62 year old Usha Shrotiya has turned her lifelong love of cooking into a thriving food business called ‘Mama Nourish’. Her work brings a modern twist to traditional laddus, preserving their heritage and adapting them to today’s busy lifestyle. With customers at 150 companies, including Google, Netflix, and IKEA, its innovation has received widespread acclaim.
Mama Nourish’ Brings Traditional Laddoos To The Modern Market
The story behind ‘Mama Nourish’ began with a personal challenge. Usha’s son, Yash Parashar, loved rice noodles but struggled to carry a crunchy laddu to work. Usha joked about it and took it to heart. Determined to find a solution, he began working to turn these laddu stands into sturdy, portable trees. Her dedication took her through 80 failed attempts before she perfected the recipe.
Usha’s entrepreneurial journey began later in life, when most people think of retirement. Hailing from a small village in Uttar Pradesh, Usha was keen to become a police officer. However, her mother opposed this practise, considering it inappropriate for a young girl. Instead, Usha’s life revolved around traditional family chores, and her entrepreneurial dreams were hampered by her lack of support.
Marketing The Laddu Bars
Decades later, as a grandmother, Usha got to pursue her passion. While visiting her son and daughter-in-law in Mumbai in 2021, she made Gond ke laddus for them. This gesture was inspired by her own postpartum care experience, where such laddus were a staple. When her daughter was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, Usha changed her diet by using dates instead of sugar. The results were desirable, but the difficulty of sharing such delicacies led him to consider a more practical solution.
A study conducted by Yash reinforced Usha’s objective, which showed that professionals miss the taste of traditional food and fear losing these recipes in the hustle and bustle of modern life, and this insight inspired motivation to market their laddu bars.
In January 2024, it launched ‘Mama Nourish’, offering laddu bars packed with millet, fenugreek, dried fruits, ginger, and cassava seeds. The startup quickly gained traction, getting its first order from Netflix and quickly expanding its customer base to include big companies like Meta, IKEA, and Axis Bank. For busy employees, they even introduced vending machines at airports in varieties in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad.
The response was overwhelming, with Mama Noorish selling more than 100,000 copies in the months that followed. The company has grown tenfold since its inception and is receiving enquiries from as far away as Australia, California, and Germany.
Cover Image Courtesy: Mama Nourish/ Website