Starting with pickles, how two women are taking Bihari cuisine to the world

How Dharbhanga-based D2C pickle brand Jhaji, went from a single order to 80,000 orders in just 2 years

- Sanya Arora

Bihar-based D2C pickle brand Jhaji has clocked over 80,000 orders in just two years since its inception in June 2021, while the pandemic was still around. The brand expects to clock more than ₹10 crore by the end of 2023 and has already sold pickles worth 2 crore in the first three months of the year itself.

Founded by two Darbhanga, Biharbased women, Kalpana Jha and Uma Jha, former a homemaker and the latter a school teacher, the brand was launched with the sole purpose of making Bihar's cuisine known to the world. The sisters-in-law duo started the brand with an initial funding of 10 lakh, which they received from Kalpana Jha's spouse Manoj Kumar Jha, who is a retired IAS officer and currently oversees administration at Jhaji.

Initially, they started their pickle business in the backyard of their house, until March of this year when they relocated the production to their recently acquired kitchen factory at Taralahi, Darbhanga. The duo makes pickles using traditional recipes from Mithilanchal, a region in North-East Bihar. These are traditional sundried pickles made without using chemicals, preservatives, or colours in products.

"We want to take Mithilanchal's flavours from Darbhanga to the world," Kalpana Jha said sharing her vision behind Jhaji, which today has over 60,000 customers. When asked the reason behind the brand's name, Kalpana Jha said, "JhaJi name is unique to the region of Mithilanchal and also its the family surname which also suggests this is a homely brand - the pickles are coming from the house of Jhaji."

With the brand's short and catchy name, the Bihar-based women entrepreneurs aim to create a brand image that would evoke friendly emotion.