H.A. Hang: Rajus and Poorva Korde

The coolest part of our business has always been our clients. We’re amazed by all they do: CEOs, world travelers, authors, inventors, entrepreneurs, newscasters, artists, pro athletes, musicians, caretakers, and philanthropists.

We launched this series to share the stories of our clients and form connections within the H.A. community. Enjoy!

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Home Appetit: We’re big fans of your lonsa around here. How do you
describe it to people? What’s your sales pitch?
Poorva Korde: Aaji is the word for grandma in the part of India where our
families are originally from. Our desire is to bring our grandma’s tasty and
versatile costal Indian recipes to market. Our first is tomato lonsa. It’s made
from fresh tomatoes cooked with a blend of costal Indian ingredients and
spices. Its a very versatile spread, topping and ingredient to cook with. It’s
sweet, spicy, a little tart and has umami. It’s really beautiful with things like
eggs, bread, cheese, proteins, veggies. You name it.
Rajus Korde: We have four varieties—original, spicy, garlic and spicy garlic.

Which is the best seller?
Rajus: Its a pretty close tie between original and spicy garlic. The original
recipe is my grandma’s, but it was never written down. However, my mom
always knew how to make it and has evolved the recipe into the different
varieties. When we launched, we started with only three types, but customers were requesting a spicy version of garlic.

Is lonsa something you ate growing up?
Rajus: It is. It was made when tomatoes were in season. It was special. It was usually paired with aloo paratha, a potato flatbread.
Poorva: The first time I met Rajus’s parents, after we had started dating, his
mom made tomato lonsa with aloo paratha and I remember tasting it and
thinking if I eat this entire bowl, will they judge me? It was just so good.

Well, good thing you liked it. You built a whole company around it!
Rajus: Food, in general, is fundamental to our relationship and our
family. Its always been the center of how our families gathered and
celebrated.

Where are you both from?
Poorva: I grew up in Southern California.
Rajus: I have a more itinerant path. I was born in Chicago, then lived in
Cleveland, Knoxville and Indiana. I was in North Carolina for college, and New
York, Chicago and London after that. We were in Chicago together then lived
in Seattle for ten years.

Wow! How did you meet?
Poorva: I was actually born in Cleveland and there weren’t very many Indian
families in Cleveland in the early 80s—and definitely not from the
same region of India. We reconnected through family friends.

What did you both do in Seattle?
Rajus: After grad school I worked at Microsoft, then at a tech startup, then at
Starbucks, but never on the food and beverage side. Starbucks was a great
experience. It gave me the opportunity to see a large company
and culture led by its original founder firsthand.
Poorva: I was in healthcare operations. My work was focused on delivering
high quality and value while also being efficient. Weve been able to carry
forward some of that learning to Aajis.

What brought you to Philly?
Rajus: Family. We unexpectedly lost our sister-in-law very soon after she and my brother were married. It was tragic for our whole family. My brother was living in Philadelphia, and we wanted to be close to him, and so we moved.

Wow. That kind of family support is rare in todays day and age.
Poorva: We moved in 2019. Rajus worked remotely at first and I was about to
have our second child. Then the pandemic hit. We would have been even
more detached, so were so grateful we moved. Soon after, Rajus’s parents
moved here, too.
Rajus: Philadelphia has become home quickly. Because of this business,
we’ve gotten to know so many people. We feel connected and embraced.
What we’ve built in five years here would take us 20 years somewhere else.
Poorva: I was at Whole Foods yesterday and ran into three customers!
Rajus: It’s a collegial spirit. There's a lot of camaraderie. Were all rooting for
each other and are sharing learnings and helping each other out. 

Where did the idea for Aaji’s come from?
Poorva: We've always talked about doing something as a family. And here we
were, all together in Philly. We wanted to do something with meaning and
purpose. We wanted to be intentional about how were living. 
Rajus: My parents are involved, my brother is involved, my grandmothers' legacy is involved, and at the center is our family’s food which has meant so much to us on so many levels. 

Did you decide on lonsa right away?
Rajus: Not exactly. We sat down and created a list of all the recipes that we
knew and loved. There were almost 60 dishes. We threw around ideas like a
restaurant, a food cart, frozen foods. It was the height of the pandemic, and
everybody was at home so we asked our neighbors if they would be interested
in joining a taste test. Eleven homes agreed to participate. We tasted 60 dishes and sent online surveys for feedback.
Poorva: We probably collected 600 or 700 surveys. The lonsa stood out.

What was next?
Rajus: We had to figure out how to produce it. We went into a shared
production space in West Philly called the Center for Culinary Enterprises.
That was 2021.
Poorva: We decided to start selling at a farmers' market. Our first one
was in Fairmount. We—us and Rajus’s parents—showed up with 60 units of
lonsa. We had no idea what to expect. We sold out in two hours. By 2022 we
were doing 20 unique farmer’s markets in the summer. 

You recently announced that you’ll be in nine local Whole Foods. How
did that growth happen?
Rajus: Mostly through the connections we made at the markets. I can’t
articulate how essential the people we’ve met at the markets have been to
us—other vendors and customers. Our first employees were our customers.
And the markets are how we got connected to independent retailers in the
area. We launched with Small World Seafood, Weavers Way, Riverwards
Produce, Swarthmore Co-Op, Kimberton. Everyone has been so instrumental
in our growth, in giving us a chance to sell lonsa.

How have you kept up with production?
Poorva: We're fortunate to now be working with a local family that we met at
a farmers' market. They have a ton of food production experience and have a
facility in Pennsauken. They make our recipes in small batches but have
helped us meet demand. The recipe didn’t change.

What’s the future look like for Aaji’s?
Rajus: We’re currently focused on the lonsa, because so many people still haven’t seen or tried it before. As we continue to expand lonsa’s availability,
we want to ensure we have a really high-quality product and brand experience
that people truly enjoy.  If we do that, we'll have the opportunity to build out more. 

What’s it like to work so closely with family and with each other?
Poorva: It takes a very unique family and a really unique set of people to be
able to operate this way. It’s really beautiful and special—to be able to work with my in-laws. And for our kids to see all of us doing this together.
Rajus: We come back to the values and why were doing this. That centers
any tough conversation or argument. Poorva is actually great at reminding us
of that.
Poorva: Although, I will add that we have our moments. Strong
communication is at the core. We have to be willing to have hard
conversations with each other.

Last question: Any favorite Philly restaurants?
Poorva: Our go to is Pizzeria Beddia for special occasions when we have the
chance to go out and dine! We’ve gotten to know Joe and his sister Maria,
and brother-in-law Scott of Maria’s Bread Sandwiches.

Learn more about Aaji's on their website and Instagram.