If Manjunath P.R. had it his way, he would use the word ‘love’ for every time he had to say ‘organic’, he says. The founder of Lumiere Organic Store, newly opened on M.P. Appan Road in Vazhuthacaud, is happy to be sharing his produce with the people of one more city.
Lumiere, “because without light, there is nothing”, he explains, before settling to talk about a journey that has been 16 years in the making. With three outlets in Bengaluru, where he is based, the idea of a store in the capital was suggested by his long-time customers, Narayanan and Sangeetha. “We bought our groceries only from there during the five years we lived in Bengaluru,” Sangeetha says. Her husband, Narayanan, was reminded of the tangy tomatoes in the sambar from his childhood when he first had a taste of the red fruit from the store. “When we returned to Thiruvananthapuram, we thought why not one more organic store in the city,” he adds.
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Abundant produce
Twice a week, the store is stocked with fresh produce from Manjunath’s farms in Bengaluru. So there are bunches of vibrant greens, seasonal fruits such as watermelons, pineapples and mangoes, and garden vegetables. “Wait for the season and I can bring you apples from Shimla and Kashmir, and oranges from Nagpur,” he says, as a promoter of the seed to table concept. This is apart from pulses, eggs from free-range chicken, cereals, pasta, noodles, jams, pickles, juice concentrates, bread, cookies, condiments, cakes and savouries made under the Lumiere label using all-organic ingredients.
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Three stores later, the former software professional reveals that he is yet to break even in the market. “People think I am crazy for giving up what I used to do,” he says with a grin. In a past life, Manjunath was based in California as an employee of computer technology giant Oracle. On one of his trips to India, he decided on returning to Kerala for good.
“A lot of people were turning to organic farming in California then, in the early 2000s. So we started with fruits and vegetables on a plot I bought in Munnar. Though not financially rewarding, the produce was heartwarming as the land was fertile.” Manjunath then went on to experiment with zero-budget farming and natural compost, eventually doing a course in bio-dynamic farming in Kodaikanal. An organic store and restaurant materialised in Kochi soon. “But it was still too early then. We had loyal customers but it was never financially viable.” The road has been a rocky one.
Folding both ventures, Manjunath moved to Bengaluru in 2008, taking land on lease initially and also opening Lumiere retail store there. The restaurateur in Manjunath did not lose hope, and an organic restaurant was functioning yet again, this time in Bengaluru. As it failed to take off, Manjunath began to focus on agriculture and retailing. In a little more than two years, Lumiere grew to three locations in the city. Manjunath now also owns farms in Thali in Tamil Nadu and Kotur and Sarjapur in Bangalore.
Manjunath’s wife, Sandhya, oversees the bakery production unit and kitchen. The rice is from Palakkad, pulses from Jaipur and Dehradun, all organically certified and from places Manjunath has visited. Ninety % of Lumiere’s perishables come from their own farms with the rest sourced from friends who, like them, have also given up plum jobs and turned to organic farming. “The odds are stacked against us as the prices are high owing to the logistics, then there’s product loss incurred owing to damage, but we believe in what we do,” he says.
“The challenge lies with customers as they now have to recognise the authenticity of what is being made available to them. I am not a nutritionist, researcher or social worker but my aim is to provide food without poison. My jams will spoil in a few weeks unless refrigerated; my bread will turn mouldy in a day or two because they don’t have preservatives. My philosophy is to not contaminate anything. Then, we can preserve this space for future generations.”
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