Mrs. Kashyap was one hell of a great cook. Apart from cooking up delicious regular meals, she adorned a special expertise for any kind of cooking that involved frying, steaming, rolling, frosting and almost every kind, so to say.

She’d never tried her hand at baking though. And one birthday, Mr. Kashyap gifted his dear culinary expert wife a sleek microwave oven. At first, Mrs. Kashyap was baffled, as she had absolutely no idea whatsoever, what to do with that steel grey bodied chic smart looking gadget. She had heard from friends that one could cook some really good stuff in them, but HOW was her big question.

But then she wasn’t the kind who’d sit over it (not literally!), but meaning, that she wasn’t the type who’d just keep the oven in some corner of her cramped up kitchen and never use it. In fact, she was the exploring kind. So she set off one day on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, going through each and every page of the instruction booklet that came along the box of microwave. She assembled all the electrical fittings and assimilated that this was one gadget in her kitchen which can come in really handy if utilized smartly and intelligently.

And then, there was no stopping for Mrs. Kashyap.

With the overtly puffy pastel green cotton gloves in hands, which she had purchased for all her future microwave delicacies, she started off. Eight days after Mr. Kashyap had presented her with the birthday gift, Mrs. Kashyap enthusiastically began. The first recipe to be tried by her was Cashew Cookies. Anxious of how it would turn out, she set off meekly. And in less than 2 hours, she was done baking a whole lot of them.

At 7.00 pm Mr. Kashyap arrived from office. Along with the regular strong cup of tea, Mrs. Kashyap set on the serving table, a plate full of the most aromatic, crisp, tempting, rounded Cashew Cookies for her dear husband.

One bite into it, and Mr. Kashyap was absolutely marveled at the taste. Usually, he wasn’t the kind who’d relish western delicacies. But Cashew Cookies turned out to be the exception, and this might have happened so because Mrs. Kashyap hadn’t revealed the name of the recipe to him. All she had said, when asked about the name of the dish was Cashew & Almond Butter Biscuits. That name was bearable to his ears. But somehow a “Cookie” slip in tongue in place of a “biscuit” wouldn’t be tolerated.

His loathe for western dishes was known to Mrs. Kashyap, and hence she’d fabricated a new name, and some new ingredients (like almonds & pistachios), to let him know about the kind of dish baked by her. And our dear Mr. Kashyap thus fell totally head over heels for Mrs. Kashyap’s Cashew & Almond Butter Biscuits. Returning from office at 7 pm started becoming a new target for him, for how could he miss his daily crunch, along with the cup of tea?

And thus, that plate full of cookies became so much of Mrs. Kashyap’s trademark that every visitor to the Kashyap household who ended up having a cup of tea was without fail, offered this delicacy to munch. Needless to say that every single one of those visitors appreciated the dish, and a few of the inquisitive ones even inquired the shop from which the Kashyaps had purchased it. Beaming with pride then, Mr. Kashyap made it a point to make a mention that those weren’t actually bought, but were home baked at the magical hands of Mrs. Kashyap.

Mr. and Mrs. Kashyap’s children who were college-going, also loved their mother’s haath ke bannaye Cashew Cookies, and whenever they’d invite their friends over for studies, or sleepovers, a plate full of those normally used to be served. As if, it had started becoming a ritual in the Kashyap household.

Anyways, so on one such occasion, Mr. Kashyap’s lawyer Mr. Daruwala was visiting them for some ongoing legal proceedings in court. Over a cup of tea, Mrs. Kashyap served him her patented Cashew Cookies, and he despite being a Diabetes candidate, ended up munching four of the sweet delights. With illuminated eyes, he asked the lady of the house” Kya aapne khud bake kare hain ye?” By now, he knew Mrs. Kashyap’s culinary expertise, and thus framed his question in a presumptuous manner. When the lady nodded, he was left with no words to shower his praise. And he made a very spontaneous and passing remark—“You should bring these kinds of delights in the market, Mrs. Kashyap. I bet you they’ll sell like hotcakes”.  Amongst a whole lot of appreciations received so far for her Cashew Cookies, this was like a signature line for her.

At that instant, she fell quiet. But towards the end of the day, she cautiously opened the topic with her husband, purposely over dinner table, for she knew that her children would definitely second her thought. She had been thinking hard about Mr. Daruwala’s statement the entire day, and had come to the conclusion that she wanted to open a Confectionery business; something like a Bakery, to further her love for cooking.

It took Mr. Kashyap five days to give a smiling nod to his wife’s entrepreneurial venture. And in those five days, he hadn’t just thought about the fact that he wanted to support her decision, but he had also worked out the business model, on which the venture would be founded. With all the mathematics worked out, land acquired, labour in place, Research and Development undertaken (new dishes being tried out in Microwave), approval or disapproval sought ( Quality Testing done!), exactly seventeen months after the first hazy picture of how things would look like, Mrs. Kashyap firmly set her foot in Confectionery market and opened her very own Bakery, manufacturing and selling self discovered line of Bakery products. In the first year, the product line was pre planned to be sold through retail outlets and general stores. And her vision was to eventually open her own outlet, which would exclusively sell her product line.

Thus goes the venturesome story of Mrs. Kashyap. It started as an experiment in her steel grey colored Microwave, what followed were a plate full of cookies baked up with love and joy, and what completed the loop was the enterprising effort of this middle aged lady, as she decided to make for herself a niche in this overcrowded Confectionery market, with her range of tried out, home made delicious bakery recipes. With a doting husband to support her, and cooperative children by her side, Mrs. Kashyap’s “Avanti Confectioneries” became a “brand- next –door” in the ingredients- wise saturated Confectionery market, where brands, competition, pricing, packaging were all floating high; all that the market lacked were well researched product offerings, and that was exactly what the Unique Selling Proposition of Avanti Confectioneries was.

Even today, when Mrs. Kashyap muses about how her journey began, her thoughts lead her to the day she had served her husband those plate full of cookies………….

As she reminisces about it, she smiles to herself satisfactorily…..And the rest as they say, is history!…………..

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