“For the first time, I paid for my own trip and went to Dubai!”
“This platform helped me build my identity.”
“I feel very confident today.”
“During menopause, staying busy is crucial to keep mood swings at bay.”
These are the chefs of Tocco, an e-commerce platform that curates home-cooked specialties from across the country. From Uma Suresh’s prawn pickles in Kerala to Bhavana Shah’s nankhatais (biscuits) in Mumbai, and Annie Philip’s matured plum cake in Bengaluru, Tocco is a melting pot of regional delicacies!
Such women can be found everywhere — you just need to look and spend a few minutes talking to them. Ask your mother or aunt about their wishes, and if they are anything like Bhavana or Uma, they would have definitely harboured dreams of creating their own identity through cooking. Tocco makes it easy for neighbourhood home chefs to do just that, without the hassle of branding or marketing.
The idea for this platform was born from founder Reshma Suresh’s own desire to experience the taste of home while living away. After moving to Mumbai for work, she found herself caught in the cycle of eating outside, always craving her amma’s tasty food. Realising she wasn’t the only one looking for authentic Kerala food, she started making banana chips and selling them through her brand, ‘MeenGurry Memories’, in 2021.
Packing memories of her amma and ammamma’s (grandmother’s) generations-old recipe for the perfect, thin, and crispy banana chips turned out to be a game-changer for Reshma, who was then working at an AI/healthcare startup.
Her passion project soon took on a life of its own when she introduced her mother’s prawn and mango pickle. Rather than making the food herself, Reshma decided to create a platform where people like her mother and aunt could sell their dishes directly. This would help them become financially independent and turn their passion into a thriving business. For customers, it offers a way to enjoy the local delicacies they crave!
Started in 2023, Tocco now has over 16 chefs, both men and women, mostly in their 50s, whose dreams have been given wings through the platform! Starting with just Rs 5,000, the bootstrapped business achieved a turnover of over Rs 1 crore in the last financial year. Here’s how Reshma is empowering those with a lifelong dream.
Packing childhood memories in a box
Reshma, an engineer, moved to Mumbai in 2012 for work. She worked in healthcare startups for over a decade, gaining first-hand experience in healthcare and health tech. Joining these startups from their infancy, she had a front-row understanding of what it takes to scale a startup.
Busy with work, a huge portion of her 20s was spent eating out or cooking for herself. She constantly craved a good home-cooked meal, just like the ones her mother used to make.
“I missed my roots and the food I grew up eating. Every time I visited home in Kochi, I brought back staples like banana chips, pickles, and podis (spice powders), which made cooking a meal very easy.
However, I couldn’t find a consistent and convenient supply of food that reminded me of home,” Reshma tells The Better India.
Her hectic schedule coupled with late nights led to lots of restaurant meals. A few years later, Reshma was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). This diagnosis triggered her search for healthier, authentic, home-cooked regional food. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find anything like it in Mumbai.
Her sister, Annu, who lived in Bengaluru, faced the same dilemma — failing to find meals that bottled the memories of Kerala. Long discussions between the sisters led to Reshma creating experience boxes in 2021, offering traditional Kerala meals over the weekends. Prepared in her Mumbai kitchen, one dish clearly stood out — the banana chips.
So she decided to sell these chips under her venture ‘MeenGurry Memories’ (‘meen gurry’ means fish curry), as a homage to their shared memories around the dining table. Every weekend, she curated different meal boxes while continuing her job during the week.
While running MeenGurry Memories, Reshma realised that it was important to do something to promote chefs like her mother Uma and aunt Lakshmi.
The sister duo, Uma and Lakshmi, had participated in a cooking contest on a TV channel called ‘Mazhavil Manorama’ in 2019. They were among the semi-finalists, which was a huge motivation for them.
“We realised that there’s immense potential for people like our parents who are retired or living alone. They need to be engaged. I then asked my mother to make her famous prawn and mango pickle, a childhood favourite of many. I packaged it and started selling it,” says Reshma.
Soon, Lakshmi’s mulga podi (gun powder), sambar powder, and other products were also introduced. Reshma, an MBA graduate from IIT Bombay, then created a platform to sell these nostalgic products, naming it ‘Tocco’. The name, short for ‘The Orange Candy Co’, made sense because, for Reshma, the ultimate symbol of nostalgia was the orange candies she shared with her sister during childhood.
With Tocco, the aim was to pack this childhood nostalgia in a box for other people to enjoy. In late 2022, she quit her job to fully focus on building the platform.
After onboarding the first two chefs, Reshma brought in more, expanding the platform to include over 16 chefs from different cities in Kerala, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. They offer snacks like banana chips, jackfruit chips, shankarpali (a sweet snack), masalas like chaat masala, sambar masala, rasam podi (spice powder), pickles like prawn, cut mango, homemade curd chilli, and puli inji (ginger pickle) among others.
For 58-year-old Uma Suresh, who has been cooking since she was in Class 6, Tocco has given new meaning to her life. “Cooking is my passion. I would always pack some pickles for anyone who came home. I always dreamed of running a business but didn’t know how to. Thanks to my daughters, I’ve made a name for myself,” says Uma.
In fact, Uma and her sister Lakshmi embarked on trips to Dubai and Goa using their own earnings!
Bhavana Shah, 51, from Mumbai, who makes snacks and starters and runs cooking classes, says Tocco has given her a renewed sense of vigour.
“Work is very important for women over 50, especially when going through menopause. Dealing with the hot flashes and mood swings is easier when we are busy. While I had regular customers in Vile Parle, Tocco has helped people across the country discover who I am. I thank Reshma for giving me a new identity,” says Bhavana.
The platform also offers flexibility to chefs like Bhavana, who occasionally travels abroad to visit her children. Additionally, Tocco assists with branding and marketing, which are major challenges in establishing a business.
From Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 crore!
According to Reshma, the team at Tocco ensures that all products are homemade, carefully crafted in small batches, and preservative-free.
To become a chef at Tocco, one must apply on the website. After an initial call, the top three dishes of the chef are discussed.
“The dishes must be healthy, preservative free, and have a shelf life of at least 30 days. They should be regional or local specialities. We ask them for an ingredient list and take the next steps based on that. No palm oil is allowed. Chefs send samples of their dishes, which a focus group tastes. We suggest changes, and if satisfied, we begin the onboarding process,” says Reshma.
Since most chefs don’t have a brand of their own, Tocco helps them with the packaging, branding, and labelling. They inspect their kitchens, train them, and even help with getting an FSSAI certification, in case they don’t have one.
Once Tocco receives an order, they send it to the chef, who makes the dish to order and ships it. The platform handles order management, packing, shipping, and customer care.
“I want to provide access to healthy, homemade food for busy people. The biggest motivation is seeing chefs like my mother live an independent life thanks to their earnings. Many of them would not have had the opportunity to sell their products on a large scale. We are providing an opportunity to them,” she says.
Today, Tocco processes over 1,000 orders per month. They plan to onboard more chefs and expand their operations. Reshma divides her time between Mumbai and Kochi, where she has set up a facility for manufacturing the banana chips, one of their best selling products.
According to Reshma, the biggest challenge is convincing customers to wait for their orders. “Our USP is that everything is made in small batches. With the rise of quick commerce, customers sometimes expect next-day delivery, which becomes challenging,” she says.
Tocco is inspiring confidence in people across age groups, especially in their 50s and 60s.
“Do not limit yourself to the walls of the kitchen. Be confident, step forward, and build something that keeps you engaged. Earning your own income is important, and age is no barrier to starting from scratch,” says Uma.
Edited by Khushi Arora; Images Courtesy Reshma Suresh
