Grandma’s Special Mukhwas Recipe Helps 3 Generations of Women Earn Lakhs

‘Handful of Health’ sells traditional mukhwas and Gujarati snacks. It is a product of the efforts of three women entrepreneurs and their love for their family recipes. 

Nayana Jhaveri (82), a resident of Mumbai, has been an entrepreneur for over four decades now. There was a time when her home had a constant stream of customers dropping by to pick up her handmade mukhwas (traditional mouth fresheners) and puffs. For her, this was the way of life.

It was her daughter-in-law Bhavi Jhaveri who, in 2016, saw a potential business idea in her mother-in-law’s talents, and decided to form a company. 

Like Nayana, her sister Yamini Mehta, too, had been an entrepreneur selling mukhwas for years. In their social circle in Mumbai, the duo have a rather impressive clientele — including the likes of Ambanis, and corporates that place frequent orders with them, Bhavi says. Based on recipes shared by their mother Sadgunaben, the sisters had been in the business of making mukhwas and other Gujarati delicacies for over 40 years.

Before Bhavi sowed the seeds of formal entrepreneurship, both had been content with running the business from home.

Bhavi says that given how well the women were doing, she wanted to create a platform that would help scale the business and introduce processes with the ability to reach a wider client base. “Every house has its own way of making a particular product. The aim is to bring them all together under one roof,” says Bhavi. “All I did was bring them all under a banner, which we called Nanee’s Flavour.”

Bahvi has also included her own nanee’s (grandmother’s) recipe of paan under her company. Bhavi aims to provide traditional family recipes of various products under one ambit while promoting the talents of the women who have deeply influenced her.

From a business that began from various home kitchens, Bhavi decided to take a step forward by partnering with Candor Foods in 2020. Thus, from Nanee’s Flavours, the company was rebranded as ‘Handful of Health’. “Even though the name changed, the products and what we stand for remain the same. We now have a larger kitchen, more time to do research and development on new recipes, and the ability to hire many more women,” adds Yamini.

With shipping over 200 kg of mukhwas and earning a revenue of a few lakhs month-on-month, Bhavi has now set her eyes on acquiring more clients and adding more products. Their venture also sells dry fruits, snacks, dates, seeds, and more.

Currently, one can buy eight varieties of mukhwas and surti jeeralu (a kind of salt used in traditional Gujarati cooking). The products are priced from Rs 99 onwards.

Credits: The Better India

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