Meet Sahithi, the woman behind Vizag’s first millet-based restaurant Millet Rasoi

Visakhapatnam: Going to eat at a restaurant with your parents, especially if they have diabetes, is a big task. You have to make sure that the restaurant addresses their diet needs. What if we tell you that you can find healthy meals like ragi muddu with chicken pulusu, millet noodles, millet upma, ragi dosa, and millet thali all in one place?

Sahithi Tirumareddy of Visakhapatnam has launched ‘Millet Rasoi,’ a one-stop restaurant that serves all millet-based food. It is located in Venkojipalem, Visakhapatnam.

After completing class 12 in Vizag, Sahithi moved to Canada to stay with her parents and pursued business management at York University, Toronto. When she visited Vizag a few years ago with her mother for a vacation, she couldn’t find a restaurant that could address the diet needs of her diabetic mother, especially a millet-based lunch and dinner. She returned to India during the pandemic, and this time, she did not return to Canada but decided to start a millet-based restaurant in her city.

“Following a millet-based meal plan at home was challenging because it needs extra effort and it’s tricky. That’s when I thought of starting a millet-based restaurant because not everyone can cook and follow a millet diet daily,” says Sahithi.

Inspired by her grandmother

Sahithi was inspired by her grandmother with whom she had spent her childhood. “In those days, millets were a staple in my grandmother’s diet. Now, with a host of diseases and health complications, it is the food that we should change. I wanted to recreate those childhood flavors and bring back the food of the olden day to the present generations but with a twist,” Sahithi explains.

“It was not easy to get into the food business. I had to do a lot of research based on the diabetic needs of my mother and most of the population in India. I tried and tested several dishes until I got the perfect taste,” says Sahithi who plans to expand her business to Hyderabad, Delhi, and other states in the future.

Meal plans that Millet Rasoi offers

The restaurant is designed with earthy village vibes with indoor and outdoor seating capacities. It has a section with eco-friendly products, artifacts, and millet products. Apart from the dine-in service, Sahithi offers monthly/weekly meal plans, plans provided by a clinical dietician who does blood tests for blood sugar, blood pressure, and body mass index. Based on the results, they customise a meal plan, with a thali meal in vegetarian/non-vegetarian.

The monthly meal package starts from Rs. 3,000 for breakfast, Rs. 6,000 for lunch, and Rs. 6,000 for dinner. A three-meal combo starts from Rs. 14,000.

Meals are delivered directly to the customers’ homes. This meal plan will benefit diabetic people, people looking to lose weight, health-conscious people, and fitness freaks.Further, to build visibility, Sahithi wants to set up kiosks at different places to make people aware of millet-based food and their benefits.

Thali meal: A must try

Millet Rasoi’s thali meal is the first of its kind in the city. It includes two types of millet biryani, a jowar/multi-millet roti, vegetable curry, chicken curry, chicken fry, and vegetable-based dessert, along with beetroot raita and sesame papad.