Starting a business is not easy. Starting a business during a pandemic is even harder. That is exactly what Sachin, the owner of DhaniyaJeera (meaning coriander and cumin in Hindi) has done. 

In November 2020, amidst various lockdowns and restrictions, Sachin decided to create DhaniyaJeera, a small vegetarian catering company supplying homemade Indian food a couple of days a week. He did not expect it to become anything, but he now serves 15-20 people weekly and has graduated to catering for small parties.  

“Like many other people, I happened to lose my job around the start of the pandemic.” He tells me, candidly. “I was quite well known in my friend group for having fairly good culinary skills, so I came up with the idea of delivering homemade vegetarian and vegan food to friends and family and other people around my area.” 

After setting everything up, Sachin was not expecting anyone to order at first, however, he was pleasantly surprised when he received two orders on his first day. From then onwards, it has been growing slowly. 

Sachin’s business model is quite different to normal tiffin catering services. “This is more like a passion, a side business.” He tells me. “I have another job as well, so on the days when I’m doing DhaniyaJeera, I have to get up really early to start cooking before work, then cook during my lunch break and once I’ve finished work too.” 

DhaniyaJeera is open on three days of the week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Fridays and caters everywhere in the borough of Redbridge. There is a set menu for each week and by pre-ordering the tiffin for the day you want, Sachin can make and deliver it straight to your door. “On Tuesdays we tend to do quite simple Indian food.” He tells me when I ask him to elaborate on the menu. “So, that’s Dhal and other simple curries. On Thursdays we do regional meals from various places across India and Friday is more like Indian street food.” 

Sachin’s main goal with DhaniyaJeera is to give people a taste of Indian dishes from deep inside India and occasionally other Asian countries. “I want to offer people dishes that aren’t generally found in hotels or restaurants,” he tells me, “So I can make my food as authentic as possible.” 

Sachin has also been trying to make his packaging as environmentally friendly as possible, an idea which his daughter suggested. “Most off our packaging is biodegradable, and we try not to use plastic and foil as much as possible.” He explains, “I think that protecting the environment is very important.” 

Sachin has built a business doing what he loves and if you would like to try some of DhaniyaJeera’s brilliant food, you can contact him with the following: 

Phone/WhatsApp: +44 7862 098366 

Website: https://dhaniyajeera.co.uk/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DhaniyaJeera/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dhaniyajeera_001/