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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

#291

Post by mitraraman »

t1o5 wrote: post #200

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…

That's a good point -- customers definitely react to our spice levels differently. We use authentic, family recipes so people not used to spice sometimes have a hard time. We're exploring adding a lower spice option for each product, so hopefully soon!

I would also say that food from any region of India is Indian food, and you can further specify what type of Indian food by direction (i.e. South/North) or region (i.e. Gujurati/Rajastani/Tamil).

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

#292

Post by pbreit »

moate wrote: post #231
ajacksified wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> seems like there isn't much difference between ordering from a decent Indian restaurant and you guys I know it seems absurd on HN, but there are people who live in areas without decent Indian restaurants.

That's fine, but then the question becomes "How many people who want fancy 'high quality' Indian food also live far from decent Indian food". At this price point, your demographic seems to be people who have a decent amount of disposable income who also want QUALITY Indian food who also don't want to have to prepare it themselves and who don't live near Indian restaurants of comparable quality to the product. How muc…

The play here would almost certainly need to be around supply chain and/or some advance in the quality/ease/lifespan of fast prepared meals.

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

#293

Post by mitraraman »

moate wrote: post #231
ajacksified wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> seems like there isn't much difference between ordering from a decent Indian restaurant and you guys I know it seems absurd on HN, but there are people who live in areas without decent Indian restaurants.

That's fine, but then the question becomes "How many people who want fancy 'high quality' Indian food also live far from decent Indian food". At this price point, your demographic seems to be people who have a decent amount of disposable income who also want QUALITY Indian food who also don't want to have to prepare it themselves and who don't live near Indian restaurants of comparable quality to the product. How muc…

That's a fair point, but also not the only demographic. When the options are either eat at an Indian restaurant or make it yourself, you come up against issues of overspending on time or money. There's a large population of people who enjoy Indian food, live near restaurants, could even make it themselves if they want to, but would rather get a quick, tasty meal that tastes homemade for the same amount of money and effort as a microwave meal.

Appreciate the support :)

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

#294

Post by mitraraman »

cbhl wrote: post #225
neya wrote: 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…

It wasn't clear from the home page that $24 is for "one meal that serves 3-4 people". If it doesn't greatly increase the price of packaging for your product, you may want to experiment with showing pictures of (and sending) food in single-serving packages (so instead of sending five-six packets, you'd send 15-24 of them). Another option is to go with a "Home Chef" style pitch -- basically saying "here's a dinner date…

That's a good point! Our products are created as a single serving per packet, so when you purchase our pre-made packs we specify how many meals you can make out of that pack to help users out.

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

#295

Post by [deleted] »

sarchertech wrote: post #242
t1o5 wrote: post #200

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…

In my experience non-westerners tend to underestimate the level of spiciness that westerners can handle (particularly westerners who are culinarily adventurous), and overestimate the average spiciness of their cuisine. If it's too spicy for me, it's too spicy for 99% of the population of any country, but it's damn near impossible to convince servers of that.

[deleted]

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

#296

Post by ForrestN »

learc83 wrote: post #270
ForrestN wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you pause to think about why you were asked that series of questions so often? Your experience suggests that the case of a guest overestimating their own tolerance is vastly more common than the case of the restaurant underestimating the tolerance of a guest. Edit: my mother, for example, is constantly enamored of the idea of spicy food, orders it "medium" or even "spicy," and then struggles to eat it.

Warning customers that your food is spicy is one thing. Refusing to accept that your culture isn't the only one on the planet that enjoys spicy food is something else entirely. There are white people who don't like spicy food, and there are Indians who don't like spicy food. There are probably more white people who don't like spicy food than Indians who don't (percentage wise). But if you use this heuristic instead o…

I think you're looking at this from the wrong direction. Instead of starting from "what is my ideal experience, and why are people failing to deliver that to me," try thinking "what does the existing equilibrium have to teach me about this situation?"

If you stop and think, you'll realize that the ubiquity of this "problem" for you is proof that your intuition is wrong, that you are an outlier, that the vast majority of incidents in which the spiciness doesn't suit the patron goes in the opposite direction.

The fact that you get so much pushback is proof that they are right to do so far more often than they are wrong. There's no reason to think that so many people at so many restaurants would be all be mistaken in the same direction and with such an extreme degree of conviction.

And there is something you can do—offer a lot of resistance without refusing so that all but the most stubborn customers who've tied their self esteem to their ability to eat spicy foods don't make the mistake of ordering food that's too spicy for them.

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

#297

Post by chrischen »

sarchertech wrote: post #242
t1o5 wrote: post #200

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…

In my experience non-westerners tend to underestimate the level of spiciness that westerners can handle (particularly westerners who are culinarily adventurous), and overestimate the average spiciness of their cuisine. If it's too spicy for me, it's too spicy for 99% of the population of any country, but it's damn near impossible to convince servers of that.

The hottest generally available hot sauces are the ones available at McDonald's, PopEyes, KFC, Taco Bell in the US... In fact, the same stores in Asia don't even offer hot sauces (usually some sweet and sour sauce or just ketchup).

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

#298

Post by pcdoodle »

bastijn wrote: post #213
pcdoodle wrote: post #195

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…

Little advice, it's the effort you put in that impresses the ladies more than the final taste. Adding water to impress won't work ;). That having said, as a European person I'm always amazed at the "instant food" culture that seems to be the standard in US. Wonder if it will ever cross the ocean.

Don't get me wrong, I can cook pretty well, I'm going to be pouring the water in secret if these taste good! Maximize results with minimal effort :)

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

#299

Post by jacquesm »

Very interesting. I recently invested into a US based food startup that does interesting stuff and I learned a lot about how hard it can be to get the recipes right and how hard it can be to produce such a product in quantity with high confidence in quality and packaging.

Much good luck with your company, if I could make two suggestions: add a subscription option (or make it the default), and maybe do not appeal to the 'homesick' part as much as you do now, there are a lot more people out there that enjoy Indian food than there are Indians abroad.

Also, it appears you do not sell outside of the United States, maybe make that more clear up-front?

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

#300

Post by roguecoder »

jschwartzi wrote: post #258
nicklovescode wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if they could do something like include a capsaicin dropper and guidelines?

When Midwesterners complain about how spicy something is, they're not talking about the pain from the capsaicin. They're referring to the unusual flavors from backing spices like cinnamon, coriander, cumin, turmeric, clove, cardamom, paprika, fenugreek, bay, et. al.. These are not "hot" spices, but people still have issues with them.

Right, but they are not going to be the target audience for this. There are plenty of Americans who aren't Midwesterners from Northern European meat-and-potatoes cultures, and Hungry Man already exists for the rest of them.
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