Innovative e-commerce platform Tocco is empowering home chefs in their 50s to build a culinary identity and simultaneously achieve financial independence. It is founded by Reshma Suresh and curates homemade regional delicacies from chefs across India. It offers busy individuals easy access to wholesome and preservative-free meals.
Tocco provides a unique blend of nostalgia and local flavors. A couple of examples are Uma Suresh’s prawn pickles in Kerala and Bhavana Shah’s nankhatais in Mumbai. Such small-batch creations allow home chefs to turn their passion into a thriving business and without facing the complexities of branding as well as marketing.
Reshma is an engineer and MBA graduate from IIT Bombay. She created Tocco after struggling to find authentic home-cooked meals while working in Mumbai. She was inspired by her own longing for Kerala dishes and started selling the items under ‘MeenGurry Memories’ brand. Her project soon evolved into a platform where other home chefs including her mother and aunt.
Tocco was launched in 2023 and since then has featured more than 16 chefs. It has helped them earn and become financially independent. The platform started with just Rs 5,000 and achieved a turnover of more than Rs 1 crore within a year. It manages order management, shipping and everything without depending on outsourcing.
The platform has had a significant impact on its chefs and most of them are in their 50s and 60s. Bhavana Shah, a chef from Mumbai, credits Tocco for giving her a renewed sense of identity and confidence. Similarly, for Uma Suresh, Tocco has brought new meaning to her lifelong passion for cooking, enabling her to earn independently.
Tocco aims to onboard more chefs and increase its reach. Reshma notes that one of the biggest challenges is managing customer expectations is fast delivery.
