One Year Later: By Hand from the Heart

A year ago, we packed our car for our very first By Hand From The Heart exhibition in Chennai. And because we had absolutely no idea what to expect, we packed everything! Every bottle. Every jar. Every backup box. If there was a spare inch in the car, we filled it with stock. We had no benchmark, no previous experience, and certainly no confidence in estimating how much people would buy. Looking back now, it's funny. At the time, it felt like the only sensible thing to do.

This last weekend, we returned to the same exhibition. Only this time, it felt completely different. Not because the exhibition had changed, but because we had.

In the last twelve months, Kaaram OK Please has grown in ways we couldn't have imagined.

When we first exhibited, we had just six products. Today, we carry fourteen, spread across four distinct product lines - hot sauces, condiments, flavour booster, and marinades. We also launched two special editions and gift boxes. Somewhere between our first exhibition and this one, we stopped being "the brand with a few interesting hot sauces" and became a pantry brand that people actively return to.

That shift has happened one product, one conversation, and one customer at a time.

One of the nicest parts of the weekend wasn't the sales. It was recognising faces.

People walked up to the stall saying things like, "We met you last year." Some came looking for the products they had already finished. Others wanted to know what was new. Many had introduced our sauces to friends and family and were now buying gifts or restocking their favourites.

Exhibitions remind us of the people behind the order numbers in the best possible way. It was so nice to talk about how our products were being used in a real kitchen. We get to hear how someone uses Kandhari & Kokum on grilled fish, why Crunch has become their breakfast staple, or why avocado toast tastes best with Date with Puli.

Those conversations are worth far more than any analytics dashboard.

This year also felt different because people arrived already knowing who we were. Last year, almost every interaction began with an introduction.

"Hi, we're Kaaram OK Please..."

This year, many conversations started with,

"I've been following you."

or

"I've been meaning to try these."

Building a brand is a slow process. Most of the work happens quietly: early mornings in the kitchen, countless recipe tests, photography, markets, packing orders, answering customer messages and wondering if anyone notices the effort. Then a weekend like this comes along, and you realise they do.

The feedback over the two days was overwhelming.

People lingered at the table, tasted products, asked questions about fermentation, regional ingredients, and our new marinade line, and left genuinely excited to cook with them. We heard so many versions of "I've never tasted anything like this before," which is exactly why we started Kaaram OK Please in the first place.

By the end of the exhibition, we had completely sold out of five products. Running out of stock is never ideal, but we'll happily take it as a good problem to have.

Looking back, it's impossible not to feel proud of how far we've come in just one year. We've expanded our range, refined our recipes, improved our packaging, learnt how to tell our story better and, most importantly, built a community of people who genuinely enjoy cooking with what we make.

There is still so much we want to do. More products. More stories. More conversations around regional South Indian food.

But this weekend was a lovely reminder to pause and appreciate the progress we've already made. To everyone who stopped by our stall, came back for a second purchase, introduced us to a friend, or simply spent a few minutes chatting with us—thank you.

You've helped turn a small idea into something that is steadily finding its place in kitchens across the country. Here's to another year of building, learning and cooking together. ❤️