Odias who are settled in various parts of the country, can now taste traditional sweets and snacks of Odisha at the click of a mouse.
A startup, www.odisharasagola.com, is delivering Odia sweets and snacks to food enthusiasts not only in Odisha but also other parts of the country. The venture was started in October last year by Mumbai-based Sarada Prasad Mohanty, a business analyst, and Tapas Kumar Behera, a Bhubaneswar-based engineer. "Having stayed outside the State for several years, one of the biggest things we missed about our State was its sweets. We used to ask our relatives and friends to get us a packet of mixture or Rasagolla whenever they visited us. This is when we decided to come up with this startup that deals with online ordering of Odia sweets," says Mohanty.
They started with at least 10 traditional sweets and have plans to add more variety to the inventory in the coming years. The sweets are procured from traditional sweetmeat makers in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. "We use vacuum packaging techniques for sweets like Chenna Gaja, Laddoo, Khasta Gaja and Pedas as it increases the shelf life to 10 to 15 days.
Mixtures and namkeen can remain fresh till a month", says Mohanty. Currently, they source Rasagolla from Cuttack's Cuttack Sweets, OMFED, mixture and Pedas from Jyoti Mixture and Mukharuchi in Bhubaneswar. "We dispatch the goodies within 48 hours of receiving order and deliver to the customer within two to three days", says Behera. The venture has its own unit in Odisha for packaging the sweets. It has also collaborated with OMFED to supply pickles, sauces, ghee and jams outside the State.
While till February 2016, the venture received 40 to 50 orders in a month, the demand increased to at least seven orders per day from March. "Interestingly, 20 per cent of our regular customers are non-Odias and they are placing orders every month," says Mohanty. Most of the orders come from cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and New Delhi. Odisharasagola.com is currently delivering sweets and snacks across the country except the North- Eastern States.
This year, they are planning to add products like pickles and papads from Berhampur and Western Odisha districts besides, Keonjhar Badi to the menu. "We will also begin liquid vacuum packaging technique in July on a trial basis, which will help us in sending Rasagolla from Pahala to other States," Mohanty said.
They are also contemplating to export dry food items from Odisha to the US, Canada and the UK.