We recently connected with Priya Osuri and have shared our conversation below.

Priya, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Priya, CEO and founder of Anar Gourmet Foods credits her entrepreneurial journey to her difficult immigrant experience. For many decades after immigrating from India in her early teens, she immersed herself in the American culture as she struggled to fit in. She’s finally learned to embrace her authentic self as a unique blend of both Indian and American cultures. She feels just like her authentic self, her seasonings are the best fusion of both Indian and American food.

Priya’s mission is to offer an easy way to make authentic and fusion Indian food with an AMAZING home cooked taste. She loves sharing the joy of her multicultural family’s home cooking by blending cultures and spices. Most of all, she loves strengthening family bonds by bringing them around the dinner table.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Priya left her sales and marketing career of nearly 20 years in the Medical Diagnostics industry to follow her passion of sharing her family’s home cooking. The idea of offering spice blends with South Indian recipes originated years ago when people raved about her mom’s phenomenal cooking raves but didn’t know how to replicate it. With 33% of people eating ethnic food once a week and 57% of Gen Z’s and millennials preferring Indian food over other ethnic foods. Priya’s Indian seasoning kits are on trend and perfect for foodies who love to cook or eat Indian food at restaurants.
THE PROBLEM:
Many people are intimidated to make Indian food. The 2 main barriers to cooking Indian food; The perception that curry is “too HOT”; It’s a hassle to prepare. It is an exhausting process to cook Indian food at home with buying 10-15 different spices, going to the Indian store to procure specialty ingredients, and customizing the spicy heat with unfamiliar Indian spices. Hours later, dish is prepared but people are exhausted, and the dish may not turn out to be the best. As a result, the spices are pushed to the back of the pantry till the next year resulting in food waste.
OUR UNIQUE SOLUTION:
Anar Gourmet Foods’ (AGF) removes these barriers to making Indian food at home and save the hassle factor along with time and money. They are authentic, delicious and easy to make and most importantly the recipe is so easy a ten-year-old can make it and you just cannot mess it up. AGF seasonings are unique because of Priya’s grandmother’s irreplicable secret blend of Hot South Indian curry powder unique to her village and household, not available anywhere in the U.S. This process takes hours to make a small batch of HOT curry powder by following the exact same method that Priya’s grandmother used to make it. This secret curry powder is then used as a base in the seasoning blends. Priya also combines her mom’s homemade recipes and her gift for blending Indian spices with familiar western ingredients to customize spicy heat and make the recipes easily. It takes months to develop each recipe to assure an authentic Indian flavor while customizing it to the American palate. Since Priya has multiple food allergies, her seasonings are also made with all natural ingredients free of common food allergies for allergen conscious people.
The dishes made with Priya’s seasonings are delicious with a rich and robust homemade taste that you only get from authentic South Indian home cooking. The seasonings make Indian food accessible and approachable to prepare while customizing the fiery taste that may be a deterrent for people to enjoy Indian food. Priya also recently switched to recyclable packaging and gives back to the local economy via outsourcing most jobs to local producers, services and the local food bank.

Priya is most proud of all five star reviews on her website. Customers say that the taste of her dishes blow away the competition. Priya finds it fulfilling to get such great feedback especially since her products are carefully crafted and made with love from the heart.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Priya left a career of nearly 20 years in the Medical Diagnostics industry to follow her passion of sharing her family’s home cooking based on her mom’s phenomenal cooking. She started out at a farmer’s market in IN while working full time at her corporate job. She was pleasantly surprised with the overwhelming positive reaction to the taste tests. Most of all, she continues to be thrilled with the testimonials and review from customers who have given her all five star reviews.
The idea of offering spice blends with South Indian recipes originated years ago when people tasted her mom’s cooking still rave about it decades later but but they don’t know how to replicate it. Priya’s made it simple for Indian food to be prepared at home easily. She has achieved significant milestones for a small business by penetrating retail stores in the local Pittsburgh market including the local Fresh thyme, Market Districts and many other natural boutique stores in the area. She has an online presence for retailers including Walmart Marketplace, Amazon, the Anar Gourmet Foods website and online distributors such as Specialty Food Association, Faire and UNFI marketplace.

Anar Gourmet Foods has also been featured in the front page of the food section in March 2023 and again in March 2024 by Gretchen McKay the eminent food editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. These articles spotlighted her company when it was picked up across the U.S. online newspapers resulting in remarkable growth.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Priya keeps in touch with her customers by bi-monthly newsletters and personalized letters to customers with orders. She also has a presence on social media on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok where she provides original recipes, tips and a peek behind the scenes of her family.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://anargourmetfoods.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anargourmetfoods/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anargourmetfoods
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-osuri-68594b1/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjFfKmWJV5qqW_q5Y_UcxhQ
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@anargourmetfoods