Teacher turns hotelier, beats unemployment blues

Bengaluru: As the Covid-19 pandemic derailed the economy around the world rendering a vast number of people jobless, for some it came as a blessing in disguise to explore new and even better avenues. Undaunted by the downturn and loss of job, some have turned entrepreneurs. Here is one such woman who has turned her passion into business.

Geetha. M, a schoolteacher with years of experience came face to face with the scourge of unemployment just like many others during the pandemic. However, the problem made her even more determined to continue to provide financial support to her family and decided to sell home cooked food to the residents of PG (paying guest) rooms.She found emotional support and encouragement from her family member. Thus startedher entrepreneurial journey.

"As there was a lockdown due to the pandemic, the schools remained closed during this period. One of my relatives spoke to me regarding an opportunity at a PG, where there was a requirement of home cooked food.Since we were facing financial problems, I decided to get into this business. There were about six members back then, it has gradually increased to sixty members today. We would supply breakfast, lunch and dinner to the residents," Geetha told The Hans India.

"Since I am passionate about cooking, I did not find it difficult to run the business in the beginning. But,I faced another difficulty when many of my customers had to go back to their hometowns at one point during the pandemic. Soon I surmounted it by opening a hotel 'Ahaa Bhojana'.This is completely a new line of business in our family and everyone's extremely excited about it. One can find varieties of food and the best part is that we prepare five different kinds of idlis and we're figuring out the recipes to dish out a few more unique types of the same."

"The prices at the hotel are affordable and we charge Rs. 3,000 per month for food from each resident of the PG rooms. Most of our customers are happy and satisfied as the food we supply is much cheaper than those of others. Our menu also includes Karnataka's traditional food 'RagiMuddhe' (finger millet balls/ ragi balls). My family members also encourage me when it comes to creating new recipes by suggesting the ingredients. We're also planning to open a new branch in another location once we are firmly established in this line. We see a lot of people investing in startups these days, money is not the main thing, it is also about how much time and efforts we put in," she concludes.