Grandma’s recipe and a ‘Jar of Love’: How a Hyderabad couple turned their last ₹1,300 into a ₹3.3 crore business
In March 2020, as the first nationwide COVID-19 lockdown brought India to a sudden, grinding halt, Monica and her partner, Partheshwar, found themselves staring at
In March 2020, as the first nationwide COVID-19 lockdown brought India to a sudden, grinding halt, Monica and her partner, Partheshwar, found themselves staring at a bleak future. Parth, who had taken a career break following his father's passing, saw his break indefinitely extended. Monica, a practising lawyer, suddenly found her client cases suspended and her income completely dried up. As their collective savings evaporated, the couple was left with exactly ₹1,300 in cash. Driven by sheer necessity, they took a desperate gamble on an old family secret: a traditional, oil-based chicken pickle recipe handed down by her grandmother. Five years later, that desperation has transformed into a thriving bootstrapped Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) meat condiment empire — Spicy Chicken Pickle. At its peak in fiscal year 2024-25, the brand clocked an astonishing ₹3.3 crore in revenue. More importantly, the business built a microeconomy of resilience, employing a dedicated production workforce composed entirely of local women. Here's how an accidental lockdown pivot turned a “Jar of Love” into a blueprint for profitable, community-led entrepreneurship ₹ 1,300 gamble “We were basically left income-less with no future in sight,” Monica told LiveMint, reflecting on the panic of early 2020.
“Parth looked at me and asked, ‘Shall we try selling your chicken pickle?’” For years, Monica had been making small batches of a traditional Andhra-style chicken pickle for herself. It was a recipe she had meticulously learned and tweaked from a 90-year-old grandmother. Whenever she made it, friends and family would completely empty her jars within a single night. But cooking for friends is vastly different from building a commercial business—especially when your entire startup capital is a single ₹1,300 note. With no access to commercial machinery or wholesale supply chains during the strict curfew, the duo bought whatever raw ingredients they could find at local mom-and-pop stores. They returned home and spent 12 gruelling hours hand-grinding spices using a traditional stone mortar and pestle. From that initial investment, they yielded exactly 4 kilograms of chicken pickle. Lacking professional packaging equipment, they packed the portions into basic packets, sealing the edges by hand over a burning candle flame. Also Read | Techie walks away from ₹72 LPA job offer because of toxic professional demands Deciphering ‘gold’ What started as a frantic attempt to stay afloat quickly revealed incredibly robust commercial fundamentals.
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