“For the primary time, I paid for my very own journey and went to Dubai!”
“This platform helped me construct my identification.”
“I really feel very assured in the present day.”
“Throughout menopause, staying busy is essential to maintain temper swings at bay.”
These are the cooks of Tocco, an e-commerce platform that curates home-cooked specialties from throughout the nation. From Uma Suresh’s prawn pickles in Kerala to Bhavana Shah’s nankhatais (biscuits) in Mumbai, and Annie Philip’s matured plum cake in Bengaluru, Tocco is a melting pot of regional delicacies!
Such girls will be discovered in every single place — you simply must look and spend a couple of minutes speaking to them. Ask your mom or aunt about their needs, and if they’re something like Bhavana or Uma, they might have undoubtedly harboured desires of making their very own identification by means of cooking. Tocco makes it simple for neighbourhood house cooks to just do that, with out the effort of branding or advertising and marketing.
The thought for this platform was born from founder Reshma Suresh’s personal want to expertise the style of house whereas dwelling away. After transferring to Mumbai for work, she discovered herself caught within the cycle of consuming outdoors, at all times craving her amma’s tasty meals. Realising she wasn’t the one one on the lookout for genuine Kerala meals, she began making banana chips and promoting them by means of her model, ‘MeenGurry Recollections’, in 2021.
Packing recollections of her amma and ammamma’s (grandmother’s) generations-old recipe for the right, skinny, and crispy banana chips turned out to be a game-changer for Reshma, who was then working at an AI/healthcare startup.
Her ardour undertaking quickly took on a lifetime of its personal when she launched her mom’s prawn and mango pickle. Slightly than making the meals herself, Reshma determined to create a platform the place folks like her mom and aunt may promote their dishes immediately. This could assist them turn into financially impartial and switch their ardour right into a thriving enterprise. For patrons, it gives a method to benefit from the native delicacies they crave!
Began in 2023, Tocco now has over 16 cooks, each women and men, largely of their 50s, whose desires have been given wings by means of the platform! Beginning with simply Rs 5,000, the bootstrapped enterprise achieved a turnover of over Rs 1 crore within the present yr. Right here’s how Reshma is empowering these with a lifelong dream.
Packing childhood recollections in a field
Reshma, an engineer, moved to Mumbai in 2012 for work. She labored in healthcare startups for over a decade, gaining first-hand expertise in healthcare and well being tech. Becoming a member of these startups from their infancy, she had a front-row understanding of what it takes to scale a startup.
Busy with work, an enormous portion of her 20s was spent consuming out or cooking for herself. She always craved home-cooked meal, similar to those her mom used to make.
“I missed my roots and the meals I grew up consuming. Each time I visited house in Kochi, I introduced again staples like banana chips, pickles, and podis (spice powders), which made cooking a meal very simple.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t discover a constant and handy provide of meals that jogged my memory of house,” Reshma tells The Higher India.
Her hectic schedule coupled with late nights led to plenty of restaurant meals. Just a few years later, Reshma was recognized with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). This prognosis triggered her seek for more healthy, genuine, home-cooked regional meals. Sadly, she couldn’t discover something prefer it in Mumbai.
Her sister, Annu, who lived in Bengaluru, confronted the identical dilemma — failing to search out meals that bottled the recollections of Kerala. Lengthy discussions between the sisters led to Reshma creating expertise bins in 2021, providing conventional Kerala meals over the weekends. Ready in her Mumbai kitchen, one dish clearly stood out — the banana chips.
So she determined to promote these chips underneath her enterprise ‘MeenGurry Recollections’ (‘meen gurry’ means fish curry), as a homage to their shared recollections across the eating desk. Each weekend, she curated completely different meal bins whereas persevering with her job throughout the week.
Whereas working MeenGurry Recollections, Reshma realised that it was necessary to do one thing to advertise cooks like her mom Uma and aunt Lakshmi.
The sister duo, Uma and Lakshmi, had participated in a cooking contest on a TV channel known as ‘Mazhavil Manorama’ in 2019. They have been among the many semi-finalists, which was an enormous motivation for them.
“We realised that there’s immense potential for folks like our dad and mom who’re retired or dwelling alone. They should be engaged. I then requested my mom to make her well-known prawn and mango pickle, a childhood favorite of many. I packaged it and began promoting it,” says Reshma.
