Food start-up Tocco connects home chefs from across the country with people looking for healthy snack options

Although a few of these or their iterations can be obtainable in supermarkets and on-line e-commerce platforms, “it would lack the emotion of ‘mom or dad’ made food,” says Reshma. Despite the comfort, takeout would seldom be ‘authentic’. The large query — would it not all be hygienically ready? For occasion, what of the high quality of the components?   

Mulagu podi made by Lakshmi Mohan
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“Food is after all an emotion,” says Reshma, the founding father of Tocco, a ‘social commerce’ platform that sells home-cooked snacks and meal accompaniments, which it sources from a community of vetted home chefs sprinkled across the country. “My career has nothing to do with food; I worked in tech-building in the health-care sector. But food has become my passion project,” she says over the cellphone from Mumbai.  

Home made snacks

A mixture of things — a weekend venture making small batches of banana chips, which grew to change into the plantain chips model Meengurry Memories in 2021, and a hiatus from work led to the thought and subsequently a prototype of Tocco in 2022. With the thought taking root, she requested household — mom and aunt — to ship gadgets that they made of their kitchens: chammanthi podi, prawn-mango pickle, veppila katti… as a check run, promoting them to her Meengurry shoppers. 

Reshma Suresh, founding father of Tocco
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Over the subsequent 12 months, the thought of an e-commerce platform for home chefs completely promoting do-it-yourself gadgets crystallised and, lastly, in 2023, Tocco was smooth launched.

Several months of homework went into getting Tocco up and operating. ‘Packing nostalgia’ has strict parameters — it needs to be made in a home kitchen with out preservatives with a shelf lifetime of between 20 to 30 days. “Our selection process is thorough. We cannot afford to compromise. The processes are stringent as are the terms of onboarding. We look at photographs and videos of the kitchen — the space, cleanliness — besides sampling the product and keeping track of the ingredients,” provides Reshma. All home chefs are FSSAI-certified. 

Once the homechef and their kitchen is vetted, subsequent comes tasting by a panel comprising present prospects, skilled chefs, and the high quality management group. The views are requested to ship their prime two merchandise as samples. After tasting, tweaks are urged primarily based on the suggestions. This is the first time that the majority home chefs have been a part of a enterprise like Tocco. “Since they are first-timers at this we provide a best practices training module, for instance, using separate utensils or pricing and eco-friendly packaging.” 

Over the two years of existence, it has constructed a base of round 15,000 prospects, and on boarded 30-odd home chefs from Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and rising. This shouldn’t be a market in a business sense, she provides. 

“We are agnostic in terms of the region and gender (of chefs) but yes, most of them are women and there are husband and wife pairs too,” says Reshma. Most of them are aged 45 and above, the oldest is 66 years outdated. They are both on a break from their jobs, retired or have by no means labored earlier than. Tocco, they are saying, has been a confidence enhance not simply in monetary phrases but in addition when it comes to what they’ll do. 

Mona Mehta
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Bhavana Shah, 52, of Mumbai has been with Tocco for two years, since inception. Her specialities are flax seeds puri, mini nan khatai, and Maharashtra poha chivda. She used to conduct on-line lessons for starters and desserts throughout lockdown. “Whatever I cook, I do it like I would for my family, for my kids. This is a platform for me to showcase our skills, be proud of ourselves and what we can do,” she says. She does the whole lot herself, “this is not mass produced, just in small batches in my kitchen. I can do this myself,” she says. 

Lakshmi Mohan
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Reshma’s mom’s sister, Lakshmi Mohan, additionally a homemaker, who was one in every of the first people to change into part of Tocco echoes the sentiment. Of how she got here to be a part of it, Kozhikode-based Lakshmi says, “I was anyway making chutney podi for my kids, so it was not too different when Reshma asked me to join her. I make rasam and sambar podi. Since these are made on order, there is no pressure to make it in quantities and stock. I can do it at my own pace and I do everything myself.” The 60-year-old economics graduate has by no means labored however she is having fun with herself. 

Chips, pickles and spice mixes

Banana chips, diamond cuts, lower mango pickle, prawn pickle, tuna pickle, murukku, chemmeen chamanthi (chutney) podi, kasuri methi shakkarpara, makkai chivda, masala cookies, metkut powder, chaat masala, Hyderabadi biryani masala, and moringa chutney powder are the different gadgets on their product checklist.  

Although their merchandise comprise snacks, pickles, and podis, their greatest market is snacks. There isn’t any fastened amount of snacks every home chef sells month-to-month, on a median it’s round 10 to twenty kilograms, in the case of pickles it’s 10 kilos every week. “The monthly income of each depends on the quantity they sell; during Christmas time one of our home chefs who makes plum cakes made close to ₹1 lakh. Our focus is not quantity but quality,” says Reshma. 

Since most of the Tocco merchandise shouldn’t be pre-made and stocked, it eases strain on the home chefs. As the snacks are do-it-yourself, on order, the supply time may be longer. 

Annie Philip
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Bengaluru-based Annie Philip bakes plum muffins. The home baker used to present her muffins to household and pals however by no means considered taking the business route till Reshma, the daughter of household pals approached her. 

“There is no pressure to be constantly working and getting stuff ready plus my regular routine is not affected as I work at my pace; the cakes have a 30-day shelf life which also eases pressure. Eight cakes in one batch, and two hours of work. How much more comfortable can it get?” she asks. Last December alone she offered greater than 200 muffins. 

Bhavana Shah
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Listening to those ladies, one comes away feeling that this isn’t nearly the cash. It is about having the ability to use their time and expertise, and feeling good about it. Mona Mehta, 59, additionally from Mumbai, has been related with Tocco for the previous six months. This is the first time the homemaker is ‘working’.  Her specialty is cornflakes chivda, which she makes with assist from her husband. “I joined Tocco as ‘time-pass’ but I have come to enjoy myself. I dispatch 20 to 30 packets (155 grams each) a week. The feedback feels good and it gives me a sense of independence too,” she provides.

So what does the title Tocco stand for ? “Tocco is The Orange Candy Co (like the nostalgic orange candy we all had growing up?) It also means touch in Italian, symbolising the touch of our parents as they prepare food!”