This document summarizes the story of Annapoorani, a successful food processing venture started by women in Thandalam Village. It describes how the women formed a self-help group and received training to start making papad and rava dosa mix, which became very popular. Their product line has grown and now includes over 30 products made using authentic recipes. The women work hard starting at 3 AM daily. Their turnover has increased from 1 lakh to 33 lakhs annually. They seek advice on expanding into pickles, snacks, exports and online ordering. Students are welcome to volunteer or intern with the organization.

1. THE MAKING OF ANNAPOORANI
THANDALAM VILLAGE WOMEN’S
EXPERIENCES IN CREATING A SUCCESSFUL
FOOD PROCESSING VENTURE
Presented By :
Mrs. Radha Parthsarathy
Feb 11 , 2011
Foods 2011 Conference ,
MOP Vaishnava Women’s College, Chennai

2. The story line
Thandalam : A background
The birth of the SHG group – Anna poorani
Early experiments
The secret behind the recipes
The growth story
Future expansion

3. Introduction : Speaker Profile
Mrs. Radha Parthasarathy

4. Thandalam : Background
Thandalam village , 6 years ago
A village 2 hours
from Chennai near
Arakkonam

5. The First Entrepreneurs
Thilagarani Manjula Kalpagam

6. Early work
 Women needed financial
support
 Started a self help
group : The Annapoorani
Women’s Self Help
Group
 Established a basic
infrastructure The food processing unit infrastructure

7. The first experiment
 Appalam ( Papad)
 Women got trained in
Gandigram
 Tasted well, but would not unfold
 A friend suggested rava dosa
mix recipe
 Was a great hit with users .
 One lead to another ….

8. The ‘secret’ behind the recipes
 Products identified based on demand
from friends and customers
 Recipes inspired by authentic ‘grand
mothers’ and ‘house wives’
 Each product goes through iterations of
trials and customer feedback
 Simple instructions , Great taste

9. Current product line
( constantly evolving)
Vatta Kozhambu Mix, Paruppupodi Mix,
Rava Dosai Mix,Adai Mix, Sambar Karuveppalai Podi, More Kuzhambu Powder, Milagu
Powder,Dhaniya Kuzhambu Powder, Milagu Kuzhambu powder,
powder,Puliyodarai Mix, Parupuusili Powder, Ellu podi Powder, Curryma
Thavaladai Mix,Kanchi Idli Mix, Powder,NV Masala Powder, Idly Powder, Masala Tea
Rasam Powder, Idli milagai Podi, Powder, Rice Vadam,Sago Vadam,Satthu Mavu,
Pidi Kolakattai Mix, Chilli Powder, Instant Poricha Kuzhambu, Instant Rasam Powder, Nell
Turmeric Powder, Dhaniya Powder, Pori vadam, Nell pori vadam Pumpkin, Chettinadu
vadam, Tomatto vadam,Tomatto vadam(Ellu), Instant
Rava Mix, Instant Appam Mix, Pancake Mix.

10. Equipments :
Low cost and Women-friendly
Grinder
Bench grinder
Simple automation :
•Enabled standard quality output
•Achieve larger volume / scale

11. Dry Frying Machine Grinding machine

12. A Day in Life of Annapoorni women
Work starts at 3 AM
From
Preparation…

13. … To Packing …
… To Delivery …

14. Continuous Innovations :
Some examples
 Pancakes – How we made it egg free and
‘jain’
 Vathal kuzambu : How to add puli (tamarind)
 Sathu maavu – nutritious food at low cost
 Chilli and turmeric – with zero adulteration
 Standardising English/Tamil words,
measurements

15. Key customers
 Give Life Trust
 Hot breads
 Rotary Club Madras(E)- Winners
Bakery
 Krishna sweets
 Apollo Hospitals
 TVS Group
 Manjal near MRM Kalyana
madapam
 Sri Vidya at Besant Nagar

16. The Annaporani Group : Today
Number of women : 25+
Total capacity : 25 MT
Current volume produced : 7 MT
Turnover : 33 lakhs / yr
(starting from 1 lakh per yr 5
years ago)
.. ‘Village’ Women Power – Avg. income per woman :
Ready To take On The Rs 2500 per month
World….

17. Marketing
 Word of mouth publicity of
customers
 Food tasting (Terrace House )
 SHG exhibitions
 Conferences ( like this )
SHG Exhibition at
Valluvar Kottam ,
Chennai

18. Future Plans
Pickles
Ready to eat snacks
Export orders
Vaccum packing
Online/Web ordering

19. How can you help us ..
 Vadams : all year through – even in cloudy
days ?
 Pickles : process - without preservatives
 Ready to eat snacks- how to handle oil
 Exports – procedures
 Marketing
 Web site , Face book site
Students : Interested to Volunteer /Summer Internship ?

20. Q&A