Aranmanai Masala

We are Aranmanai Masala, and you can find us at 22, 1st Street in Virugambakkam. It’s a residential area mostly, so it’s a bit quieter than the main roads. We spend our days grinding and mixing various spices right here on the premises. The smell is very strong, and you can usually tell when we are working even from down the block. We have a couple of machines that do the heavy lifting, but we still do a lot of the sorting by hand. It’s a small operation and we don't have many employees. Most of the people working here live nearby, so we just walk to the shop every morning. The building is just a standard ground-floor space that we’ve converted for our needs. We don't have a fancy showroom, just the production area and a small counter where we handle the orders. Sometimes the power goes out in the afternoon, so we just take a break until it comes back on. We’ve been doing this for a few years and have a good rhythm going now. We focus on getting the right mix for the masalas and making sure everything is packed up tight so it stays fresh for the people who buy it. It’s a messy job sometimes, with spice dust everywhere, but we are used to it and just keep moving forward.