Inspirational - At 79, Mumbai Woman Uses Secret Recipe to Start Chai Masala Business from Home.

November 24, 2020

Mrs Kokila Parekh is a 79-year-old lady who lives in Santa Cruz West, Mumbai, with her son Tushar Parekh and daughter-in-law Preeti Parekh. She is well-known among her family and friends for being very active, cooking delicious Gujarati food, and making a flavourful secret masala powder that can be added to chai or milk.

The masala powder recipe has been passed down by her ancestors and Mrs. Parekh has been making chai and milk with it for her family members for years now. When guests come home they are served her famous masala chai with some hot snacks.

During the recent lockdown, Mrs Parekh had to stop going to the temple and visiting relatives and friends. The best way to keep herself occupied, she figured, was to start a business selling her chai masala powder.

Since she had already mastered the secret recipe for the masala powder, the next step was to select a name for her brand. She went with – KT Chai Masala, short for ‘Kokila and Tushar’s Chai Masala’.

Tushar is Mrs Parekh’s youngest child who runs a business manufacturing yarn thread. He helped his mother by designing the logo, getting in touch with vendors to source good quality raw materials (spices) in bulk, and finding the right kind of packaging material for their masala to ship it across the country.

Preeti, Mrs Parekh’s daughter-in-law, says, “Initially maa would make the masala using a regular mixer grinder in our kitchen, but when she decided to make it in bulk we purchased a commercial mixing unit that grinds large quantities. The masala is then packed in airtight packets, which come with a ziplock sealer. This helps to maintain the shelf-life of the product and if someone wishes to carry the powder with them while travelling it can be done so with ease. We got the packets made from a third-party vendor, along with our logo printed on it.”