The customer base of keeraikadai.com for home delivery in Coimbatore has grown from 10 to 100,000 within three years of their launch.
The Keeraikadai.com team in Coimbatore has now introduced ready-to-eat meals.
The difficulty of supplying perishable greens within 24 hours had led them to make soups that were made up of five different types of greens in 2019. In response to the pandemic, they developed five packaged food items, which are now available online and in store at Saibaba Colony, Coimbatore, as well as in K K Nagar and S S Colony in Madurai.
“During the pandemic, people found it difficult to step outside for purchases, so we packaged five curries using banana flower and stem, spinach, moringa, and ponnangani greens”, says Sriram Prasad G, CEO and founder.
The meal packages (called the greeny meals) were launched in Madurai in 2019. Tested by NABL, they are said to be rich in vitamins, minerals, proteins and essential trace elements.
The curries are easy to carry, ready to eat, and have a shelf life of six months at room temperature. “The texture, taste, and nutritional value are all maintained without adding any artificial agents to the food because we use a clinically proven retort packaging method,” states Prasad.
It was in his hometown, Madurai that he chose to launch the venture since the processing unit is situated within the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, NABARD, and Madurai Association of Business Incubation Forum. On the opening day, 500 kilograms of curry were prepared in each variant and packaged into 250 gram packs priced between Rs. 85 and Rs. 95.
You have to dip the meal package in boiling water for 5 minutes before use and eat it with rice or chapati,” Sriram, who researched the dishes for months, says. He also spoke with old-timers and villagers in Tamil Nadu, who told him that there were 350 to 400 varieties of greens grown across the state about four decades ago. “Today, we barely get to see 10 to 15 types,” he laments.
Their dip soups in five varieties (moringa, ashwagandha, vallarai, thoodhuvalai, and mudakathan) won the first prize at the Tamil Nadu Innovation Grand Challenge, hosted by the Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Institute. Sriram says the calcium-, protein-, and iron-rich soups were sought after during the COVID-19 crisis because they are believed to boost immunity.
Both Sriram and his brother Sriram Subramaniam G are trained at TNAU and are inspired by organic pioneer, the late G Nammalvar. He says, “We believe that food prevents and cures diseases so we work with organic and natural farming methods.”
The brothers now work with a team of five other experts and twelve staff that networks with 1,000 farmers in Coimbatore, Pollachi, Madurai, Theni, and Virudhunagar districts in TN and has helped to revive 125 varieties of native greens. Their strategy is to distribute country seeds among the farmers and purchase the products from them.
Their customer base for home delivery in Coimbatore has grown from 10 to 100,000 within three years of their launch. Keeraikadai.com ensures its customers receive their greens fresh after they are harvested twice a day at 5 am and 3 pm daily and sold at the Coimbatore showroom from 6 am to 9 am and 5 pm to 9pm.
Although the growth has been tremendous, the challenge continues to be supplying fresh greens, says Prasad, who adds, “The positive response from people keeps us going and we are determined to promote good health.”
To know more visit www.keeraikadai.com or greenydip.com or call +91-9047555577. The keeraikadai app can also be used for pre-orders.
Also read – Keeraikadai.com starts exporting its product – Greeny Meal.
