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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

#191

Post by mitraraman »

scott00 wrote: post #123

Reactions from a non-Indian (who loves Indian food): * I really had to dig to find descriptions of the dishes. * The emphasis on pre-built combo packs turned me off somewhat. You've only got ~10 dishes, I'd rather explicitly pick the 3 or 4 dishes that intrigued me than sift through all the combo packs to find the one that most closely matches what I want.

Thank you for your feedback!

- We changed our product page design recently to move descriptions to a different part of the page and will definitely look into redesigning it! - We find that pre-built packs are helpful for people who can't choose or want to try a bunch of different ones. You can also purchase the individual products here: https://thebuttermilkco.com/collections/singles

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

#192

Post by mitraraman »

anonu wrote: post #156

Best of luck! I remember the good 'ol CMU days when we'd hit up "IG" (aka India Garden on Atwood - now closed) or "Taste" (aka Taste of India)... Certainly a far cry - I can imagine - from a good home-cooked meal. My suggestion: was looking for a video on your site... Something like that on the very first page might help people understand better what is being offered and how easy it is to prepare.

Thank you!! I "fondly" remember IG as well :)

That is a good suggestion -- we've actually been talking about that internally recently and will revisit it.

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

#193

Post by mitraraman »

Ar-Curunir wrote: post #175

For some positivity, I would love to have an option of actual, everyday Indian food available as an option to me. Indian restaurants in the US by and large suck, so I'm hoping you're successful!

Thank you! Appreciate the support.

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

#194

Post by xenihn »

keymone wrote: post #154
yzmtf2008 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you're downvoted, but the amount of sodium is definitely high and is a serious concern.

it's mostly associated with high blood pressure and recent findings show that it may not be correct: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170425124909.h... > A new study that followed more than 2,600 men and women for 16 years found that consuming less sodium wasn't associated with lower blood pressure.

Too much sodium can make your face puffy. It does for me.

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

#195

Post by pcdoodle »

I created an account just to chime in. This is an awesome idea. I've tried the subscription based models and hated how easy it was to lapse into another shipment that I didn't want. Also the other players seem to make the the recipes intentionally hard and you have to babysit the hell out of the recipes while cooking. That's no fun. For me, I want to impress the ladies without having to work so damn hard. Keep up the great work!

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

#196

Post by mitraraman »

ajeet_dhaliwal wrote: post #140

Good luck Mitra, I’m currently in the U.K. so can’t try it but one thing I’ve never seen done right is Indian food when it comes to takeaway/deliveries/orders, it’s never comes close to home cooked or restaurant quality so it’s a tall order for sure.

Thank you! It's definitely hard to get right, but we're happy that so far we seem to be doing the job well! Even my dad (a very harsh critic when it comes to authentic Indian food) is a fan!

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

#197

Post by mitraraman »

setgree wrote: post #151

First thing that came to mind: this might be excellent camping food. One suggestion, OP, is to get this into the hands of the folks at Wirecutter: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-camping-food/

Thanks for the suggestion! We've had quite a few customers use this for camping and hiking, although it's not as flexible for longer trips since it needs to stay refrigerated or frozen.

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

#199

Post by mitraraman »

bpicolo wrote: post #128
mitraraman wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our packaging is 100% recyclable and compostable! We take eco-friendly packaging very seriously. We use a single 4"x6" aluminum packet for each product, and ship all orders in thermal bubble mailers with compostable liners in recyclable boxes. Orders come with 2-4 gel packs that are all reusable and can be sent back to us if you don't need them.

For what it's worth, you're going to have to optimize away gel-packs somehow if you do want it to be handled in an eco-friendly way. The vast majority of people are going to throw those in the garbage. Sending them back to you is a huge hassle, and upcycling them won't scale for repeat customers.

Totally understand. I'm working on figuring out a better solution to gel packs for this exact reason.

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

#200

Post by t1o5 »

You will have a hard time balancing the spice levels. You can't satisfy both Indian and non-Indian demographic or you will have to have a spicy, less spicy type of each item. As an Indian, I cant stand the westernized non spicy versions of the supposedly authentic Indian foods. So I wouldn't buy them nor eat in those type of Indian restaurants. Its the same case vice versa. Non Indians may not like the spicy versions.

Another thing to note that though its called "Indian food", there is no thing as an "Indian food", just like not everyone from India knows Hindi.

Indian food varies drastically as you travel from North to South, East to West. But for westerners, its mainly butter chicken/daal/Vindaloo/Paratha/Chapathi. For someone from South India, it will be Dosa/Appam/Idly/Idiappam/Pongal/Avial/Sambhar/Rasam or Fish curry. One of your challenges lies in catering to the Indian & Non Indians palettes alike. Greetings from Canada.

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