DIWALI GIFTING DIPS BUT GETS INNOVATIVE

Taking about people changing professional tracks and discovering their core competence, I must mention Sid Mathur, who was a banker in London till he was bitten by the food bug.  Coming from an Old Delhi Kayastha family, good food comes with Sid’s territory, and being an alumnus of The British School (and St Stephen’s), he has sees a procession of hoteliers and restaurateurs come out of his alma mater, but not everyone with his lineage chooses to get into the F&B business.

He did—and he wisely started out some 15 years ago with Riyaaz Amlani, who has created heavy-hitter brands such as Social, Mocha, Smoke House Deli and Salt Water Grill. Sid, in fact, worked overtime to breathe life into the idea of Social, making it one of the most successful F&B brands before Covid struck. He also launched his own hospitality consultancy company, Secret Ingredient, but I was most excited when I heard that he was gentrifying Indian mithai by launching the Khoya brand.

Now present at exclusive addresses such as The Chanakya and The Oberoi New Delhi, Khoya has a discerning clientele, but this December, bulk orders have dried up. “Just ask yourself how many Diwali gifts you have received thus far and you have the answer,” Sid says. Diwali gifting has declined precipitously because of the ominous shadow of Covid. (Or, is it because people are eating fewer sweets, anyway?)

Young couples, though, are ramping up orders at Khoya—their numbers make up for volumes—and they are getting drawn to new ideas. Khoya’s Diwali package, for instance, comes with a bottle of mouth freshener (mildly sweet and flavoured supari shavings), meetha paan-flavoured incense sticks from Phool, and a jasmine diya designed by Kama. Normally, I pass on any sweet boxes I get to my domestic helps and driver, but I will definitely keep the contents of the Khoya box for a longer time.