Remember to crave for homemade pickles, mulagu podi, chammanthi podi, poha, cookies and chivdaWhen you were away from home? If you live or have lived away from home – either as a student or for work – you know this. And this was something that Mumbai-based engineer Reshma Suresh felt acutely when she moved to work in Mumbai, away from her home in Kochi. Those care packets from home with pickles, mulagu podi, chammanathi podi (chutney powder) and banana and jackfruit chips were eagerly awaited.
Although some of these or their iterations will be available in supermarkets and online e-commerce platforms, “It will lack the feeling of ‘mom or dad’ made food,” says Reshma. Despite convenience, takeout will rarely be ‘authentic’. The big question – will all this be prepared hygienically? For example, what is the quality of the content?
Mulagu Podi made by Lakshmi Mohan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“After all, food is an emotion,” says Reshma, founder of Toko, a ‘social commerce’ platform that sells home-made snacks and meal accompaniments, which it sources from a network of verified home cooks spread across the country. “My career has nothing to do with food; I’ve worked in tech manufacturing in the health care sector. But food has become my passion project,” she says over the phone from Mumbai.
Homemade Breakfast
A combination of factors – a weekend project making small batches of banana chips, which became the plantain chips brand Minaguri Memories in 2021, and a hiatus from work led to the idea and later a prototype of Toko in 2022. With the idea taking root, she asked the family – mother and aunts – to send her the items they made in their kitchen: chammanthi podi, prawn-mango pickle, vepila katti., As a test, they were selling them to their miniguri customers.
Reshma Suresh, Tokyo | Founder Photo Courtesy: Special Arrangement
Over the next year, the idea of an e-commerce platform selling household items exclusively for home cooks took shape and finally, in 2023, Toko was soft launched.
It took months of homework to get Toko up and running. ‘Packing Nostalgia’ has strict parameters – it must be made in home kitchens without preservatives with a shelf life of between 20 and 30 days. Reshma says, “Our selection process is thorough. We can’t compromise. The processes are stringent and so are the onboarding conditions. We look at pictures and videos of the kitchen – the space, the cleanliness – apart from sampling the product and tracking the ingredients.” All in-house chefs are FSSAI-certified.
Toko’s plans
TOCO is also part of the Kerala Government project Samagra Kottarakara, where they are helping to build a community kitchen in Kottarakara near Kollam to generate livelihood for men and women by manufacturing products for TOCO with locally sourced raw materials. Reshma’s plan with Toko, to ‘integrate’ it into everyday meals, is working. Along with meals like pickles, podi and kondattam and snacks, she also likes to stock up on cooking essentials – spice powders (chilli, turmeric, coriander etc), rice and oil. At present they have coconut oil.
Once the homechefs and their kitchens have been vetted, next comes a tasting by a panel of existing clients, professional chefs and the quality control team. Prospects are asked to send their top two products as samples. After tasting, changes are suggested based on feedback. This is the first time that most of the homegrown chefs have been a part of an enterprise like Toko. “As they come into this for the first time, we provide best practice training modules, for example, using different utensils or pricing and eco-friendly packaging.”
In two years of existence, it has built a base of around 15,000 customers, and has onboarded around 30 home cooks from across Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and counting. “It is not a market from a commercial point of view,” she says.
“We are agnostic in terms of region and gender (of the cooks), but yes, most of them are women and there are husband-wife pairs too,” says Reshma. Most of them are aged 45 and above, with the oldest being 66. They are either on leave from their job, retired or have never worked before. Toko, he says, has boosted their confidence not only in financial terms but also in terms of what they can do.
Mona Mehta Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Bhavana Shah, 52, from Mumbai has been with Toko for two years since its inception. Their specialties are Alsi ki Puri, Mini Naan Khatai and Maharashtra Poha Chivda. She conducted online classes for starters and desserts during the lockdown. She says, “Whatever I cook, I do it for my family, for my children. It’s a platform for me to showcase my skills, be proud of myself and show what we can do.” She makes everything herself, “It’s not mass produced, just in small batches in my kitchen. I can do it myself,” she says.
Lakshmi Mohan Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Reshma’s mother’s sister, Lakshmi Mohan, also a housewife who was one of the first to be a part of Toko, echoes this sentiment. On how she became a part of it, Kozhikode-based Lakshmi says, “I was anyway making chutney podi for my kids, so it wasn’t much different when Reshma asked me to join her. I make rasam and sambar podi. Since these are made to order, there is no pressure to make it in quantity and stock. I can do it at my own pace and I do everything myself.” The 60-year-old economics graduate has never worked but is enjoying it.
Chips, Pickles and Seasoning Mix
Banana Chips, Diamond Cuts, Sliced Mango Pickle, Shrimp Pickle, Tuna Pickle, Murukku, Kemin Chamanthi (Chutney) Podi, Kasuri Methi Shakkarpara, Makkai Chivda, Masala Cookies, Metkut Powder, Chaat Masala, Hyderabadi Biryani Masala, and Moringa Chutney Powder are other items in their product list.
Although their products include snacks, pickles and podis, their biggest market is snacks. There is no fixed amount of snacks sold monthly by each home chef, on average it is around 10 to 20 kg, in case of pickles it is 10 kg per week. “Everyone’s monthly income depends on the quantity they sell; one of our home cooks makes plum cakes at Christmas time, which costs around ₹1 lakh. Our focus is not on quantity but quality,” says Reshma.
Since most toko goods are not prepared and stored in advance, this reduces the pressure on home cooks. Since the snacks are made at home, delivery time on orders may be longer.
Annie Philip | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Bengaluru-based Annie Philip makes plum cake. The home bakery used to deliver cakes to her family and friends, but she never thought of taking the commercial route until Reshma, the daughter of family friends, approached her.
“There is no pressure of constantly working and preparing stuff, plus my regular routine is not affected as I work at my own pace; the cakes have a shelf life of 30 days which also reduces the pressure. Eight cakes in one batch, and two hours of work. How much more relaxing can it be than that?” she asks. Last December alone he sold more than 200 cakes.
Bhavna Shah Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Listening to these women, one realizes that it is not just about money. It’s about being able to use your time and skills and feeling good about it. Mona Mehta, 59, from Mumbai, has been associated with Toko for the last six months. This is the first time the housewife is ‘working’. Her specialty is cornflakes chivda, which she makes with the help of her husband. “I joined Toko as a ‘time-passer’, but I have come to enjoy myself. I send 20 to 30 packets (155 grams each) a week. The response feels good and it also gives me a sense of independence,” she adds.
So what does the name Toko mean? “Toco is The Orange Candy Company (like that nostalgic orange candy we all had growing up?) It also means touch in Italian, symbolizing our parents’ touch while they were preparing food!”
