From Kitchen to market

Over time, women have mastered the art of cooking. They never left any stone unturned to showcase their culinary skills as far as serving their family is concerned. But many are now taking a step outside the home kitchen — becoming entrepreneurs and showing off their culinary skills to a larger audience. The two-day Bandra Summer Festival, which starts today, has been a key avenue for these culinary queens to flaunt their talents. The festival has brought more than 20 women entrepreneurs and home chefs with their own food brands, all under one roof.

“The purpose of the event is to bring women entrepreneurs and chefs to one place. Marketing and advertising costs a lot of money, and not everyone can spend it. These sort of events give them the opportunity to showcase their work and gain customers with on the spot feedback,” says Neeraj Agarwal, the founder of the Bandra Summer Festival.

Neeraj also once had a small food joint, which he struggled to establish in Mumbai. “That made me think about providing opportunities to all those who want to make it big, and it has been a successful journey.”

Talking about how the third edition of the fest is different than the last two, the founder reveals that in, this edition each food item enjoys monopoly. “We have given monopoly to each product. No food item is repeated, so that there is no competition for them. This will help their sales and give them more visibility,” he says.

Neeraj also adds that all the women entrepreneurs at the event contacted him through social media. “Obviously women are more active on social media platforms to promote their work, because other marketing and advertising tools are not very convenient for them,” he claims.  

Among the entrepreneurs is 34-year-old Sharvari Prabhu, who owns Oos Juice n More center in Khar. She plans to put up a stall at the event selling sugarcane juice and its variants. Despite the company being only two weeks old, Prabhu hopes to receive positive feedback for her variety of sugarcane drinks. “These sort of fests help in getting more visibility. The millennial is more into having coffee when they want to drink something; this western trend is very predominant here. Once they know that they have a variety of sugarcane juices available, they will reach out to my place. I see a lot of youngsters coming to these flea bazaars, and it certainly brings the business into their notice,” says Sharvari, who is a charted accountant by profession and is participating in the food expo for the first time.

Meanwhile, Seema Purwar, owner of Matunga-based food joint Pomona, is armed with continental European brands. She is the master of a variety of sandwiches, pizzas and mac and cheese fries. Although Pomona is just a month old, chances are that you have already come across the home chef’s store. “My basic concept is to promote continental food that I make. It is a way to captivate millennials, who are, of course, my target customers,” says the 44-year-old Seema, who is looking forward to serve her exclusive mango sandwiches and creams at the festival.

Apart from the various food stuffs, this year’s Bandra Summer Festival will also have various live music peformances from budding artists of Bandra. In addition, attendees can also look forward to stand up acts and a pet parade.