Chikoo parlour’s workforce comprises of mostly women.Ĭhiku powder and rawa is sold under the ‘Sookha Chikoo’ section. Under ‘Meetha Chiku’ they sell sweets like barfis, katlis, pedas, halwas among others. Mahesh explains there are three sections under which all chiku products are sold. There’s one located on the Mumbai Ahmedabad highway and two on Mumbai-Nashik highway.Ĭurrently, Chikoo parlour offers 10 types of Indian sweets, three types of ice-cream and a milkshake. The first Chikoo Parlour which was set up on the Bordi Seaside has expanded to three more locations. I waited, took my time and experimented for about three years before finally founding Chikoo Parlour on 27 December 2017, on my birthday,” smiles Mahesh.Ĭall it Providence, stars aligning right or the fruit of a man’s labour, Mahesh’s smile was an indication that things became better after that. “My brother-in-law helped develop different chiku based sweets. Inside Chikoo Parlour’s Bordi outlet.Īt this time, his brother-in-law, who runs a catering business in Palghar, became a confidant. Additionally, I could sell other packaged chiku products as well,” says Mahesh. “I thought to myself, why not make chiku based food products that people can consume directly. He quickly realised that selling the powder in itself is not a viable business idea. However, his entrepreneurial soul took away useful lessons from this experiment. By the end of 2009, we had to throw out about 2000 kg of the powder since it was way past it’s expiry date,” recalls Mahesh. We also hadn’t marketed the product because not too many people even knew about it.
“The powder in itself did not do good sales. Getting Chikoo parlour up and running Solar tent dryer is used to dry the chikoo which is later used in different products.Īlthough Mahesh was successful in devising a way to correctly manufacture the powder, the joy was short lived. Unfortunately, the powder, though well-met, did not get many buyers. “I sold these chiku powder packets to local shops in Bordi and to my friends who were living in Mumbai,” says Mahesh. Luckily, this worked well and he started manufacturing this powder in small amounts in 2008 to see if it would be well received. To powder the chips, he developed a special machine in-house that could grind the chips roughly and prevent the sticky-ness. Undeterred, he then cut the fruit into small thin chips and dried it using a solar tent dryer. However, that wasn’t successful as it turned out to be too sticky,” laughs Mahesh. “I made a pulp of the fruit and tried to dry it. The different kinds of Chiku based sweets available in the outlets.
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