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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

#331

Post by bendoidic »

Ordered, and excited to try! That free shipping offer got me to go back and add an item, so kudos. Once I taste the product, I might just submit a pav bhaji recipe.

Can't comment on pricing until I taste and get a sense of quantity. Certainly reasonable enough to let me try.

Some feedback on the site: - Love the pastel colors and packaging design. Very clean, with excellent photos. Any concern about appearing too feminine for your target customer? - I feel like the "Details" should already be open when I go to a product page. I ended up having to twirl it open each time I visited a page. Also annoying that the Drift pop-up covered up those details every time! - I got confused about bundles, quantities, and meal counts, and just ended up ordering enough to get free shipping. Maybe that's the intent? - Loved the "How to Eat" section. Helped me decide what to buy, but once again, it was hidden. - I would suggest left aligning your text on product descriptions. Centered text is harder to read, especially with the bulleted lists. - I want more imagery of the food! Photos of the ingredients! Videos of the cooking process! "How to Eat" as a video or photo series, instead of text!

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

#332

Post by witePeopleSpicy »

bdcravens wrote: post #328
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…

Ordered takeout from a little Indian place in one of the more heavily Indian populated sides of Houston. They asked me what spice level I wanted, I said medium. They then asked, "Indian medium or American medium"?

Yeah, that's a pretty common thing.

There are two types of spicy:

  Actual Spicy

  White People Spicy
You go into any restaurant in NYC, as a white person, and they ask you if you want it spicy, and you only say "yes, please" get ready to be disappointed.

Most restaurants have been burned by random tourists sending back full plates of food by white tourists from other parts of the country, that they lower their spiciness, if you look like non-foodie white people.

They don't even ask or mention what they're doing. You say: yes, spicy, please. Then you get Ohio Spicy.

They don't even call it "white people spicy" but that's what it is. You have to emphatically say, "Yes, VERY spicy, please." in order to get actual chilies, and real spice oils.

Try it with a friend, who doesn't look like white people. Both of you order the same dish, both spicy, then trade. The only route around this situation is to look like New York Foodie White People.

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

#333

Post by harigov »

mitraraman wrote: post #315
harigov wrote: post #211

I think the food is slightly overpriced but I would be willing to pay for high quality organic food. However, my key concern is how you deal with allergens. I am very sensitive to certain food items like gluten and dairy which makes it hard for me to find food when I travel. If you can handle food contamination and provide organic gluten/dairy free food, consider me a customer. I can totally see myself buying these f…

I understand your concern, and we're very careful to not cross-contaminate. All of our products are vegan and the only dishes that are NOT gluten-free are khichdi, upma, and our rices. We use our own kitchen appliances and actually cook the gluten-free and non-gluten-free dishes on separate days to ensure that we're being careful. You're right, these are great for trips!

There are devices that allow you test gluten contamination in your food. If you can validate that your food is celiac safe, consider me a customer!

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

#334

Post by Isamu »

foobar1962 wrote: post #316
learc83 wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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. When I was waiting in a Thai restaurant (in Australia) I too started do the "are you really sure" thing after a couple of customers ordered the hottest dishes on the menu, then complained they couldn't eat them and wanted a refund. People wo…

This. When they ask you "are you sure" they are just wary of getting jerked around by people who really have no idea, and who can't abide having to live with their decisions. They get those people all the time.

As an aside, I remember somebody returning a standard grilled chicken sandwich at McDonalds for being unbearably spicy.

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

#335

Post by [deleted] »

magic_beans wrote: post #327
cbhl wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdote: Had a (caucasian) friend who spent a four-month co-op term as a student in India, and when they came back they also had to insist to the local Indian restaurants "yes, I want it extra spicy, like you would serve to an Indian person". (Like, I realize this is frustrating, but how is the waiter going to know -- from your appearance -- that you spent four months eating Indian food in India?)

Several of my colleagues find buffalo wing sauce to be unbearably spicy... Most white people in the US aren’t as adventurous as those on HN.

[deleted]

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

#337

Post by hueving »

js2 wrote: post #268
sarchertech wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A bunch of us Westerner looking types went to a Thai restaurant in Mountain View. This was many years ago and I don't recall the restaurant. We ordered some shared dish and were asked how spicy we wanted it, 1-10. We said 10. The whole "are you sure?" thing a few times. They brought the dish out. We said "this really isn't 10 spicy." The server said, "next time say you want it 10 on the Thai scale". Sigh. I live in N…

Why haven't we started calling out this racism and shunning it? It's better if everyone is on the same page for spiciness levels and judging peoples' tastes based on their skin color is inaccurate and offensive.

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

#338

Post by hueving »

jmull wrote: post #179
toopsss wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- The oil that they include is definitely a type of preservative You seem really hung up on the preservatives thing and I was giving the benefit of the doubt, but now it is just disingenuous. If oil of all things in a competitors product as a preservative then I think the tremendous amount of salt in your product qualifies as well.

I’m not sure that’s fair. I think it makes sense to distinguish between oil (or salt or any ingredient) added for the purpose of flavor, nutrition, or authenticity vs the purpose of preservation. Both affect the flavor but one makes the food better and the other only ensures it lasts longer (assuming success).

That presumes flavor and longevity are mutually exclusive.

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

#339

Post by landon32 »

mitraraman wrote: post #291
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…

Assuming you use water-based sauces and mostly pre-ground spices, the easiest way to fix the spice issue would be just to put all of the spicy ingredients in a separate container and let customers add those in at their discretion. For most dishes there's just a few ingredients that are really spicy, and the recipe would probably survive without them.

This way it's a continuum instead of just a binary choice.

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