Mumbai Mom & Daughters Turn Home Cooking Into Global Brand

When Dea Sharma returned to India during the 2020 lockdown, she went from exploring global cuisines in Philadelphia to eating plain dal roti at home. Her sister Ojasvi, fresh from years of hostel food, was equally restless for flavor.

The solution? Learn to cook the world's best sauces themselves. After 15 failed attempts at making authentic Italian arrabbiata, the sisters finally nailed it with help from YouTube and their mother Hema's cooking skills.

They handed out 200 samples to friends, family, and neighbors. The response convinced them they had something special.

In 2022, the trio officially launched Chilzo, a Mumbai-based brand offering authentic sauces and condiments from Italy, Africa, Mexico, and China. None of them had food industry backgrounds. Dea worked in marketing, Ojasvi had just finished her engineering degree, and Hema was a homemaker.

"We did not know how such businesses work," Dea admits. "We would meet industry professionals who used terms like GT or MT stores, then search later what those meant."

They surrounded themselves with mentors and attended food events to learn everything from shelf life to packaging. Within a year, they converted their home operation into a formal production unit.

Today, Chilzo serves around 7,000 customers monthly, mostly in Delhi, Mumbai, and southern India. The company now employs 30 workers and offers products across four categories of global cuisine.

The Ripple Effect

What started as two sisters craving better food is now making authentic global flavors accessible to thousands of Indian households. Chilzo taps into India's growing appetite for international cuisines while ensuring traditional cooking methods are respected.

The business proves that passion can trump expertise when combined with willingness to learn. By bringing Moroccan harissa, Chinese chili oil, and Italian marinara to Indian kitchens, this family is expanding culinary horizons one sauce jar at a time.

Their success shows how the pandemic's constraints sparked creative solutions that outlasted lockdown itself.