Here I am january 21 2026, 3-something pm my time (Chicago is freezing today btw), staring at a sink with yesterday’s curry pots still soaking because I keep “getting to it later”, and I’m finally admitting out loud that yeah I’ve been trying to turn my cooking passion into a career for like 18 months now and it’s… going. Sort of.
Not instagram-perfect going. More like smoke-alarm-at-11pm going.
The very first time I thought “hey maybe turn your cooking passion into a career” was when my cousin paid me ₹1500 to make biryani for his office thing. I was shaking the whole time measuring spices like it was brain surgery. Ended up with way too much cardamom and everyone loved it anyway. Classic.
The part where I thought this would be easy (it wasn’t)
I started small. Like embarrassingly small.
Made extra rajma one sunday, posted a shitty photo on my whatsapp status with “anyone want? ₹200 a box”, sold four. Felt like a king for about 45 minutes until I realized I spent ₹650 on ingredients + gas + my time and made ₹150 profit. Math hurts.
Then tried instagram reels. First one was me clumsily flipping an omelette and it landed half on the stove half on the floor. 217 views, 4 likes, one comment saying “bhai cleaning ka video banao”. Brutal but fair.
But slowly weird things happened.
A neighbor asked for weekly sabzi packs. Then her friend. Then two aunties from the building group chat. Suddenly I had this tiny rhythm of cooking mondays and thursdays, delivering in my beat-up scooty with containers tied together with a dupatta so they wouldn’t fall.
Turning your cooking passion into a career starts looking possible when random people start texting “bhai kal wala chicken curry fir se bana dena plz”.
The ugly honest middle part
Here’s what nobody posts about:
- You will price too low at first and hate yourself
- Someone will cancel last minute after you already bought ₹2000 worth of paneer
- Your mother will ask why you’re “still playing kitchen” when you have a degree
- Feet hurt. Back hurts. Soul sometimes hurts
- You’ll have days where you cry chopping onions and tell yourself it’s just the onions (it’s not)
I once delivered to the wrong flat because the customer wrote “3rd floor left” but meant right and the uncle who opened the door was very confused but still took the food and paid me extra “for the adventure”. I laughed in the stairwell then cried in the scooty. Also health department rules are a nightmare if you want to get serious. I still haven’t figured that part out fully. One day maybe. But also… people say thank you. Like actually thank you. One lady told me my dal tasted like her mom’s and I stood there in her doorway trying not to ugly cry.
That’s the hook. That feeling. Makes you keep going even when the gas bill is higher than your profit.
Tiny wins that actually matter
Last month I hit 22 regular customers. Not viral. Not famous. Just 22 people who trust me to feed their families twice a week.
Started doing custom spice mixes too – small ₹150 pouches. Sold 38 in december. Christmas didn’t hurt either, people wanted cakes and cookies and I said yes to everything like an idiot and survived somehow.
I read somewhere (think it was some reddit thread) that most people quit right before it starts working. I almost did in august when I had zero orders for two weeks. Kept going anyway. Stubborn I guess.
So… should you try?
I don’t know your life. If you love cooking so much that even after burning dal for the third time this week you still think “next time I’ll get it right”, then yeah maybe start. Don’t quit your job. Don’t buy ₹40,000 worth of equipment day one. Just cook extra one day, tell five people, see what happens. cooking passion
I’m still not “there”. Still have a day job (sort of). Still mess up ratios. Still learning fssai stuff at 2 am. But I’m happier messing up food for money than I was doing excel sheets for someone else. If any of this sounds familiar, try one tiny scary thing this week. Make something. Offer it. See who bites. Worst case you eat really well for a few days.
Outbound Links
https://www.fssai.gov.in/cms/food-business-operator.php
https://services.india.gov.in/service/detail/register-food-business
https://www.mygov.in/task/start-your-food-business/
https://www.shopify.in/blog/how-to-start-a-food-business
https://www.instamojo.com/blog/how-to-start-a-home-based-food-business-in-india/
https://blog.kouzinafoodtech.com/how-to-start-a-cloud-kitchen-in-india/
https://www.indiafilings.com/learn/start-food-business-india/
https://www.kouzinafoodtech.com/blog/cloud-kitchen-setup-cost-india
