If you don’t know yet? Yes, We started Spicy Chicken Pickle out of the need to survive the pandemic without a job or bank balance. Both me and Parth could not get paid by our employers in the lockdown. As it was a first time experience for everyone in the world, we did not want to depend or bother anyone. It was a difficult time for everyone - the uncertainty of the future was scary. Thats when Parth, who already was in love with my food said, “ Why don’t we sell your chicken pickle? Everyone who tasted it fell in love with it so why not?” Thats how it started!
When you start a business as a need to make ends meet, all your fears, ego, doubts go out of the window. The easy way of finding any job was simply not an option. It taught us how dependent we are on society and its ways. The only way to survive was to get out of the comfort zone we were always raised in. Lockdown was very strict and we were only allowed 4 hours a day out of the house. We walked to every General/Kirana store asking them to place our pickles in their shops. We walked pasting print outs on the side of the roads and shops. We delivered every small order to every corner of the city, while in curfew, playing disguise with the cops.
We both had to practically do everything that a whole company does. Within 1 month, we gained popularity among Telugu TV artists, Tollywood Actors, Directors, Top Chefs etc., Thats when our sales sky rocketed. With our sales being high our work just doubled and we took care of everything.
- Acquiring Raw Material - Pickle Making - Packing - Photography - Content creation - Social Media - Marketing - Accounting - Documentation - Website design and development - Order Deliveries - Customer relations - Queries - Order taking, Etc.,
Yes, we got tired and juiced up! Yes, it showed up on our health! Yes, we wanted to just give up!
But, We did not give up ever. It made our relation stronger, Our admiration greater and has got us all the success we could have never dreamt of.
After manually taking care of each and every task and every department, we got an idea on how the market works, how businesses work and how much of what’s been taught about business is just unreal. That helped us not fall in traps that small businesses are often falling for. Every Government office, Bank, Agencies, Marketers, Web developers we visited, always gave us a list of impossible things to achieve or own an impossible amount of money. They never cared to tailor any service at our best interest. Gratefully, we were able to recognise these traps before we invested any time or money into these no skill ‘agencies’. because we had to personally deal with them ourselves.
This approach that me and Parth took on Spicy Chicken Pickle helped it cross 6 million sale in under 2 years without any paid marketing. We started in a 2 bedroom apartment and now working in a 450 Sq, yard bungalow. 100’s of celebrities and chefs loving and reviewing us, all of this success is because we did not fall in the trap called ‘RULES’. Government is supposed to work for our benefit, Professionals are supposed to deliver the best service but everyone is busy making profits in the name of rules. Even though there are efficient agencies and professionals they charge a fair bit of fee to deliver their best work, which are almost impossible for a small business to finance. So, we decided to take things into our hands.
I don’t! By any means say that it is easy or possible for everyone to do so.. Along with our will power, it is also our circumstances that made us take these decisions that served us right. We had to learn about every single department and carry out its functions all by ourselves. It takes a whole company and more outsourced companies to carry all the tasks that Me and Parth alone did. Even though, it took all our time it brought us the most organic success that there can be WITHOUT EVER FOLLOWING ANY PROTOCOL.
Thank you for reading through…Stay tuned for more stories from me... XOXO…
Meanwhile
‘LIVE LIFE WITH A LITTLE SPICE’
Chef Moneca.
