At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and inspiring stories from India and around the world to empower, educate, and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we are delighted to feature Chef Sonam, Entrepreneur and CEO & Co-Founder of Flourish Foods, in an exclusive interview.
With over a decade of experience in the culinary industry, including working with renowned hospitality brands such as Novotel and Marriott, Chef Sonam has transformed her passion for food into an entrepreneurial mission to make everyday nutrition simpler and more accessible. Through Flourish Foods, she is reimagining traditional flour by incorporating natural superfoods into everyday staples, helping consumers embrace healthier eating without compromising on familiar tastes and cooking experiences.
In this exclusive conversation with BrilliantRead Media, Chef Sonam shares insights into her culinary journey, the personal experiences that inspired her entrepreneurial venture, the challenges of building a clean-label food brand, and her vision for making nutritious food an effortless part of everyday life.
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Chef Sonam:
You have spent over a decade working in prestigious five-star kitchens, including Novotel and Marriott, and have also led restaurant operations. How have these experiences shaped your culinary philosophy and inspired the vision behind Flourish Foods?
I started at Novotel, Chennai, and then moved to Marriott. Five-star kitchens taught me consistency and respect for ingredients. Later, leading a QSR and heading a three-star hotel as Executive Chef taught me scale.
I saw that good food and good nutrition were always treated separately. Flourish is my attempt to bring them together in our daily atta.
You also ventured into entrepreneurship by opening your own café, which you had to close during the first COVID-19 lockdown. What did that experience teach you, and how did it influence your transition from being a chef to building a food brand?
I had my own café, which I closed in the first lockdown. That taught me being a great chef isn’t enough. So instead of opening another café, I did 500+ pop-ups in 365 days to test what people actually like. That shifted me from chef-ego to customer-first thinking.
Flour is a staple in Indian households, yet it is rarely viewed as an opportunity for nutritional innovation. What inspired you to rethink this everyday ingredient, and how did your husband’s diabetes diagnosis influence the purpose behind Flourish Foods?
We work with natural superfoods like beetroot and spinach. The real shift came when Shiwank, my husband, got diagnosed with diabetes. Before that, it was about proving I’m a great chef. After that, my purpose shifted to making healthy eating simple at home. It helps manage diabetes, like in my husband’s case, who is now pre-diabetic.
One of the biggest barriers to healthy eating is the effort required to change established food habits. How does Flourish Foods make everyday nutrition simpler, allowing consumers to enjoy familiar dishes while incorporating more nutrient-rich ingredients into their meals?
My goal was simple: one should be able to use my Attas exactly how they would use regular atta or maida. No new recipes. Same roti, paratha, puri, just more nutrition.
Developing healthier alternatives to everyday staples can be challenging, particularly when consumers expect the same taste, texture, and cooking performance. What goes into your product development process, and how do you ensure that nutritional innovation does not compromise the everyday cooking experience?
I did 25 recipes before launching. If any one recipe did not work out, I was at square 1 and reworked my ratio. The roti must puff, stay soft, and taste familiar. If it doesn’t work like regular atta, it’s not launched.
Clean-label eating is becoming increasingly important to consumers who want to understand what goes into their food. What does clean food mean to you, and how does Flourish Foods translate this philosophy into its ingredients and manufacturing choices?
Clean means you understand the label. Our atta is just wheat + real dehydrated vegetables. No maida, no preservatives, no artificial colour. What you see is what you eat.
Building a food brand requires more than a great product; it also demands consumer trust, distribution, and a sustainable business model. What have been the biggest challenges in scaling Flourish Foods, and how have direct-to-consumer sales, pop-ups, and retail helped you overcome them?
Distribution with a clean-label product is the challenge. We started D2C and pop-ups so I could explain the product directly. That trust helped us scale to retail and online.
As you look to the future, what is your long-term vision for Flourish Foods? How do you hope to transform the role of flour in Indian kitchens and encourage more households to embrace everyday nutrition without additional effort?
I want Flourish Foods to be the atta that makes your everyday roti more nutritious, without extra effort and truly helps you flourish, one roti at a time.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
