“Hey Siri. Get me an ice cream.”
“Positive, listed here are some solutions.”
What if digital assistants may truly dole out ice lotions as an alternative of simply solutions?
Properly, whereas Apple’s Siri doesn’t have that characteristic, there may be one other Siri that gives scrumptious ice lotions in elements of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. What’s much more particular is that these ice-creams are millet-based and vegan.
4 pals — Prabu Venugopal, Shashidhar, Arun Prakash, and Bhargav — began ‘Siri’, a vegan ice-cream parlour in Trichy, Tamil Nadu to alter the definition of this frozen dessert within the nation.
Though these globetrotters hailed from totally different industries, they shared a standard thread — all of them had farming backgrounds. So after working in several elements of the world, the 4 professionals give up their soft jobs and returned to their hometowns — Prabu and Arun to Trichy; Shashidhar and Bhargav to Hyderabad — in 2016.
They then pooled their various experiences in resort administration, meals science, advertising and finance, and brainstormed concepts to make use of their farmland as a useful useful resource to construct a thriving meals enterprise.
Obsessed with constructing sustainable meals techniques, they zeroed in on rising India’s conventional supergrains — millets. Identified for its drought-resistant qualities and dietary advantages, millet appeared like the proper candidate to advertise each well being and sustainability. Their efforts gave beginning to ‘Siri Millets’ in 2017 with a mission to popularise the grain by value-added merchandise like snacks, flakes, vermicelli, pasta, and rather more.
Simply as they had been about to launch their merchandise on a grand scale, the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a big blow to their meticulously deliberate methods. But, this adversity turned out to be a hidden blessing, spurring them to innovate. Out of this problem emerged the concept of millet-based ice cream!
The trail was not straightforward, but they endured with analysis and growth for eight months. Lastly, their labour of affection, ‘Siri – Home of Vegan Ice Lotions’, was launched in 2020. With 4 purposeful retailers immediately, they’re planning to increase their footprint by 10 to fifteen shops within the coming few months.
Past offering a vegan, extra nutritious various to ice cream, they’re additionally engaged on educating kids concerning the significance of consuming habits by consciousness programmes.
So how did they make this millet-based ice cream a actuality?
From 4 elements of the world to India
Prabu (45), a hotelier with over 25 years of expertise within the subject, crossed paths with Shashidhar (37), a meals scientist, by work. They grew to become pals over their frequent love for meals and vitamin. Arun (33), a advertising skilled working within the UK, was Prabu’s neighbour in Trichy, whereas Bhargav (39) is a fintech skilled working within the USA and Shashidhar’s brother.
Though work took them to totally different continents, all of them needed to finally come again to be with their ageing mother and father. Their households owned farmlands on which they grew paddy, which was turning into an issue resulting from local weather change and water shortage.
“Earlier than the inexperienced revolution, our grandparents had been rising millets like jowar, ragi, and bajra on their farms, which require much less water and are resilient to local weather change. The arrival of the inexperienced revolution triggered a shift to paddy,” Shashidhar tells The Higher India.
Prabu chimes in, as Arun and his household too, share the same story.
It’s no secret that farmers within the delta districts of Tamil Nadu, together with Trichy, have skilled years of poor paddy yields resulting from inadequate water for irrigation, forcing many to hunt various employment.
Hours of debate earlier than they give up their jobs led them to discover the potential of cultivating millets on their present land in Trichy and Hyderabad. Shashidhar even bought an extra 40 acres of land and began rising jowar, ragi, and seasonal greens.
Whereas rising millets was one a part of the imaginative and prescient, the opposite half was drawn from their experiences. They seen a shift in direction of wholesome, vegan meals internationally.
“I seen that dietary necessities had been altering. There was an rising demand for vegan, non-dairy options, as extra individuals are getting lactose illiberal. In different elements of the world, folks had been asking for almond and oats milk, which made us surprise about an Indian, vegan various,” Prabu tells The Higher India.
Within the first couple of years after beginning Siri Millets, they launched millet laddoos, cookies, vermicelli, and rava. They piloted these value-added merchandise in Telangana and Gujarat by offering them to college students in authorities faculties for 45 days free of charge.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the nation, interrupting their grand launch, the 4 pals returned to their drafting board to chalk out new plans to avert the setback. That’s when Shashidhar urged venturing into the vegan ice cream market.
‘What would an Indian various to almond or oats milk be?’ they puzzled. Prabu recalled his go to to Karnataka, the place he had seen milk being extracted from ragi and given to youngsters. With this perception, they thought ‘Why not extract milk from millets and convert it into ice cream?’
This thought led them to launch their hero product — millet ice cream.
The group labored out of a 300 sqft house in Trichy, the place they procured machines and began engaged on methods to extract milk from totally different millets. Over the course of six months, they discovered that the foremost millets — jowar, bajra, ragi, and foxtail millet — produced good outcomes. They then experimented with totally different sweeteners and fruits, and developed these ice-creams.
A made-in-India vegan ice-cream
After six months of analysis and growth, they lastly began testing. They provided samples to neighbours and gated communities in Trichy. The general suggestions was constructive with recent fruit ice-creams rising a transparent winner.
They labored on the suggestions for 2 extra months after which launched their first ‘Siri – Home of Vegan Ice Lotions’ retailer in Trichy in 2020. The flavours they provide vary from vanilla, chocolate, mango, jackfruit, and jamun, to pink guava, dates, banana, musk melon, strawberry, and extra.
“In contrast to coconut milk, which is utilized in vegan ice lotions, millet milk is delicate and doesn’t dominate different flavours. We use totally different sweeteners in several ice lotions, relying on the fruits getting used. For instance, jaggery works properly with some fruits, whereas palm sugar works higher with some. It additionally varies relying on the millet getting used,” explains Prabu, including that additionally they promote shakes, waffles, brownies, and different merchandise of their retailer.
One scoop of ice cream is priced at Rs 30, and a one-litre pack is offered for Rs 800.
Other than that, additionally they realised that these nutritious ice lotions are a great way to introduce youngsters to millets and get them to fall in love with this conventional Indian grain! “Kids consider millets as a punishment. Analysis reveals that children like ice lotions and shakes, so, this is able to be mode to introduce them to those powerhouses of vitamin,” says Shashidhar.
The millets are procured from their very own farms, and different farmers in Theni, Dharmapuri, and Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu.
The enterprise is totally self-funded, with every of the 4 founders investing a good portion of their financial savings into realising their dream. Their most vital hurdle post-launch has been the widespread lack of knowledge surrounding millets. To handle this, they’ve been diligently engaged in client schooling initiatives, conducting consciousness campaigns in faculties, schools, and establishments.
“We realised that step one was to create buyer consciousness. We began visiting faculties and schools to coach the youth concerning the significance of nutritious consuming habits. We imagine that data is the important thing to transformation,” provides Shashidhar.
In addition they take college students on a manufacturing facility tour to point out them the manufacturing course of. In 2023, they established a manufacturing facility in Trichy, with a ten,000-litre capability per shift.
This yr, they’ve opened retailers in Hyderabad close to the Statue of Equality and one in Rajahmundry. They’re poised to launch 10 to 12 extra retailers within the coming few months.
“For us, group engagement is equally necessary. It’s a motion to convey again the treasures of our ancestors, tailored to satisfy the wants of immediately’s world,” says Prabu.
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Because the nation is seeing an rising shift in direction of millets, this can be a novel approach to embrace them in our eating regimen.
Edited by Pranita Bhat, Pictures Courtesy Prabu Venugopal
