Since I was a child, I was always interested in cooking. While other kids played with Barbie dolls, I played with ladle and cooking pots. It was unlikely for a child to be spending her time in the kitchen, but I was inspired by various factors, and the biggest of them all was my grandmother. She used to make the best food with loads of love and oodles of ghee. Actually, no kidding!
I used to spend time with her in the kitchen and her cow shed, and that’s where I learnt the secret of her tastiest foods. She used to make the tastiest-food with simplest ingredients. I grew watching my grandmom create magic in the kitchen and I too wanted to create that magic. I knew that I wanted to create something of my own. I was always interested in starting a business in the food industry, so I decided to bring both my passion Food and Business together.
I started Rootly from a small cow shed in my house, which I renovated and transformed according to the requirements of my business.
When it came to naming the business, my designer Kurul and me brainstormed a lot. The first name my designer ever gave was Rootly, we went through other options too, but came back to the first name as nothing felt so meaningful as Rootly as it perfectly summed my relationships with my grandmoms. I wanted to give a tribute to all my three grand moms Govinda, Dhanam and Jayam who have always played a vital role in my cooking interest and knowledge over the years and Rootly felt apt. So the brand concept being my grand mom as the root and me branching out from there. Kurul played an important role in building Rootly, as she took the brand as hers and came up with the beautiful packaging and look for Rootly.
We started off with five products intially and received good response. The products were made using my grandmother’s age-old techniques and process. After running the business for a while, we decided to pause because we felt the brand could do better with an in-depth research and planning. So we stopped the production. This decision was definitely one of the toughest thing I had to do. But one thing I knew was I won’t give up now. That is all thanks to Venilla Akka, my (Add designation or role in rootly) who believed in me and Rootly. My parents have always been my mentors and have guided me in this journey. As both my parents are from food industry, their support played an important role in shaping the business.
My dad made me go one step closer to my goal. I always had the ‘fusion concept with tradional make’ so I decided to take this concept ahead. Hence, the entire product range changed to fusion of traditional and modern. We want our customers to feel the same traditional taste in our product as they feel from their grandma’s kitchen (made with love and warmth) and yet expereince a modern twist of taste. We operate strictly under my grandmom’s supervision to make sure to deliver what we promise.
Now we are a team for five and have come up with a whole new range of product from laddos to barfis, from thattais to murukkus. We have curated each product with atmost care, keeping in mind each element of the product. We are also mindful of our ingredients, processes and logistics and are building a brand that would give you an experience like never before.