Though Aditi Mammen Gupta loved her mother and her grandmothers’ cooking, it was only when she lived alone in the UK, for her higher studies, that her interest in making food was spurred. “When I got back I didn’t really want to do anything with my Masters in Human Resource Management — instead I wanted to get into the food business,” says Aditi who did a stint in her family business, Funskool, for a few years, before starting the wildly popular brand, Posh Nosh in 2014. The brand sold 3,000 jars per month last year.
Spread the joy
“I was interested in the business of food — and not just cooking from home. However, soon I learnt that just a great chocolate fudge sauce recipe doesn’t immediately translate to a great retail product in a jar! Just like how I learnt that however kick-ass your product is — expanding to other cities is more about marketing and distributors,” says the Chennai-girl, who says that she felt motivated to start her food line when she noticed that there was a dearth of sauces and spreads in the market, that promised preservative-free and natural, quality ingredients. With a vision that went beyond her kitchen counter, Aditi found many pointers from Philip John, a Bengaluru-based food consultant, who guided her in this journey as she researched, tweaked ingredients and recipes to suit shelf life and retail conditions.
Tandoori mayo?
Today, most of us associate Aditi with the the eight-product line of vegetarian gourmet sauces and spreads by Posh Nosh, that include the decadent Chocolate Fudge Sauce and Chilli Garlic Sauce, among others. “I have some new flavours in mayonnaise that will be launched in Posh Nosh soon,” assures the doting mother of two, who is buzzing with new ideas and further urges us to look out for the Tandoori Mayonnaise.
Whey not
When Aditi decided to enter the health food sector last year, clearly she had a head start thanks to the valuable experience gained while creating Posh Nosh. “My husband and I are big on fitness. We are also very particular about what kind of protein shakes we drink — the ingredients used. Since my husband is lactose-intolerant we had to buy our vegan protein powders from overseas, which is really expensive and even then we didn’t know what kind of products are there in the mix. So we decided to make our own!” says Aditi, adding that the protein powder inspired her to establish a plant-based, health and wellness food brand — Origin Nutrition that was scheduled to launch last month but will now happen only post-lockdown.
“We plan to launch with a totally natural, non-GMO, vegan, chocolate-flavoured protein powder,” informs the 34-year-old excitedly, adding that besides more flavours in the protein powder, in the making is also a healthy peanut butter that boasts just a spoonful of honey, a spoonful of oil, a dash of salt — and is all peanuts otherwise.
Vegan protein powder at INR 2,200 for a 750 gram pouch.