Balaji Home Foods

We are at 18 Kovai Road. It’s easy to find because we are directly opposite the fire service station. Balaji Home Foods is where we prepare a lot of the local food items that people like. It’s a busy place. We have a few big stoves and a lot of counter space for packing. The kitchen gets very hot in the summer months so we keep all the windows open. We have some local women who come in early to help with the chopping and the cleaning. It’s a lot of manual work. We don't use big automated machines for everything. We like to do things the way they’ve always been done. The smell of cooking oil and spices is everywhere. Sometimes the fire station sirens go off and it gets very loud for a minute. We just keep working through it. We sell to the nearby grocery stores and sometimes people stop by to buy directly from us. We don't have a fancy storefront. It’s just a door with our name on a small board. My son helps me with the deliveries on his motorcycle. We aren't trying to become a huge company. We just want to make enough to keep everyone employed and happy. The floor is made of stone and we wash it every night before we lock up. It’s a good, honest way to spend the day. We take pride in the work even if it is tiring.