This is the inspiring story of an enterprising mother-daughter duo, Reshma (Madhu) and Divya Lohana, who started a successful business in traditional Sindhi food products despite having no prior business experience. Her mother’s skill in making lip-smacking Sindhi food fueled Divya’s desire to start a company, Mommamakes, under which she launched two categories : homemade pickles, under the name ‘Sindh in a Jar’ and handcrafted, made-to-order Sindhi sweets through ‘Madhu’. The duo faced teething troubles in the initial days and has many ongoing challenges while running the business. Still, they continue to work with grit and determination to make the company a success. Today, five years later, the company has sold more than 5000 jars of pickles in India, with a growing demand in countries abroad. Let’s read Divya’s account of their resilient journey to success.
My Mom’s Sindhi Background
My mom hails from Sindh, and her family still resides in Karachi, so her cooking reflects the authentic Sindhi flavour. Mom imbibed the art of pickle making as she watched her grandmother and great-grandmother making khataain (pickles) on the terrace of their ancestral haveli in the village of Bela, Sindh. Even today, Mom’s family relies on her to make the pickles as no one makes them quite like she does.
The Birth of ‘Mommamakes‘
Though I started my brainchild, Mommamakes, during the pandemic, the seed for this enterprise had been planted in my mind way before that. My mom was always an excellent cook, and I was keen to share my mom’s delicious Sindhi food with others. While working for an event company before the lockdown, I approached Sindhi and occasionally non-Sindhi wedding clients to include my mom’s Sindhi dishes, such as kari-chawaran, bhugo mutton, daal pakwan, or koki, in their menus, which helped secure some freelance gigs for my mom.
I wanted to take Mom’s food on a larger platform, but I realised that our residential area, Ulhasnagar, had many places that offered Sindhi dishes at competitive prices, and it was not the right market for her freshly cooked food. Instead of starting a cloud kitchen, I decided to sell packaged foods, such as the pickles Mom made at home. The expiry of pickles is not time-sensitive, unlike freshly cooked foods, and can be easily dispatched for long-distance orders. So, pickles seemed a perfect product to showcase mom’s cooking.
Building from Scratch
Since I had no background in the commercial food industry, I wanted to know how to start a venture selling Sindhi pickles. After graduating during the lockdown, I devoted myself to learning about designing a logo, starting an FMCG business, the licenses required to start a food business, and how to procure them. My vision was to build a Sindhi food market for the future, so I registered our products on Amazon and started a commercial website, www.mommamakes.in, selling Mom’s products.
I zeroed in on ‘ajrakh’ cloth as the covers of the pickle bottles. ‘Ajrakh’ is an intricate form of block printing on fabric, and as it has originated in Sindh, it is a perfect motif to symbolise Sindhi heritage.
The Products
Mom decided to sell 15-16 types of traditional Sindhi khataain such as potli achaar – an almost forgotten traditional recipe of spice-filled mulmul potlis preserved in tangy vinegar, tukran wariyun ambriyun – a classic diced mango pickle bursting with bold Sindhi spices and mustartd oil, murbo – a traditional preserve of ripe mango slices soaked in spiced sugar syrup, chhundo- a sweet pickle made of grated mangoes, lima mirch adrak achaar – a no-oil pickle of lemons, chillies and ginger fermented in lemon juice, rai wara mirch – green chillies filled with coarsely ground mustard seeds. We also included pickles made using red chillies, amla (gooseberry) and bhee (lotus stem). Through our sweets category, ‘Madhu’, we have added made-to-order Sindhi mithais, such as khorak, majun, singaran ji mithai, nariyal ja ladoo, and atte ja ladoo, to our repertoire.
We create gift hampers for weddings and festivals, as well as customised thalis (platters) of mithais featuring gold or silver coins embedded.
We are the pioneers in selling authentic traditional Sindhi pickles. Each jar of Sindhi khataain, or the traditional Sindhi sweet that Mom makes, is carefully and lovingly prepared at home, using only the finest ingredients. We ensure the best quality of the products we sell.
Mom handles the production aspect of the business. She gets help with cutting, cleaning, and peeling the produce, while I take care of the design, branding, packaging, sales, and marketing.
Our website also features many Sindhi staples, such as papad, kheecha, kachariyun, phudine ji tikki, gul beda, and thadaal – some of which are outsourced from women who produce these products at home. This is our way of uplifting these women by marketing their products on our website.
Mom makes all the spice masalas for kokis, fish pulao, Sindhi biryani, and even chaat masala from scratch, so we plan to offer freshly ground spices on our website. We may supply homemade ghee to our clients in the future.
The Challenges We Faced
Mom had always made pickles in small batches for the family, so making them in large quantities was challenging. Our early batches of pickles caught fungus and spoiled, which significantly hindered bulk production. After numerous trials and errors, we finally found a way to store and preserve the jars.
Initially, despite our efforts, sales were slow. However, I continued to learn and understand the business’s operations, and today, it is flourishing. We now receive inquiries to supply our products abroad.
Our Vision
I was surprised by the overwhelming response we received from Sindhis settled abroad who crave all things Sindhi, such as pudine ji tikki, kokum ja gul, kachriyun, kheecha, and more. Although I aim to introduce the products to international markets in the future, my current focus is on building the brand pan-India and establishing a strong offline presence through retail stores. I plan to explore all possibilities to expand our homemade Sindhi products business, thus preserving my mother’s legacy.
Contact ‘Mommamakes’ at www.mommamakes.in
Instagram Account: mommamakesofficial
Account narrated by: Divya Lohana
Written by: Jyoti Mulchandani
Give a Reply