In the rapidly evolving landscape of health and wellness, Mama Nourish stands out as a brand deeply rooted in tradition while innovatively catering to modern lifestyles. Founded by Yash Parashar, Mama Nourish was inspired by a personal experience that highlighted the generational gap in preserving traditional recipes. Motivated by the desire to bring back the nourishing legacy of grandmothers’ kitchens, they created LadduBars, a convenient, modern take on traditional Indian laddus. Today, the brand’s core mission is to ensure that these time-honored recipes continue to nourish future generations, combining authenticity with convenience.
1. Can you share the story behind the incorporation of Mama Nourish? What inspired the founding of the company, and what is the core mission that drives your brand today?
The beginning of Mama Nourish is rooted in a deep understanding of India’s rich culinary heritage and the contemporary lives of urban working professionals. The idea began with a personal experience of Yash Parashar, the Founder and CEO of Mama Nourish, and his wife Apruva back in 2021.
Immediately following the birth of Yash and Apurva’s Son, both their parents came to Mumbai, and Yash’s mother and Apurva’s mother prepared traditional and nutritious recipes like gond ladoos and harira for her. It was when both parents left that Apruva and Yash realized a stark reality. The reality is that we as a generation are incapacitated to replicate these healthy traditional recipes and even less capable of passing the baton to the next generations. This led them to the realization that “Grandma’s legacy is endangered”.
To validate if this was his only personal insight or an underlying pain for many, Yash started speaking to his colleagues and friends. He and his college friend Kunal, who too shared very strong similar views, then went on to conduct a survey, the findings of which were revealing. The survey revealed that 98% of working professionals surveyed shared similar sentiments, believing that they were the last generation to benefit from their grandmothers’ culinary wisdom and may not be able to pass the baton. Yash’s mother became extremely passionate about solving the product problem and invented a form factor which the modern generation may be able to take to the office on the go. Yash and Kunal worked on the business fundamentals, and thus, the trio laid a firm foundation for what turned into Mama Nourish.
Fundamental in this journey was the conviction of the two friends, Kunal Goel and Yash, along with Mrs. Usha Shrotriy, who persistently invented LadduBars. Mama Nourish has been founded with a mission to rediscover India’s traditional, nourishing recipes in modern convenient forms for generations to come, to preserve the rich culinary heritage of our country for generations to come.
2. Could you provide an overview of the range of products offered by Mama Nourish and its target audience?
Mama Nourish makes LadduBars. LadduBars are modern convenient formats of traditional homemade nutritious grandmother’s Laddus. However, Bar is only a convenient format to bring nutritious ladoos to the modern world on the go, as the LadduBar Mini also serves the same purpose. Beyond the healthy traditions in modern, convenient formats, all products by Mama Nourish Laddubars have 3 USPs.
- They are inspired by authentic traditional Indian recipes learnt from a real grandmother from a different part of the country, celebrated in front of the pack
- They are made of only kitchen ingredients, absolutely free from any kind of preservatives, colours, additives, and flavours.
- They are naturally nutrient-dense with no refined sugar, primarily sweetened by whole natural dates, and contain up to 70% dry fruits and dates.
Mama Nourish offers 5 different varieties of LadduBars,
- Dry Fruit Instant Energy LadduBar: Timeless nutritious Mewa laddu reimagined in a modern, convenient format, crafted with the finest ingredients.
- Wholesome Millet LadduBars: Rediscovering rich flavours from the nutritious culinary heritage of south and western India with a nostalgic and earthly taste of Ragi and Bajra (Finger and Pearl millets), meticulously refined to satisfy the most discerning palates. These gluten-free treats contain no added sugar and come with a milder sweetness
- Gond-Dryfruit LadduBar: Made from cherished traditional postpartum recipes passed down through generations. Called Gondh, Gundar, and Thumma Jinguru, this delicacy was specifically a miracle for a new mother and loved by everyone. This nourishing treat gets its crunch from the resin of the gum Arabic tree (Babul or kikar), known for its amazing health benefits.
