Now, students and families staying away from home in foreign lands can enjoy Andhra’s Kakinada kaja , Maharashtra’s Bhakarwadi or an authentic taste of Agra’s famous petha at the click of the mouse.
Thanks to the initiative of three foodies — Raja Sekhar Pentakota, Bhyrava Murthy Mutnuri, and Gowthami Kanumuru — who founded the food start-up, Native Taste, delivering traditional sweets and savouries across India and abroad.
In November 2014, they co-founded Native Taste, an online platform that offers famous Indian sweets and snacks from vendors across the country and delivers them on your doorstep. The start-up recently kick-started its international deliveries to the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, and has already seen an overwhelming response.
Logistic costs
“We have already completed 15 orders in New York, New Jersey, California, Texas, and Washington in the U.S. and six each in the U.K. and Australia. The international orders are delivered in just four days. That’s where we are getting an edge over other players. But logistic costs are high. For instance, a 2 kg product would cost around Rs. 2,000,” said Mr. Raja Sekhar.
Taking the business model to the next level, the start-up is tying up with the Hyderabad-based restaurant, Kitchens of India, as strategic partner.
The start-up is looking to raise funds to the tune of Rs. 1.5 crore through the deal.
“Once the deal is through, they will help us in food research while we will handle the order deliveries. For our international deliveries, we plan to set up a hub in Hyderabad in collaboration with Kitchens of India,” he added.
Native Taste presently has 60 varieties of traditional Indian snacks and sweets of A.P., Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka.
“ The uniqueness is that the delicacy we supply is directly procured from the place of origin. For instance, the Madugula halwa is procured from the vendor in Madugula in the district, who is the fourth generation of a family that was the first to prepare the delicacy more than 180 years ago,” said Mr. Raja Sekhar.
All the products currently offered have a shelf life of more than 10 days.
“For a few food items like the Kakinada kaja , whose shelf life is less than one week, we are restricting the delivery to A.P., Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu,” he added.
The start-up has identified 10 more unique snacks and sweets from Tamil Nadu and Kerala such as Thirnelveli halwa , Muscoth halwa , kara sevu , Kozhikodan halwa and sharkra varatti which will be added to its list shortly.
“By the end of this year, we want to cover the entire South India and eventually the rest of India so that the portal will represent Indian heritage of ethnic sweets and snacks,” the co-founders of Native Taste added.
