It all began with Seoni (pronounced soo-ni) Amma’s delicious, lip-smacking recipes. Anirudh Haritsa grew up gorging on the steady stream of delicacies that would appear from his grandmother’s small, cosy kitchen. Seoni Amma’s specialties ranged from pickles to snacks to spice mixes bursting with the earthy wholesomeness of rural India.  

In 2010, Anirudh Haritsa and Manish Gupta met as colleagues but became fast friends with their shared ambition to strike out on their own and make a difference to the world. But they needed a strong idea, a product to focus on. It was around this time that millets were taking over shelves in grocery stores with more people becoming health-conscious. People were buying them but were constrained to a limited number of dishes as they were still unaware of millet’s versatility. There was a market for millet-based mixes and snacks like ragi chips, oats chips etc. but no suppliers.

Anirudh, a professional chef, and Manish, an operations whiz, spotted an opportunity here to combine their skills. And they knew exactly how to make their idea a reality. Anirudh pulled out Seoni Amma’s recipes and sat down with his mother, Rama, to develop and adapt them to today’s busy lives.

Although Seoni Amma and Rama called Madhya Pradesh home, they had spent their lives in different parts of India, which inculcated their love for different cuisines. Being natural culinary enthusiasts they incorporated the cultures they were exposed to through the varieties of food.

Rama and Anirudh began experimenting with a few ingredients. After nearly two years of intensive R&D, Anirudh and Manish had their winning product portfolio.

“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him…the people who give you their food give you their heart” – Cesar Chavez, American socialist

Wanting to keep it healthy all the way, they obtained all their ingredients from the source of cultivation. Chillies from Andhra Pradesh, peanuts from Maharashtra, millets from Karnataka etc. This ensured optimum freshness, taste, and originality of flavour of all ingredients. Plus, all of them were preservative, adulterant, and chemical-free. They combined these with millet, a crop rich in fibre, iron, calcium, and zinc. Millet is also an ancient grain that dates back to thousands of years and was a traditional part of diets around the world, including India, much before it gained recognition as a ‘superfood’.

Today, Seoni Amma and Rama are no more but their culinary legacy continues to shine in every grain that goes into Graminway’s products. Be it the Ragi Chivda, Masala Jowar Upma Mix or Amaranth Cheela Mix, you can feel the comforting warmth of home.