Self-employment

Taste of home sells well

Sometimes the best business ideas are right under your nose. New entrepreneurs may find their business inspiration within their own personal experiences. "It was right on my plate growing up," entrepreneur Preena Chauhan says.

ROGER PIERCE
[ 2006-03-15 ]

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Preena Chauhan markets a line of gourmet Indian cooking ingredients 'just like Mom makes.'

Chauhan owns Tasteworks, a company that produces and markets a line of gourmet Indian cooking ingredients called Arvinda's (www.arvindas.com). Using the slogan "Exotic Cooking Made Easy," Tasteworks was inspired by healthy home-cooked Indian dishes Chauhan enjoyed while growing up.

"The spice blend recipes are derived from my mother, Arvinda Chauhan, owner of the Healthy Gourmet Indian Cooking School based in Oakville, Ont.," Chauhan says. "My brother Paresh and I always aspired to bring forth our mother's amazingly aromatic spice blends to the market."

Chauhan started her company as a part of her masters in environmental studies program at York University to explore the challenges of running an environmentally sustainable small business.

She got some seed money to launch her business as a participant in The Summer Company Program (www.cbsc.org) sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. "The rest of my start-up funding was love money from family," Chauhan says.


Although she's been in business for less than a year, Chauhan loves being a young entrepreneur.

"Running your own business takes hard work and long hours, but I try to have fun while doing it," she says. "It's an incredibly satisfying feeling to create your own company."

Propelled by the popularity of Indian cuisine, Chauhan's products are selling well. "I love enabling people to cook their own authentic and healthy Indian dishes at home," she says. "In the short term, I plan to introduce more innovative cooking ingredients to Arvinda's product line and have my products carried across the GTA."



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