🌿 My Journey in the Food Industry: From Hands-On Worker to Visionary Leader

My journey in the food industry started not in an office, but in the heat and noise of a production floor. In 2017, I joined my uncle’s company, Suman Food Products.  Under our brands  Iyyappa, Amirth, venba, and Amigo which we have been exporting a wide range of Indian snacks, groceries, cold-pressed oil, spices, rice, wholegrains, and pulses. I didn't join as a privileged known person to MD, but as an intern with no special treatment. My first responsibilities were in the cooking area, hands-on, hard work. 

I helped in preparing a wide range of Indian snacks like banana chips, cassava chips, kai murukku, mini murukku, Bombay mixture, finger potato chips, and more. I worked side by side with skilled workers, mixing flours to the right consistency, monitoring oil temperatures, and learning when to pull snacks from massive boiling oil vessels. I wasn’t just observing, I was physically there, from early mornings to late evenings, sometimes working entire days in the hot kitchen because I wanted to. That’s where my understanding of taste and quality began by smell, sound, and feel, not just process.

When cooking paused, I moved to the packing section. I learned how to handle finished goods, how each product was bagged, sealed, and prepared for export. I took part in stock checks and fast-paced packing tasks, slowly becoming someone who knew not just the product, but the system. Within a year, I began working full-time in the Quality Department, ensuring every batch met our standards before being packed.

From there, my learning deepened. I didn’t just support  I started cooking full batches myself. I knew how to fry in large-scale oil pots, add masala and salt with consistency, and tweak flour blends to improve taste. I even started experimenting, switching from besan to rice flour, adjusting spice ratios and developed a natural instinct for what worked. I trained myself by watching, asking questions, and never hesitating to try again. Nobody asked me to take on that responsibility,  I took it on because I cared about the food.

As the business expanded, we began outsourcing some products to partner factories. That didn’t mean losing quality. I took charge of visiting every outsourced site each month to train staff, monitor recipes, and conduct taste checks. When batches arrived for export to Canada, the USA, or France, I was the one sampling them  making sure that whether it was a murukku or a mixture, the quality was consistent. I handled packing, container loading, and quality assurance end to end.

Over time, I also gained deep knowledge of agriculture-based ingredient sourcing. I began to understand how the place where something grows  the soil, the climate, changes its taste. For example, peanuts from Tamil Nadu taste amazing but produce less oil; Gujarat peanuts are larger and oilier but not as flavourful. This kind of insight became crucial in selecting the right source for different product types.

In years 4 to 5, I began taking part in design and strategy, helping create packaging labels, choosing the right materials, adjusting product pricing to balance costs, and even planning for customer experience. I started thinking like both a customer and a business owner, making decisions that considered company budget, product shelf life, and end-user satisfaction. I even worked on ways to reduce packaging waste and cut costs responsibly.

Eventually, After years of hard work, I became the first woman in my family to run the company. Before me, management was always handled by men. For over a year, I managed operations on my own, proving to my MD and family that a woman could lead with strength, vision, and success. I was promoted to General Manager. By then, I was managing production, supervising vendor sites, overseeing packing and export, and mentoring new employees. Our MD recognised my ability to see both the micro and macro, from oil temperature in the kitchen to international market requirements. I took pride not just in managing the business but in caring for our team, making sure salaries were fair, systems were honest, and quality was never compromised.

After seven years of hands-on experience, I realised I had grown everything I could from one environment. I needed new perspectives new cultures, new industries, new challenges. That’s when I decided to pursue my Master’s in Management at Oxford Brookes University.

The shift from constant work to classroom life was difficult at first. I was used to being on my feet, solving problems, and taking decisions every day. Sitting in lectures felt strange. But I kept learning  and after one month, I started craving hands-on exposure again. That’s why I joined Sainsbury’s part-time. I wanted to understand the UK retail food market, customer behaviours, and product placement in a global setting. I observed fast-selling items, tried them myself, and began learning what British customers prefer.

My university assignments gave me opportunities to think deeply about sustainability and innovation. I chose to study Nestlé’s regenerative agriculture project and design a startup business for my final project. These tasks aligned perfectly with my long-term goals: creating an organic food export company that supports farmers, uplifts quality, and reaches global markets.

Now, I’m not just a food producer or retail worker  I’m a builder of sustainable futures. I want to work with companies like HelloFresh, Nestlé, Alpro, or Innocent Drinks, because I don’t just seek experience  I seek contribution. I want my work to mean something  for the farmer, the customer, and the planet.

More than anything, I believe that the food industry holds the power to solve real problems  poverty, health, sustainability  and I want to be part of the solution, from the soil to the shelf.

What began in a kitchen has grown into a mission to lead with purpose, feed with heart, and this isn’t just my profession, it’s my purpose I live for. Every step I take is for quality, dignity, and a sustainable future.