A lot on their plate

Ever craved Bhagats rose soan rolls from Nagpur The sweetmeat brand is the undisputed king when it comes to preparing the worlds best soan papdi What about Karnatakas famous crispy fried rice crackers nippattu How about Bengals most favourite snackMukharochaks sweet and sour chanachur A Bengalurubased startup is making sure that you get to try trusted delicious food brands from across the country right in your homeStarted in 1956 by the late HR Ramaswamy Iyengar the Sreenivasa Brahmins Bakery began at the same spot in Basavanagudi selling bread and rusk to the local population in Bengaluru PicsAjeesh F RawtherLike the startups that launched this year this one too has its genesis in the Coronavirusinduced lockdown It was May two months since the national lockdown and Muskaan Sanchetis Marwari family in Bengaluru was panicking because they had run out of a staple papad When you hail from Rajasthan running out of papad is akin to a minor crisis says the 21yearold commerce graduate adding that after serious toil and being overcharged for delivery they managed to get their hands on a few packets from a store 15 km away from their Bannerghatta Road home Sancheti realised boththe importance of local eats to Indian families and how easily the distribution network could be disruptedSunita Nahata is from Bikaner Rajasthan and is passionate about baking Her ghee atta biscuits are a popular item on the websiteAlthough her original plan was to gain work experience before turning entrepreneur the lockdown didnt offer any opportunities and Sancheti decided to dive right in with friend Raghav JhawarKolkatabased Jhawar 21 is an extrovert and loves everything business A casual laugh about the Sanchetis papad crisis led the two to think up The State Plate an ecommerce platform that aims to sell highquality food brands from across Indias states A competitive analysis revealed that Rajasthans most authentic food brands werent available with ecommerce giants like Amazon By June the duo was building the website and by July they had supplies coming in from five statesH R Ramaswamy Iyengarrsquos Congress kadlekaayi and masala peanuts from Sreenivasa Brahmins Bakery have been famous in Bengaluru since 1956When the business picked up Jhawar moved to Bengaluru We started with products from just five states with an appointed dealerstockist in Bengaluru since we were just testing the model and wanted to keep things simple What was tough was negotiating the margins because we didnt have a lot of bargaining power The challenge wasnt sourcing good products but controlling margins Now that the country has opened up we have found better ways to research and hunt down diverse suppliers Now a lot of the products are procured directly from the source state says Jhawar who says speaking to friends and acquaintances from various regions of India helped them gauge which products had a fan following And then of course comes the tasting Do we like how it tastes and does someone who hails from the said state think it of authentic taste Of course some of the brands that we have are iconicSankethi Nutriments Pvt Ltd is a 10yearold enterprise and is endorsed by 20 lakh customers worldwide Their Nippattu by Adukale are to die for says the State Plate teamProduct development is an ongoing process and the idea was to keep getting better through product reviews and suggestions Our existing market consists primarily of adults over the age of 25 and we find more female customers than male Youth and millennials arent a core target at the moment perhaps because they are a bit removed from traditional flavours unlike the older lot But we would like to get them acquainted with the diversity of flavours India has to offer and broaden the target market Sancheti says Mumbaikars are more given to order munchies or some staplesMuskaan Sancheti and Raghav Jhawar launched The State Plate in August this year The ecommerce platform hopes to source and sell authentic packaged products from states across IndiaPeople order staples because its tough to find authentic snacks like papad chutneys and homemade pickles We also get orders for Karnatakaspecific foods from Mumbai where young professionals have moved for work Jhawar adds Of the 500 items available on the site two of the three bestsellers are Maharashtra brands Chitale Bandhu bhakarwadi and Laxminarayan chivda from Pune The third is Parshumal Bhujiya from Rajasthan he shares But his personal favourite is West Bengals Mukharochak sweet and sour chanachur Shanta jis Manchurian khakhra and Rajasthani papad and bhujia Sancheti says among the sweets its the Palis gulab halwa and Amralis dry fruit barfi that are fast sellersThe site manages to keep stock of at least 70 per cent of the total product list Items that have low shelf life and need to be freshly procured are dispatched within two days Most orders take three to four days to reach Indias major metros Far off destinations like cities in Northeast India are serviced in six to seven days Jhawar says Our customers say they are loving our service and the courier companies have adapted to COVID19 norms and work efficientlyThe midday verdictWe ordered gulab halwa Rs 225 from Pali Rajasthan Mukharochak sweet and sour chanachur snack Rs 70 from West Bengal Gangwal jirawan masala Rs 45 from Indore and Katdare goda masala Rs 50 from Maharashtra The parcels reached the writers Mumbai residence in four daysWhile the halwa had the perfect balance of premium and handpicked ingredients the chanachur was a simple tasty munchie The MP masala is good to sprinkle on poha or curries for an Indori touch and the goda masala worked well in our preparation of masaale bhaatKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel 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