Edible Food Find: Kay’s Curries
Photos by Michael Piazza
As in so many successful businesses, food or otherwise, the idea for Kay’s Curries grew from the goal of solving a real world problem. As a product manager building IoT platforms for healthcare connected devices, Kalpana (Kay) Kethineedi has a demanding career. Work intensified during the pandemic and she had even less time to cook healthy foods for her family. She began enthusiastically supporting local farms and their ecosystems where she noted the abundance of “just add water”–type foods on the shelves.
Kethineedi (originally from southern India), joked with her friends that maybe she would start a justadd- water one-pot Indian meal kit business. As you might expect from a product manager, she began experimenting. Convenience without sacrificing flavor or quality was her goal. Using her mother’s recipes and high-quality dehydrated vegetables, a pav bhaji kit was in the works by January 2021. Kethineedi tweaked her recipe based on feedback from others, running versions by her husband, neighbors and friends.
Seeking advice for solo entrepreneurs, she joined a Facebook group for How I Built This, a popular podcast by NPR’s Guy Raz. A group member recommended that she apply for a one-year free business accelerator program run by Massachusetts-based nonprofit EforAll. Program participants join a cohort with other entrepreneurs seeking to grow or start a business. At the beginning of the program they attend classes, meet with mentors and are given feedback. Mentor and cohort meetings continue for the remainder of the year. Kethineedi began the program in July 2021.
For the next three months, she worked on perfecting her recipes, took classes, did homework, met with her cohort and mentors, registered the business, created a website and social media presence, revised packaging and designed labels, all while working at her product manager job. She entered and won an EforAll pitch contest later that year, only eight months after coming up with the idea for Kay’s Curries. EforAll’s accelerator program had lived up to its name.
Kethineedi then began looking for a shared kitchen. She signed on with Stoneham’s Food rEvolution where she made her products until moving over to Rhode Island copacker Hope & Main earlier this year. While at Food rEvolution, Kethineedi began pursuing her wholesale license while continuing to work on recipes, labels and packaging as well as assembling the kits. Mid 2022 she obtained the license and hired an intern to help redesign the labels and packaging so that the ingredients were visible and products distinguishable.
Last summer Kay’s Curries participated in The Commonwealth Kitchen Food Show and the Union Square Farmers Market through a booth sponsored by Nibble Somerville, where she also taught cooking classes. Each was a valuable learning experience. Wanting to give samples to prospective customers but lacking access to electricity at the market, she was loaned a camping stove. Customers saw this and enthused that the kits were perfect for camping. A new customer base was born. The company’s participation in RI Vegfest brought another group into the fold: vegans. The products nearly sold out there on the first day.
As mission-driven Kethineedi notes, “Our purpose is to provide healthy and delicious traditional Indian dishes no matter what cooking experience you have, what culture you come from or how much time you have in your day, and also to bring people together and educate on the regional, cultural and culinary influences that unite and differentiate the various regions of India.”
Kay’s Curries offers five preservative-free and deliciously nuanced traditional Indian one-pot kits: masala khichdi, pav bhaji, tofu biryani, vegetable biryani and chicken biryani.
Visit kayscurries.com for a current (and rapidly growing) list of locations selling their products.
This story appeared in the Summer 2023 issue.
