Jyoti Srivastava, who previously worked on rocket fuels for the Indian Army, now manages a millet-based baby food brand whose turnover has reached 10 million rupees. She is based in Meerut city.
As a chemical engineer with an MTech degree, Jyoti had experience in research and development, including work with rocket fuels and explosives. However, her priorities changed after the birth of her child.
When her son started weaning, Jyoti faced difficulties finding healthy and nutritious options that she could trust. In her opinion, many products contained too much sugar or had low-quality ingredients.
Instead of settling for what was available, Jyoti began studying infant nutrition and millet. She also underwent training in infant and toddler nutrition, as well as maternal and child nutrition.
During the COVID-19 quarantine, Jyoti started experimenting with millet-based recipes at home. She created an Instagram page to share what she learned with other mothers.
The decision to leave engineering work to discuss baby food online drew ridicule from relatives and acquaintances; some even mocked her for becoming a 'blogger mom'. Nevertheless, Jyoti continued her work.
In February 2022, Jyoti and her husband Gaurav Goel launched the company Little Cherry Mom. This startup, created without external funding, focused on making nutritious millet-based food easier for parents to prepare.
The brand offers various children's products, including millet flour, ready-to-eat mixes, laddus, hakkaras free of sugar and cane sugar, as well as A2 Bilona cow milk ghee and amla powder.
In her recipes, Jyoti applies traditional methods such as sprouting and fermentation. For example, sprouted ragi is used to enhance its nutritional value and aid digestion.
Before the products reach customers, Jyoti tests every product on her own children. Furthermore, the brand sources ingredients from verified farms and monitors for the absence of chemical fertilizers and pesticide residues.
Little Cherry Mom started with a revenue of 2.87 lakh rupees and 385 orders in the first month. In the 2022-23 financial year, the company's turnover exceeded 10 million rupees, and it served over 12,000 customers.
Currently, the business generates about 12 lakh rupees monthly and averages over 1,300 orders.