A 'homemade' success story

The launch of the Swagruha Foods outlet in Vijayawada in 1991saw the advent of a new concept -- home foods -- in AP's sweet-meat industry. This was the brainchild of the woman entrepreneur, Chagarlamudi Vijayakumari.

Overnight, popular Andhra delicacies like bobbattu, putarekulu, chakkilalu, boondi laddu, burelu and the like, began to occupy prime place instead of the established jangiris, jilebees and mysorepaks.

The traditional delicacies, which were confined to kitchens and usually prepared on festive occasions flooded the market to an overwhelming response.

Although the title 'Swagruha Foods' was registered by Vijayakumari, its popularity made it a generic term with almost every sweet shop adding the term to their title.

Vijayakumari attributes the success to one simple word 'intuition'. She and her husband Kishore quit their lucrative jobs in Co-operative Central Bank and started Swagruha Foods, opposite PW Grounds on the busy Mahatma Gandhi Road in Vijayawada in 1991.

What started off as a low-key venture with just 20 workers, Swagruha Foods has steadily grown to become the most-sought-after sweet brand in the state today and employs about 200 workers. Refusing to reveal the exact annual turnover, Vijayakumari says it is in eight figures.

"We christened our shop as Swagruha, which means 'Our Home'. The idea was to make the customers feel at home. Many of them acknowledge that the taste reminds them of their grandmothers' preparations. That is a big compliment," says Vijayakumari, who is also a member of the Association of Lady Entrepreneurs' of Andhra Pradesh.

She personally supervises the preparations in the kitchen and has strict standards of quality, ensuring that hygiene and quality are maintained at all times.

To make Swagruha Foods closer to the non-resident Indians, Vijayalakshmi has launched a home food shopping website, Swagruhafoods.net, through which the NRIs can send the traditional sweets and hot, spicy savories and shower their love on their kith and kin in India.

After making a mark in Vijayawada and then in Guntur, the Swagruha range has also scored a hit in foreign countries, particularly their pickles, which are very popular in the US.

To meet the ever increasing demand for the state's second most popular export product after software -- the pungent Andhra avakai -- Vijayakumari is planning to launch their outlet in the US in the immediate future.

"Efforts are on to open shop in the US very soon," says Vijayakumari, who runs the show along with her husband Kishore and son Madhu Babu. Honesty and integrity is the potion she prescribes for the upcoming women entrepreneurs.