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From ‘side hustle’ to Sobeys’ vendor

BILL SPURR SALTWIRE NETWORK bspurr@saltwire.com @BillSpurr

Shivani Dhamija is nothing if not honest when asked about her formal background in cooking.

“Nothing,” said the founder of Shivani's Kitchen. “I know only my mom and my aunts make amazing food. That's how I learned. I'm no professional chef, I just know how my mom cooks. So, I'm self-taught, or mom-taught.”

Trained in corporate communications after coming to Canada in 2008, Dhamija started selling food at the Canada Games Centre as “just a side hustle. It's a very popular service back at home, meal delivery services, so that's where I started the journey. But, with time, I got more and more into it and in 2018, I got serious and I actually dedicated some money to it and opened my own commercial kitchen at Seaport Market.”

That enterprise had just found its feet when the market closed because of the pandemic, so it was back to the drawing board. In 2019, Dhamija was able to place with Sobeys a line of spices she was making.

“That's when I first understood the differences between a provincially regulated kitchen and federally regulated,” she said. “I can't cook spices in my provincial kitchen if I want to export. I was very new in this industry and no one warned me what I was getting into.”

Dhamija has been able to expand her spice business to the point that she now supplies Sobeys' stores across the region, as well as Loblaw's, Costco (online) and the restaurant supplier GFS.

The raw products — cinnamon stick, peppercorns, fennel, nutmeg, cardamom — all come to her via Montreal from different countries in Asia.

“Like star anise will be coming from Vietnam, coriander seeds will be coming from India, everything from different regions,” she said.

Dhamija had already realized the sale of spices alone wasn't going to pay the bills when she went to Hennigar's Farm Market outside Wolfville to sell them spices in the fall of 2019, and they told her to come back in the spring.

“They said, ‘Yeah, sure, we'll buy spices, but why don't you do ready-toeat meals for us?' So, I started readyto-eat meals only for Hennigar's Farm Market and I continued that for two years,” said Dhamija, who then had a conversation with a consultant who told her about the market for convenience.

As anyone knows who makes

Indian food at home, there's a big reward at the end, but it's a definite process.

“In Halifax, there are like 10 Indian restaurants, but what about people who are in Antigonish or New Minas or even further? They don't get Indian food,” she said. “So I wanted to make it convenient and easy for people, not just in Halifax but in the suburbs and everywhere.”

This month, the first shipment of hundreds of ready-to-eat meals under the Shivani's Kitchen label were being delivered to Sobeys' stores across

Nova Scotia, where there'll be sold in the deli section.

So far, the line consists of butter chicken, chicken curry and rice and chickpea curry and rice, which is vegan, all usually selling for $8.95.

“Even in January and February, it's been keeping us busy, like in gas stations,” Dhamija said. “We have been putting our meals everywhere. Petro Canada in Brooklyn carries our product and they were sold out within a week. Who would have imagined? We were actually shocked when they called to place another order. So, there is a demand for these products and I'm really excited about this new opportunity.”

Shivani's Kitchen employs four people, but Dhamija is thinking expansion.

“Right now, with the equipment we have we can make only 200 units a day, but if we get the proper equipment, we can increase that to 400 units a day. That's what we want to do, but not now,” she said. “I'm not going to run, I'm going to walk. We have a CFIA inspection coming next week, so my next target is going all across Atlantic Canada, gas stations. The biggest problem is logistics, 'how do I send the frozen meals from here to northern New Brunswick, Newfoundland?' I don't know what the answer is.”

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2023-03-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://saltwire.pressreader.com/article/281565179988774

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