millet (jowar, bajra, ragi), oat, rava and vegetable (beetroot, carrot, greens), they braced for customer pushback. “We knew that texture and mouthfeel would take some getting used to, and we were prepared to work on educating our customers.” But with COVID-19, the market had already changed; the customer base was already searching for healthier options.
Varsha Rajan Berry & Anuradha Chandra
Diving into business meant learning several things from scratch — finance, legal, procurement, negotiation, even sales. Varsha, who takes care of marketing and sales for the business, describes difficult beginnings. “I’d go store-to-store and be turned out from most. For every 7-8 stores we went to, we’d make one sale. There were days I’d come back discouraged, too exhausted to even tell my family how it was going.”
But a journey that began with an investment of INR 8,000, grew steadily. The founders put all their earnings back into the business, each pop-up sale and exhibition building confidence, spurring them on to the next leap. Most recently, they procured their own noodle machinery, in talks to expand the business to include production for other brands.
What started as a small business in a home kitchen is now a sustainable brand, staying close to its roots in social work, as it spearheads an industry shift towards more nutritious and mindful eating.
Recipe: Aubergine Noodles in Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
6 small eggplants
1 packet veggie noodles (buy here)
1 bottle peanut sauce (buy here)
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Method
Wash and slice the eggplant
Toss in a marinade of oil, salt and pepper
Place on a hot pan, until soft
To this, add some ginger and garlic paste, a splash of soy sauce, and saute gently, till aromatic. Do not be forceful, to keep the eggplant from disfiguring.
Separately, cook the vegetable noodles in hot water.
Add the noodles to the pan, reserving some cooking water.
Add in the whole jar of peanut sauce, and toss well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Add some cooking water if the sauce is too thick.
Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
Thank you to our friends at Homemakerz for sponsoring this feature. You can purchase their products here or a giftcard here. Follow their Instagram handle @3homemakerz for product updates.
Anisha Rachel Oommen is the co-founder of Goya Journal.
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