- Methi-Dryfruit LadduBar: Symphony of rich flavours and nutritions that celebrate the culinary heritage of Western India with a touch of modern sophistication. Made with fenugreek and known for its therapeutic benefits, especially for new mothers with grandma’s wisdom. It’s a treasured recipe from the Saurashtra region and western India, which includes today’s Maharashtra and Gujarat
- Kamarkas LadduBar: a harmony of flavours and health that celebrates the golden years of life with a touch of modern sophistication. This first-of-its-kind nutrition bar is a modern reincarnation of the timeless Kamarkas Laddus from the Sindh region of India, loaded with nuts and sweetened with just two dates, high in fibre, nutrient-dense, and diabetic-friendly. Kamarkas is a super-food red resin of the Palash tree, also known as Flame of Forest.
These LadduBars are available as individual Bars, Packs of 6 Bars and gift boxes in various combinations. The company also offers a tiny 38 Kcal bite-size ladduBar mini as a healthy, nutritious solution to sweet cravings.
LadduBars are naturally nutrient dense and good ingredients take care of nutrition. Each Bar is rich in fibre, source of protein, source of Iron, and calcium, potassium, zinc, making them adored as a healthy snacking alternative to almost everything.
3. How does Mama Nourish stay competitive in the health and wellness snack market? What strategies do you employ to differentiate your products from those of competitors?
Beyond the healthy traditions in modern, convenient formats, all products by Mama Nourish Laddubars have 3 USPs.
- They are inspired by authentic traditional Indian recipes learnt from a real grandmother from a different part of the country, celebrated in front of the pack
- They are made of only kitchen ingredients, absolutely free from any kind of preservatives, colours, additives, and flavours.
- They are naturally nutrient-dense with no refined sugar, primarily sweetened by whole natural dates, and contain up to 70% dry fruits and dates.
Our snacks are made from 100% natural ingredients, free from preservatives, artificial colours, and refined sugar. We employ modern food processes and packaging technologies to ensure the required shelf life. We stand out in the health and snack market due to the usage of healthy farm ingredients instead of refined or highly processed inputs, truly catering to the needs of a health-conscious customer. Our definition of clean label and promise that we will never use anything that is not used in our grandmother’s kitchen is a testament to our commitment to health and wellness for our target consumers.
Mama Nourish distinguishes itself by honoring 5000 years of Indian culinary wisdom, passed down through generations of mothers. We make authentic, nutritious, and traditional grandma recipes available in a modern, convenient format. Our recipes come directly from real grandmothers and hence come with a homely taste.
4. How do you balance online and offline sales channels? Please brief me on your sales and distribution networks. How do you ensure that your products are accessible to a wide range of consumers across different regions?
We began our journey as an exclusive online brand store as we are a story and purpose-first brand; over the last couple of months, our products are also available on Amazon as our consumers want us there.
On the offline front, our products are available across 150 major corporate establishments and airports in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad through vending as a channel. We are also listed across Mumbai stores of Nature’s Basket, a subsidiary of Spencer’s Retail and the leader in gourmet premium food experiences in India. We achieved a milestone of serving 1 lakh units of our LadduBars in just 7 months of market presence.
Our clientele includes corporations like Netflix, Meta (Facebook), Compass Group, and Flipkart, to name a few beyond the DTC consumers.
5. Can you describe the process of making your products? What measures do you take to maintain safety and hygiene standards during production?
We use 100% natural ingredients, and all our products are manufactured in a state-of-the-art partner facility in Navi Mumbai. This facility is FSSAI-approved and meets global standards, such as USFDA and BRC ‘A’ certifications, adhering to the highest safety and hygiene standards both nationally and globally.
6. How does Mama Nourish approach sustainability in its packaging? What initiatives have you implemented to ensure that your packaging is environmentally friendly?
We believe That sustainability should not be just about packaging. It should be wholesome and complete; Indian culture has always been about sustainability and co-existence with nature. That is why our product (what is inside the packet) itself has 5 to 10 times less carbon footprint compared to similar products in the market, which are made of highly processed ingredients. Our Bars do not require any cold supply chains, unlike the entire chocolate industry. We also directly use farm output ingredients with little to no processing which are environmentally friendly such as dry fruits, millets, dates, etc… A similar product in the market is made of rice-krispies, soya nuggets or whey concentrates which are all (industrial output products) or has one or other forms of sugar yet another heavy carbon footprint ingredient. As per our commitment towards a sustainable future, we use environmentally friendly products, packing materials and designs. All our products are not just good for you but also the planet.
We, as a brand, promote sustainability, which is also deeply rooted in the Indian traditional way of environment-friendly lifestyle.