Quickly, Lakshmi’s mulga podi (gun powder), sambar powder, and different merchandise have been additionally launched. Reshma, an MBA graduate from IIT Bombay, then created a platform to promote these nostalgic merchandise, naming it ‘Tocco’. The identify, quick for ‘The Orange Sweet Co’, made sense as a result of, for Reshma, the final word image of nostalgia was the orange candies she shared along with her sister throughout childhood.
With Tocco, the purpose was to pack this childhood nostalgia in a field for different folks to get pleasure from. In late 2022, she stop her job to totally concentrate on constructing the platform.
After onboarding the primary two cooks, Reshma introduced in additional, increasing the platform to incorporate over 16 cooks from completely different cities in Kerala, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. They provide snacks like banana chips, jackfruit chips, shankarpali (a candy snack), masalas like chaat masala, sambar masala, rasam podi (spice powder), pickles like prawn, lower mango, do-it-yourself curd chilli, and puli inji (ginger pickle) amongst others.
For 58-year-old Uma Suresh, who has been cooking since she was in Class 6, Tocco has given new that means to her life. “Cooking is my ardour. I might at all times pack some pickles for anybody who got here house. I at all times dreamed of working a enterprise however didn’t know the right way to. Because of my daughters, I’ve made a reputation for myself,” says Uma.
In truth, Uma and her sister Lakshmi launched into journeys to Dubai and Goa utilizing their very own earnings!
Bhavana Shah, 51, from Mumbai, who makes snacks and starters and runs cooking courses, says Tocco has given her a renewed sense of vigour.
“Work is essential for ladies over 50, particularly when going by means of menopause. Coping with the recent flashes and temper swings is less complicated once we are busy. Whereas I had common clients in Vile Parle, Tocco has helped folks throughout the nation uncover who I’m. I thank Reshma for giving me a brand new identification,” says Bhavana.
The platform additionally gives flexibility to cooks like Bhavana, who often travels overseas to go to her kids. Moreover, Tocco assists with branding and advertising and marketing, that are main challenges in establishing a enterprise.
From Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 crore!
In line with Reshma, the workforce at Tocco ensures that every one merchandise are do-it-yourself, fastidiously crafted in small batches, and preservative-free.
To turn into a chef at Tocco, one should apply on the web site. After an preliminary name, the highest three dishes of the chef are mentioned.
“The dishes have to be wholesome, preservative free, and have a shelf lifetime of a minimum of 30 days. They need to be regional or native specialities. We ask them for an ingredient record and take the subsequent steps primarily based on that. No palm oil is allowed. Cooks ship samples of their dishes, which a spotlight group tastes. We advise modifications, and if happy, we start the onboarding course of,” says Reshma.
Since most cooks don’t have a model of their very own, Tocco helps them with the packaging, branding, and labelling. They examine their kitchens, prepare them, and even assist with getting an FSSAI certification, in case they don’t have one.
As soon as Tocco receives an order, they ship it to the chef, who makes the dish to order and ships it. The platform handles order administration, packing, transport, and buyer care.
“I need to present entry to wholesome, do-it-yourself meals for busy folks. The most important motivation is seeing cooks like my mom reside an impartial life because of their earnings. A lot of them wouldn’t have had the chance to promote their merchandise on a big scale. We’re offering a possibility to them,” she says.
At the moment, Tocco processes over 1,000 orders monthly. They plan to onboard extra cooks and increase their operations. Reshma divides her time between Mumbai and Kochi, the place she has arrange a facility for manufacturing the banana chips, considered one of their greatest promoting merchandise.
In line with Reshma, the largest problem is convincing clients to attend for his or her orders. “Our USP is that every part is made in small batches. With the rise of fast commerce, clients typically count on next-day supply, which turns into difficult,” she says.
Tocco is inspiring confidence in folks throughout age teams, particularly of their 50s and 60s.
“Don’t restrict your self to the partitions of the kitchen. Be assured, step ahead, and construct one thing that retains you engaged. Incomes your personal revenue is necessary, and age is not any barrier to ranging from scratch,” says Uma.
Edited by Khushi Arora; Photographs Courtesy Reshma Suresh
