Before Patil Kaki came into existence, it was her son Vinit Patil who gave her confidence in her cooking.
“While everyone else would get the usual roti and sabzi for lunch, Aai (mother) would ensure that she came up with something innovative to pack for me. Aai had her unique way of making sure I ate my vegetables” says Vinit.
Patil’s love for cooking delicious homemade meals came from her own mother, Kamlabai Nivugale who ran her own venture and would pack tiffins for almost 20 people every day.
She recalls sitting on a large stool by the stove, stirring the ingredients in the large pot. “I was Aai’s little helper, and I loved it,” she notes.
“The inspiration to feed people came from Aai. She would effortlessly move around the kitchen and whip up so many thalis by the end of the morning. I loved watching her,” she says.
These learnings proved to be a great foundation for Geeta when she eventually started selling traditional Maharashtrian snacks and sweets.
These included modak, puranpoli, chakli, poha and chivda. With minimal investment and serving a few customers month-on-month, the business today serves over 3,000 customers and is making revenue of over Rs 1 crore annually.
She increased her workload after her husband lost the job and she had to be the breadwinner of the family.
It is at this juncture in 2021 that Vinit entered the business.
“Understanding how branding and marketing work, I wanted to help aai scale this business and take it forward. I have seen the amount of hard work that she has poured into this. First and foremost, we came up with the name Patil Kaki and started leveraging social media to get the business some visibility,” he says.
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Anuradha Johari, a customer who has been ordering food items from Patil Kaki for a while now, says, “The taste is absolutely authentic and the quality is really good. The best part about ordering from Patil Kaki is the service! Their team is just amazing. You get instant replies and issues get solved within minutes. On-time delivery is also something that makes them really special.”
“It makes me feel so overwhelmed at times. I would on my own never have known how to market myself on social media platforms. This has been all thanks to Vinit,” she says.
Anand Mahindra also recognized Patil Kaki’s reach and spoke of how it deserves soaring valuation. He wrote, “This is the kind of ‘food’ start-up that truly deserves a soaring valuation. Because the ingredients are grit and determination… you can’t learn that in business school.”
With over 3,000 orders being shipped out every month, the brand is looking to expand its service to other cities very soon.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Better India, Mint, Business Today
Find the blogger: @Drishti Shroff
This post is tagged under: Patil Kaki, Anand Mahindra, Maharashtra, Maharashtrian Food, Thalis, Vinit Patil, Success Story, Woman In Business, Indian, Snacks, Food, Poha, Modak, Chakli, Poranpoli, Chivda, Tiffin tales, Business Into Crores
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
