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Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

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Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#31

How is this different from products like Kitchens of India or Tasty Bites? Are you looking to compete with them on price or quality?

I'm guessing quality. I just ordered and the order confirmation said

> Remember that your packets are perishable, so refrigerate or freeze them as soon as they arrive!

That's definitely not true of Tasty Bites. :-)

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#32
Mitraraman,

The website has a really clean look - it makes the product seem delicious and authentic. The minimalist design compliments the minimalism of the product.

I would be careful with identifying your target market. I live in Chicago, which I believe has one of the highest percentages of Indian immigrant populations in the nation. This might seem like your target market - but in fact the large percentage of immigrants has led to a slew of Indian markets and restaurants, that are likely equally delicious and cheap. It is a common theme among my coworkers to bring in homecooked Indian meals on a daily basis.

I also noticed the Upma pack is listed as gluten-free, but contains semolina. That's just asking for legal trouble from those with Celiac's. It might be worth consolidating all of the different packages and their ingredients lists on a separate page, QAing them, and making them more available to the reader in an organized, possibly drop-down format. Hope this feedback is useful.

Cheers

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#33

>The options were expensive 5 Spice packets for 24$ isnt what I consider cheap, given I eat for an entire week on ~20$, including a curry chicken dish. If I misunderstood(like veggies and beans are included), could you mention that in the product page?

Do you mind to share what you eat for 20usd/week and, more importantly, in which region you achieve that? I am in Italy, and I believe that budget would suffice for maximum one day. Thank you

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#34

>The options were expensive 5 Spice packets for 24$ isnt what I consider cheap, given I eat for an entire week on ~20$, including a curry chicken dish. If I misunderstood(like veggies and beans are included), could you mention that in the product page?

Just milk and eggs are $20 week for me (5 eggs + 1.5 liter milk / day)

That's a lot of milk (and eggs) each day for one person. Doesn't it get boring? I find myself going off eggs really quickly...

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#35
Why is the sodium level so high? The dal pack has 1220 milligrams of sodium per serving? It seems rather unethical for you to be marketing high sodium products to a group of people that should not be eating a daily amount of sodium in one sitting.

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#36
post #11

How is this any different from MTR's line of products?[1] And given that MTR's products cost just $2.50 per pack where I currently live, $24 isn't exactly cheap. I haven't tasted your product, but I have tasted the MTR ones and they seem pretty authentic. And MTR being a very old, traditional brand, it's as authentic as it gets. Would love to hear about your differentiation strategy. [1] https://www.mtrfoods.com/prod…

Haven't tried any food from buttermilk, but if their shelf life is any indication their food is much fresher than MTRs. MTR's packets are good for at least a year (and taste like it - they are passable in a pinch but definitely have that preservative taste to them). I think buttermilk is competing with freshly made or restaurant quality food. Edit: was wrong about MTR using preservatives, but I've always found their…

MTR doesn't use preservatives, the whole food is just sealed air-tight with extra oil covering the food to prevent it from rotting. It's a combination of package engineering and food engineering.

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#37
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! Yes, everything is vegan but I totally understand your need for more meat dishes. Under 'How To Eat' on each product page we've added what meat we suggest mixing with the dish. More detailed recipes to come! Thanks for the feedback. Example: https://thebuttermilkco.com/collections/singles/products/sam...

Conversely, I've just ordered the Buttermilk Suite #2 because you mentioned that they were vegan! (I wouldn't have expected that from your company name...)

Same here; I saw the name and assumed most of the options would be full of paneer that I’d have to avoid (delicious as it is).

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#38
post #30

I think you should consider your addressable market to be greater than Indian expats - I'm a Brit and I miss my curry living here as much as anyone from India! Two quick thoughts: 1) I don't get your branding, especially the company name, and especially as all of your meals are vegan. 2) Shipping meat-based meals is presumably a very different and more expensive logistical challenge so I get the reason why there's no…

> 1) I don't get your branding, especially the company name, and especially as all of your meals are vegan.

As I mentioned downthread, I was planning to skip this completely because of the name until one of the founders happened to mention in a comment that the meals are vegan. I don't normally associate "buttermilk" with anything that I eat as a vegan.

This might be a tricky marketing issue, because a huge amount of traditional home-cooked Indian food is lacto-vegetarian but not vegan. So there might be not an enormous customer segment that would view the lack of dairy in these meals as an advantage (although I'm in that customer segment myself).

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#39
post #11

How is this any different from MTR's line of products?[1] And given that MTR's products cost just $2.50 per pack where I currently live, $24 isn't exactly cheap. I haven't tasted your product, but I have tasted the MTR ones and they seem pretty authentic. And MTR being a very old, traditional brand, it's as authentic as it gets. Would love to hear about your differentiation strategy. [1] https://www.mtrfoods.com/prod…

Glad you asked! We have a few key differences:

- MTR provides just the spices, you have to bring everything else. This includes vegetables/meat, seasoning, additional spices, oil/salt, etc. Our products include all of this so that the only ingredient you add is water which makes it much more convenient.

- Our packets are 100% fresh and don't have any preservatives, whereas existing packaged Indian foods are packed with them. This makes our products tastier, fresher and much healthier, although it comes with a shorter shelf-life.

- Our recipes are curated from people in the community (for example, the rasam is my mom's!) This lends a very homemade taste to each dish.

- We deliver to you! All existing pre-packaged authentic Indian foods are only available in Indian stores, so we're making good Indian food available to a much larger audience.

- At the end of the day, the taste just isn't comparable. Microwaveable chana masala from Haldiram's, let's say, comes out looking/smelling/tasting not at all like a homemade dish. Ours is made completely from scratch and you as a customer can feel that difference.

MTR/Haldiram's are 'last-resort' type meals, and we aim to be a meal that you actually crave + is good for you :)

Re: Launch HN: The Buttermilk Company (YC S18) – Homemade Indian Food in 5 Minutes

#40
post #31

How is this different from products like Kitchens of India or Tasty Bites? Are you looking to compete with them on price or quality?

I'm guessing quality. I just ordered and the order confirmation said > Remember that your packets are perishable, so refrigerate or freeze them as soon as they arrive! That's definitely not true of Tasty Bites. :-)

Tasty Bites are super delicious though...
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